The mainstream media is obsessed with anything that can be construed as bad news for the Trump administration. The American people are subjected to daily speculation about the Russians interfering in the U.S. election, colluding with Trump officials and generally hiding in wait under beds throughout Washington. That’s why the media is ignoring healthy economic signs.
Meanwhile, going almost without notice, the U.S. economy is rebounding after years of Obama administration neglect. Candidate Trump promised the American people more corporate investment and that promise is being fulfilled.
Corporate investment is indeed growing steadily. The era of overregulation is over. Business leaders are delighted and showing it with renewed confidence in the American economy.
The second quarter of 2017 is in actuality the first with Donald Trump’s fingerprints on it. The nation is still saddled with Obama’s bleak economic mishandling, but signs of improvement are healthy.
The latest figures show a steady rise of two and a half percent. That is not great news, but a sign of growing confidence that this president is working with business. It is a full point above average economic growth during the Obama administration and half a point above the “Obama recovery” era.
Here are the numbers released Friday:
- Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a 2.6% annual rate in the April to June period, according to the Commerce Department.
- The second-quarter advance is a welcome rebound after a lackluster start to the year, when GDP grew at only 1.2% pace. It is less clear if stronger growth is a sign of momentum or simply repeating a familiar pattern of weak winters followed by a stronger spring and summer.
- Both consumers and businesses helped propel growth in the second quarter.
- Household outlays rose at a 2.8% pace, an improvement from the first quarter’s 1.9%. Consumers stepped up spending on both goods and services, possibly reflecting a broadly positive outlook since the election. The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence in July rose to the second-highest level in 16 years.
- Businesses also have been upbeat. A measure of corporate spending on projects, nonresidential fixed investment, climbed at a 5.2% pace. While that was down from the first quarter’s 7.2%, it is still one of the best readings since 2014.
Wall Street took notice with sizable gains on the announcement. The country’s economy will crawl before it can walk, but these indicators show that this president is committed to getting the American economy jumpstarted. Healthy economic signs are starting to show. With Trump’s pro-business environment, the economy will help make America great again.
