GDP bumping along, boosted by Biden/Dem incentives for construction

Also wanted to discuss the other big new report from late last week, which also showed how the US economy continued to grow through the Spring and early Summer.

No signs of a recession for the US economy.

-2.4% GDP growth in Q2 -->Beating expectations
-Solid consumer spending (tho slower than Q1)
-Nice pickup in biz investment (outside of housing)
-Slowing gov't spending (tho still a help)https://t.co/6sw3oNSJxE

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) July 27, 2023

This is #Bidenomics in action!

President Biden and Democrats have delivered a historic economic recovery, outpacing other leading economies and driving opportunity right here at home by building an economy that puts workers and families first.https://t.co/Ji82XlVEkC

— Rep. Gwen Moore (@RepGwenMoore) July 27, 2023

Worst recession ever. https://t.co/759Jzrxz3i pic.twitter.com/9O0NN9uT8O

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) July 27, 2023

And a big reason behind the surprising growth was a jump in "non-residential fixed investment", which includes new business buildings and transportation equipment such as vehicles and airplanes. That made up for a moderating in consumer spending, and reflects the big increase in the construction of manufacturing facilities in recent months.

UW-Madison's Menzie Chinn is among several economists noting that Biden/Dem policies passed in 2022 coincide with this increase in 2023, but it doesn't seem like coincidence.

Timing: CHIPS Act or Military Keynesianism and the Manufacturing Building Boom - I side with CHIPS Act https://t.co/rdsYZteGvr pic.twitter.com/MLGqJeHj7s

— Menzie Chinn (@menzie_chinn) July 31, 2023

These numbers show the inflation-adjusted change in billions of dollars, and note the green bar's jump in the last quarter. That goes along with numbers we saw earlier this month, which said that the value of manufacturing construction had gone up by 77% between May 2022 and May 2023. Which helped to keep the sector afloat as the larger sector of private residential construction dropped by 11.6% in the same time period.

So we have solid but not booming economic growth, and economic policies that encourage investment in America. Basically everything that a sensible country should look like, with inflation moderating in the first half of the year as well. Seems like we'd want to continue in this direction, wouldn't we?