AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
According to a new report from the U.S. Department of
Commerce Thursday morning, the GDP grew at an annualized rate of 33.1% in the third
quarter, beating estimates.
The GDP has now recovered two-thirds of what was
initially lost in the recession caused by the Chinese coronavirus, which
resulted in a 31.4 percent decline in GDP in the second quarter.
Q3 growth came amid a resurgence in consumer activity,
which comprises 70% of GDP. Though most of the country remained in a cautious reopening,
shoppers began returning to stores and the bar and restaurant industry entered
the first tepid phase of resuming business despite restrictions on capacity.
Personal consumption increased 40.7%, while gross private
domestic investment surged 83% amid a 59.3% increase on the residential side.
Economic activity was strong in the real estate sector,
and consumer and business executive surveys showed that confidence has remained
high about the future despite the virus-related setbacks.
The report comes in the final days of the presidential
campaign, and Trump will no doubt reference it as he makes his final pitch for
reelection.
“This record economic growth is absolute validation of
President Trump’s policies which create jobs and opportunities for Americans in
every corner of the country,” said Trump 2020 communications director Tim
Murtaugh in a statement. “The President built the world’s best economy once and
he’s rapidly doing it again, proving that cutting taxes and reducing
regulations and red tape clear the way for American ingenuity and our
entrepreneurial spirit to thrive. We have regained more than half of the jobs
lost to the global pandemic in less than six months, while it took more than
two years to regain half of job losses from a recession while Joe Biden was in
charge.”
“President Trump will continue to safely reopen the
country, while Biden is the candidate of lockdowns, inviting another economic
shutdown which would devastate working people and cause even more health
problems above and beyond what the coronavirus has caused,” Murtaugh continued.
“Biden has been an economic disaster for nearly five decades in Washington,
backing disastrous trade deals and putting China’s interests ahead of American
workers. Biden’s plans for a $4 trillion tax increase and Green New Deal
regulations on every person, business, building, and farm in the nation would
kill this recovery while it’s already in full swing. For voters, the choice is
simple: It’s a Trump boom versus a Biden depression.”
Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
