CNN actually had the audacity to whip out Bernie Sanders socialist undertones to spin new data showing even stronger economic growth in Q2 in a big win for President Donald Trump as somehow a bad thing.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its third estimate of Q2 growth September 25, which revised the previous figure (3.3) to an eye-popping 3.8 percent and completely blew away expectations. After CNN published a relatively straight story on the new data, which was driven by a sizable uptick in consumer spending (+0.6 percent), Senior Economy Writer Alicia Wallace tried to upend the entire news the next day by shoehorning a ridiculous bourgeoisie vs. proletariat dynamic into it: “Trump’s tariffs are driving a wedge through the US economy, further separating the haves from the have-nots.”
Hey Bernie, come get your acolyte!
“Americans ramped up their spending in August; however, their costs of living were on the rise as food and other goods became even more expensive last month and services prices remained stubbornly high,” Wallace twisted. She then argued that the uptick in consumer spending “is increasingly being focused on essential purchases, such as health care, at a time when income gains aren’t keeping up.”
But, typically, Wallace isn’t telling the full story. Anti-Trump outlet MarketWatch, which reported on the same news that Wallace did, stated in contrast that “[w]hat’s helped are rising incomes. Worker pay is increasing faster than inflation, making paychecks stretch a bit further.”
But Wallace wouldn’t let up, and continued to kvetch over what she argued was a “K-shaped” economy and how “Another potential red flag for the economy is an ongoing shift in the composition of consumer spending” away from discretionary spending to more essentials. But as MarketWatch noted, despite the uptick in spending, “households appeared to have more than enough disposable income left over to go out to eat, travel and buy recreational vehicles. That’s the kind of spending that signals confidence in one’s job security and the broader economy.”
But in Wallace’s world, “when discretionary spending falters, that could spell trouble for the broader economy.”
In fact, MarketWatch’s entire story on the news was headlined: “ Consumer spending is strong — and the U.S. economy is all right.” Even Axios admitted the BEA report “undermines [the] economic slowdown narrative.” CBS News wrote that it’s “evidence that the economy remains on a solid footing.” It’s like Wallace was living in a different world.
Wallace attempted to make it seem like the only ones benefiting from the increased economic growth were only benefitting rich people: “One exception: people with large stock holdings.”
This is the same person who went on record in January gaslighting readers over how outgoing President Joe Biden was supposedly leaving his predecessor a “strong economy, historic gains in the job market,” and a “foundation for future manufacturing growth,” despite any evidence to the contrary.
Pathetic.
