Earlier this week, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released a report revising GDP growth in the second quarter of 2024 upward, from 2.8% to 3.0%. Although the jump itself was not enormous, it confirmed what most economists already knew: the American economy remains the engine of growth for the entire world. In the post-pandemic era, the United States stands alone among developed nations in producing powerful, positive economic growth, quarter after quarter.
To be clear, this isn’t to say that the economy is without its problems or that it is necessarily clear of the possibility of a “hard landing” resulting from the Feder Reserve’s tighter money policy. Neither is the case, and the data on the economy can appear just as bleak one day as it appears encouraging the next. Economics is the dismal science, after all, and economic forecasting is often no more “scientific” than reading chicken entrails.
Nevertheless, if given a choice, most people would take the American economy right now, warts and all, over any other economy in the world—and for good reason.
As she races toward November and the hope of claiming the title of “most powerful person in the world,” Vice President Harris is insisting and will continue to insist that she deserves credit for the persistence of the nation’s macro-economic health. From her perspective, this makes perfect sense, of course, since that’s what politicians in power do when the economy is strong. From a more balanced perspective, a more realistic perspective, however, it’s mostly nonsense. In almost every case, and in this case most especially, claims of positive government impact on the economy are mistaken—completely backward, in fact. The American economy continues chugging along nicely, not because of the efforts of our politicians in Washington, but in spite of them. In the end, government is the only thing that can really slow the American economy, and “Bidenomics,” if left unchecked, would do so rather convincingly. […]
— Read More: amgreatness.com
