FOX’S FAKE “BOOM”
Kudlow is manufacturing a boom from deliberately mismatched statistics.
The 5.1% figure is a GDPNow model estimate for one quarter. The Atlanta Fed explicitly states that it is neither official data nor an official forecast. Actual GDP growth was only 1.5% in the second quarter.
Retail sales increased 6%, but that figure is nominal and not adjusted for inflation. Presenting it as real economic growth is dishonest.
The 20% investment claim cherry picks machinery and data center spending. Overall investment growth decelerated, while private domestic final sales increased 4.2%.
Productivity is currently growing 2.2% annually, not 3%. The longer cycle rate is 2.1%, exactly equal to the historical average. Real hourly compensation fell 3.3%, while labor’s share of income reached its lowest level since records began in 1947.
Even Fox’s own poll shows 62% struggling with grocery prices, 61% with gasoline and 52% with healthcare costs.
Kudlow used an unofficial forecast, an inflation inflated sales figure and selected investment categories to fabricate a boom while American households are being crushed. Fox is broadcasting financial deception for viewers it assumes cannot read.