The unemployment rate as of September 2024 is 4.1% (Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis). This is lower than the natural unemployment rate of 4.5 to 5% (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis).
The inflation rate as of September 2024 is 2.4% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). This is a 3-year low. It is getting closer to the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2.0%. The Fed cut interest rates by .5% in September, the first time in 4-years which is a signal that it believes that inflation is under control.
GDP growth in the 3rd quarter was 2.8% (Bureau of Economic Analysis).
The country has added nearly 18 million jobs (Federal Reserve Bank, St. Louis) under the Biden-Harris administration.
The US has added more than 700, 000 factory jobs (Federal Reserve Bank, St. Louis) under the Biden-Harris administration, more than under any president since the 1970s.
Median household income is $80,610, higher than it was in Trump’s last year in office (Statista Research Department).
More than 16 million new business applications in 2021, 2022, and 2023 (Small Business Association). This is more than the previous 4 years combined (Small Business Association).
Under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, more than $70 billion has gone to high tech firms to develop advanced semiconductor chips factories across the US. In response, companies have invested more than $400 billion in this growth. Factories are being built in Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Missouri, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, New York, Ohio. All of these involve vast infrastructure jobs and work training programs for the high paying jobs in the factories. (Council on Foreign Relations and Bloomberg).
More than $350 billion in federal money from Bident’s Infrastructure Act is going to assist several car companies and battery factories to meet future needs. Thirteen (13) new battery gigafactories are being built in Texas, Nevada, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, and a few sites yet to be determined (US Department of Energy). All of these involve vast infrastructure jobs and work training programs for the high paying jobs in the factories. When my wife and I go to visit the kids in the Louisville area we drive next to the one off I-65 in Kentucky. It is the largest factory I have ever seen in my life.
As of August of 2024, US field production of crude oil was 13,401,000 barrels a day. This is a record high (US Energy Information Administration).
The stock market has climbed to record levels. Under Biden, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is about 36% higher than when Trump left office, and the S&P 500 is about 53% higher.
At the end of the second quarter of 2024, hybrid, electric, and plug in hybrid accounted for 19% of all vehicles sold in the US (US Energy Information Administration).
“In the 35 years I’ve been an economist, I’ve rarely seen an economy performing as well as it is,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, who has advised both Republican and Democratic Presidents, He stated, “I’d give it an A+.”
The International Monetary Fund states that the US economy is the "central driver of global economic growth."
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