NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The economy is losing momentum. You know it. I know it. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke knows it.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time to explore some important questions about the economy. How much is it slowing? And why is the recovery losing steam?

First, let's look at the economy's diminishing velocity. The government reported last month that the gross domestic product for the second quarter rose at a relatively tame annualized pace of 2.4%. That's down from 3.7% in the first quarter and 5.0% in the fourth quarter of last year.

But that 2.4% rate is probably giving the economy too much credit. On Friday morning, the government will release its first revision of GDP and economists surveyed by Briefing.com are...