LARRY KUDLOW: It’s more than gasoline — the economic boom is a story that must be told

The lefty press, to be sure, will only talk about gasoline prices when it comes to the economy. Literally pull up an article, and front and center is going to be gasoline prices. So the whole national discussion isn’t really about the economy, it’s about gas prices. So ok, I get it. Gas prices are uncomfortably high. It’s a problem for some people. I don’t want to deny that.

Actually adjusted for inflation, the prices are about the same today as they were during the Biden years. But let’s not dwell on that. It’s a problem, I admit it. Ditto for high Diesel prices. A big problem for truckers, I get it. Having said that, though, the press has done everyone a great disservice by not talking about all the good news in the economy.

For example, consumers continue to spend. Consumer spending in the first quarter of this year increased 3.4 percent annually after inflation. 3.8 percent in the second quarter. Looks like 3.5 percent in the third quarter that will be reported Thursday. These are big numbers. Dig in some more. Same-store chain sales. Rising almost 10 percent over the past year. That is a huge number. Gross domestic product itself is likely to come in around 3.5 percent in the third quarter when it is reported later this week. So, if gasoline costs are so bad, why is consumer spending so strong?

What about business investment? It’s really the heart of the economy. Not only business investment, but Mark Skousen’s business to business spending are both booming. B-2-B tells you what’s going on under the economy’s hood. The answer: booming. Meanwhile business investment in machinery equipment, factories — this is the seed corn for future economic growth and productivity and wage gains — business capital expenditure is absolutely booming. Feature the 15 percent growth in the first half of the year, and it looks like about 16.5 percent capex growth in the third quarter alone. We haven’t seen numbers like this since the Reagan 1980s. Four decades ago. Why isn’t the press reporting that?

Wait a minute, how about the strong labor market. Unemployment claims are at nearly 60-year lows. The unemployment rate is barely above 4 percent. In the last couple of months, more than a million people have re-entered the labor force to get a piece of the economic action. A million new jobs have been created in less than two years. 72,000 manufacturing jobs year to date.  Prescription drug prices have dropped by about 4.5 percent in the last year. Egg prices have fallen about 90 percent.

And these goods producing jobs in manufacturing and also construction, are high wage jobs that are beating inflation, even with the gasoline problem. We’re in a technology boom. We’re clobbering Communist China and Europe in the super intelligence race. Nonfinancial corporate productivity is rising more than 3 percent annually over the past two years. That is remarkable.

Profits, the mother’s milk of stocks and the lifeblood of the economy, continue to grow at a record pace, by some 15 percent to 20 percent in most cases. The bullish stock market, which is a predictor of future growth, is near record highs, with more than 150 million people invested through 401ks and union pension funds. The Chinese stock market continues to fall at a double digit pace. American and European GDP was almost the same 20 years ago. Today we’re $10 trillion higher.

In the trillion-dollar club, 13 of the top 15 companies are American. Foreign investment is pouring into America because low taxes and light regulations, and powerful energy is treating foreign capital most hospitably in the global race for investment. And in short as President Trump keeps saying, America has the hottest economy in the world. So why won’t the media report the facts? It’s a story that must be told.