RUTHFULLY YOURS

The economy appears to be booming, consumer confidence is rising, inflation is coming in lower, and job growth higher, than expected. Normally, we’d all be celebrating good news like this. But not when Donald Trump is sitting in the White House. Then it must be ignored or explained away.

Ever since Trump took office, we’ve been treated to a steady diet of doomsaying. His tariffs would fuel inflation. He was driving the economy toward a recession. When the Commerce Department reported a slight contraction in the first quarter – so slight that future revisions could show that the economy expanded in the first three months – the same cast of characters started shouting “See, we told you so!”

But then the data started coming in, and suddenly those voices went silent. Why? Because it’s all been “unexpected” good news.

On Monday, for example, the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank updated its GDPNow forecast – which projects quarterly economic growth in real time based on ongoing data releases. The current “nowcast,” as it’s called, shows growth in the second quarter of 4.6%, which is up from the 3.8% growth figure released last week.

The latest Consumer Price Index shows inflation in April was just 2.3%, marking the third consecutive monthly decline under Trump, and hitting a low not seen since February 2021, which, for those keeping score, was the month before Joe Biden went on his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” spendathon.

The monthly jobs report for April came in higher than expected, with the creation of 177,000 jobs, after the March report came in significantly higher than expected. Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a “surprising” increase in the number of job openings.

People are noticing these positive trends, as well.

The Consumer Confidence Index jumped more than 12 points in May after a series of declines, and the Conference Board’s “Expectations Index” — which measures consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions — surged 17.4 points.

“Consumers were less pessimistic about business conditions and job availability over the next six months and regained optimism about future income prospects,” the Conference Board says.

In addition, more than half of those surveyed by the Harvard/Harris poll now say the economy is strong, which is the first time that’s happened since June 2021.

And, to top it off, Trump’s job approval has been trending upward. The spread in the RealClearPolitics is now just -2.2 points – it was -7.1 points in late April. The public’s approval of his handling of the economy, in particular, has improved.

And a larger share of people think the country is on the right track than at any time in the past 16 years.

“It’s true that this is just a couple months of data, and things could turn south with more tariff wars,” note our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. “But it’s noteworthy that the economic ‘experts’ and the media were all doom and gloom six weeks ago.”

And the ongoing success of the economy now rests heavily on the shoulders of Republicans in Congress, who still can’t seem to get their act together to do what needs to be done: keep Trump’s 2017 tax cuts from expiring,

For now, enjoy watching those with advanced cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome suffer from fits of apoplexy as the good news keeps rolling in.