Poor dude in the photo with the butt sweat.
What’s a little shart on CNN? No one reads that, I’m sure.
TL;DR: The US economy showed strong growth with a 2.8% annualized GDP rate in Q2, doubling from earlier this year and exceeding expectations. Consumer spending, which drives 70% of the economy, rose sharply. Inflation also slowed, providing hope for a potential “soft landing” where inflation is controlled without a recession. Business investment increased significantly, particularly in equipment, though spending on structures declined due to high interest rates. Overall, the economic outlook is positive with signs of robust growth and cooling inflation.
It’s pretty easy to pump up the official GDP Growth number by understating Inflation since the former is mathematically reduced by the latter.
You might have noticed frequent news (and people complaining) about the prices of things having gone up A LOT in the US and yet official Inflation figures are quite subdued.
Then on top of that, it’s an Election Year and the political pressure to massage then numbers to make them look good is likely higher than normal (plus they can always be corrected later, after the election).
The US might not practice China-level Economic-figures Massaging, but they’ve definitely been a lot more Fantastic and Fabulous (in that they have a lot more Fantasy and Fable to them) since the mad scramble to look good (or at least not as bad) after the 2008 Crash.
Just saw a post showing a Walmart order from 2020 was like $80 and now is over $400. It’s easy to make the economy look good when the price for everything has gone up
