Even The New York Times All Like What Up Joe Biden, That Is A Good Economy

After a hot, hot third quarter with a growth rate of 4.9 percent, US Gross Domestic Product for the last three months of 2023 grew by 3.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis report released today. That strong finish to the year led the agency to a forecast (pending more data collection) that real GDP grew by 3.1% overall for 2023. That beat the Wall Street outlook at the start of 2023 that the economy would be fairly flat, with just 1.9 percent growth.

Robust consumer spending (“robust” is a word reserved for good economic news or good coffee at any time) was responsible for most of the economic growth, particularly in services like travel, hotels, and restaurants. Government spending at all levels also helped boost the economy, and if you want to thank bills like the infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act for part of that, we certainly won’t get in your way. Exports were up too, while imports actually fell a skosh.

Somehow, the sourpusses at the Washington Post (gift link) even managed to say this was good news for Joe Biden, noting that

every year of his term has seen GDP growth, despite some struggling quarters. Last year’s [3.1 percent] expansion tops GDP growth in every year of President Donald Trump’s term, including 2019, when the economy grew by 2.95 percent.

Silly WaPo accidentally mixed up the fourth quarter’s 3.3 percent with the full-year number of 3.1 percent, so we fixed it there.

The Post even managed to find an economist who didn’t toss in a “however” or “but,” which is a rare thing:

“It’s just a perfect report: Strong growth and low inflation,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “Everything contributed to growth: Consumers, businesses, government, housing, trade, inventories. All of the economic wheels were moving in the same direction.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean all outlets agreed, because after all, the fourth quarter’s 3.3 percent growth was less than the blazing 4.9 percent in Q3. We must once again give the stink-eye to the New York Times, or at least their social media team, as you can see in these dueling Breaking News alerts found by economics boffin Lindsay Owens of the lefty think tank Groundwork Collaborative:

As a commenter on Owens’s tweet joked, “It’s Schrödinger’s Economy.” That said, the Times was a little less dour in its actual reporting, noting that fourth quarter growth was

down from the 4.9 percent rate in the third quarter but easily topped forecasters’ expectations and showed the resilience of the recovery from the pandemic’s economic upheaval.

OK, no woodshed for you this time, New York Times.

Also too, as the Post points out, the US is still doing pretty well compared to other countries:

Europe and Britain are on the verge of recession, and China — the world’s second-largest economy — is on slippery footing. Overall, economic growth in advanced economies is expected to slow this year, to 1.4 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Clearly, those countries are all being governed by Fox News’s version of Joe Biden, that monster. With the Fed planning to cut interest rates next year, now that inflation is under control, consumer sentiment noticeably improving, and strong job growth all year, a recession isn’t looking very likely, no matter how fervently Republicans want one. That latest consumer sentiment report also found that consumers’ worries about inflation are at their lowest point in three years. If that continues, it would bear out Paul Krugman’s December observation that research suggests

it takes around two years for lower inflation to be reflected in consumer sentiment, in which case Americans might be feeling better about the economy in time for next year’s elections.

None of this is to say that the economy is fantastic for everyone now, because in case you missed it, corporations are still rapacious and horrible. All the more reason to elect Democrats and tax the rich.

Gosh, we wonder how long it takes perceptions reinforced by Fox News to start diminishing? We’ll let you know as soon as somebody polls Republicans in 2024 on whether they think Barack Obama was born in the USA.

OPEN THREAD!

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[Bureau of Economic Analysis / WaPo (gift link) / Reuters / CNBC]

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