3 percent growth isn’t a fairytale, after all

For the first time in 13 years, America’s economy hit the 3 percent growth milestone for a calendar year, thanks to an expectations-beating fourth quarter in 2018.

GDP grew by 3.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018. Because of the math behind how GDP growth is calculated, this time period is “a better measure of how the economy actually performed in 2018” than a year-over-year figure, according to former President Obama's top economist.

For two straight years, growth has matched or exceeded the Trump Administration’s own forecast. That result will come as a surprise to some of the President’s critics. “Apparently, the budget forecasts that U.S. economic growth will rise to 3.0 percent because of the administration’s policies,” one prominent liberal economist wrote in 2017.

“Fair enough if you believe in tooth fairies,” he added.

Those predictions haven’t aged well. In the real world, the Trump Economy continues to bust expectations across the board. Job growth in January 2019 reached 300,000, for example—compared to the Congressional Budget Office’s January 2017 projection of 71,000 per month. And for the first time in a decade, wages rose 3 percent.

This growth isn’t a continuation of the economy President Trump inherited. It’s an acceleration. Had the pre-2017 growth trend continued, economic growth would have been 2 percent in both 2017 and 2018. The actual 3.1 percent growth rate we got in 2018 represents $280 billion more in American economic output.

"The [GDP] report shows how Republican-backed tax cuts may have continued to aid growth and help bring the full-year figure to 3.1 percent, just above President Donald Trump’s 3 percent goal,” Bloomberg reports. Indeed, the 1.1 percentage point above expected growth “is almost exactly in line” with what economic research suggests would happen if a tax bill “of the same magnitude as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” took effect, the Council of Economic Advisers wrote today.

In others words, we have some bad news for pessimists on the American economy: It turns out pro-growth policies actually deliver growth. Who knew?

Why 2018 was a banner year for the U.S. economy

Watch Larry Kudlow: “The policies are WORKING.”

‘Sometimes you have to walk’

President Trump returns home tonight from Hanoi, Vietnam, where he met with both Vietnamese leaders and Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea over the past few days.

“I want to thank all of the people of Vietnam for having treated us so well,” President Trump said. Among meetings with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President Trump also participated in the signing ceremony for commercial trade deals that will support more than 83,000 American jobs.

On North Korea, President Trump held firm on America’s terms: Nothing short of progress toward complete, verifiable denuclearization will result in sanctions relief.

“I think our relationship is very strong,” President Trump said of Chairman Kim. “I think, actually, it was a very productive two days. But sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added that “we didn’t get to [a deal] that ultimately made sense for the United States of America . . . I hope we’ll do so in the weeks ahead.”

Watch President Trump’s press conference from Hanoi, Vietnam

Photo of the Day

Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, holds a news conference after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un | February 28, 2019