Claim: There's not much manufacturing. If you look at the UK, about 25 years ago no, about 1995 I think it was about 25% of our GDP was manufacturing, and Germany was about the same, 25%. So we're going back what, 30 years? Today Germany's still up there, 20-21% of its GDP is manufacturing, in the UK it's down at about 8%. So manufacturing's collapsed in the UK.
In assessing our economy or, really, any economy, you want to know if the economy is growing, that there are enough jobs for people, that people can borrow at reasonable rates and that the dollar you hold today is worth about the same as it did a year ago. If those four metrics are solid, we are good. Using Pareto's 80/20 principle-the idea that 20% of any set of numbers constitutes 80% of the value of the entire set-we
It makes for a weaker starting point, as companies see new opportunities around the corner to use AI to automate their work. It's not a new trend: These sectors showed weak job creation or outright job losses for the last couple of years of the Biden administration. But it is striking that a GDP surge fueled by data center and AI investment hasn't been enough to generate more robust hiring.
Reality check: At the end of July Lutnick posted to X that "the Trump Economy has officially arrived," citing a strong GDP report. Since then, a combination of weak jobs data and hot inflation reports has painted a very different picture of an economy struggling to grow. Just Thursday, the Consumer Price Index showed inflation rising for a fourth consecutive month, while initial jobless claims were the highest in years.
On Saturday's Velshi from MSNBC, the host brought up the new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers released by the Commerce Department which showed a large 3% growth in the second quarter under President Donald Trump.
In the G20 area, GDP growth saw a mixed performance in Q1 2025, with overall growth of 0.8%, as contractions were noted in Korea and the U.S.
California's recent rise to the world's fourth-largest economy magnifies a paradox where prestigious GDP figures contrast starkly with the economic struggles of average residents.
