There’s so much talk about Democratic dirty tricks and decoy candidates in Alaska, along with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s husband problem in Minnesota. Along with socialists running away from socialism in Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, and elsewhere. Perhaps the most important issue for voters, though, is almost getting blocked out.
The economy is booming. More numbers today. Real GDP, the best overall measure of the economy, rose 3.4 percent in the third quarter that just ended September 30. I know some wise guys say you can’t eat GDP, but it’s a very important measure of our nation’s prosperity. And the numbers are huge. And Republicans should be out there talking about this nonstop.
President Trump has done a great job messaging the hottest economy in the world. The President earlier today in South Carolina said that “we’re smashing expectations with today’s numbers beating 72 percent of the economists’ forecast.” He added that “consumer spending is way up. Business investment is up at record levels, and investment in new equipment exploded by 21 percent.”
Mr. Trump stressed that “it’s the tax credit that you get under the great big beautiful bill the businesses get,” adding that, “very importantly, core inflation is very low.” He concludes: “our economy is roaring.”
That is just superb messaging. He is right on. The problem is other Republican leaders are not giving him enough help on this crucial issue. As I’ve said before, while gasoline prices are uncomfortably high, that is far from the whole economic story. Feature, say, consumers spending at a nearly 4 percent annual rate, adjusted for inflation. This is for the last six months.
Exactly during the period where the Iran war-related energy prices bumped up. I keep asking, if things are so bad, why are they so good? Why are people out there spending so much?
Additionally, as the president said, businesses are investing at a 21 percent rate in the third quarter. A 13.5 percent pace in the second quarter. And a 15.5 percent pace in the first quarter of this year. These are huge numbers. These are absolutely gigantic numbers.
In fact, basic core GDP, which measures consumption plus investment after inflation, is growing nearly 5 percent at an annual rate. These are numbers we haven’t seen since the unbelievable boom of the Reagan 1980s.
There was even some good news on inflation in the GDP report, with the overall deflator rising only 2.2 percent for that quarter at an annual rate. Manufacturing is booming, with durable goods orders and shipments rising by nearly 15 percent. Year to date, 72,000 new manufacturing jobs, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tweeted.
We’ve seen roughly a million new private sector jobs since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, while federal jobs have declined by 328,000. In other words, we are reprivatizing the economy. In other words, this is free enterprise at work. Meanwhile, unemployment claims are at near 60-year lows, hovering below 200,000 a week. And of course, most of the media never report this, but my friend, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, reminds that egg prices have fallen 54 percent.
The price of butter has fallen 19 percent. Cheese has dropped more than 6 percent. And milk has dropped 5 percent. Every one of these daily staples were up double digits during the Biden years. In the case of eggs it was up almost 240 percent. Mr. Trump has given us an important measure of affordability, even though the press doesn’t want to talk about it. Yet why aren’t Republicans talking about it?
If the core economy is growing nearly 5 percent, consumer spending is up nearly 4 percent, and businesses investing is up nearly 20 percent.
Taxes have been cut. Regulatory paperwork has been cut. Energy production has been unleashed with the hottest economy in the world and a reciprocal trade policy that is bringing trillions and trillions of foreign investment and jobs back to America. This is hot stuff. I understand that dirty tricks have to be prosecuted absolutely. I also think voters are a lot smarter than trickster politicians think.
Yet the GOP should follow the indefatigable Mr. Trump’s herculean efforts to spread the word all around the country about the hottest economy in the globe. A return to sovereign borders, lower crime, and an end to woke craziness. Five days left, folks.
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