The US economy grew just 0.1% during the first quarter of the year, well below what were pretty weak expectations. The average forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg had called for a 1.2% increase. While it may seem overly simple, the weather was clearly the biggest culprit in slowing the economy to start the year, with much of the country socked with record amounts of snow, sleet, and frigid temperatures -- not conducive to going out and buying stuff. Digging through the numbers reveals a few oddities; some can be explained by the bad weather, others cannot. Capital expenditures on durable goods fell and exports suffered a terrible $40 billion decline. Consumer spending, on the other hand, grew by more than 4%, the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2000.