If you are one of the masses that get your "news" from the mainstream propaganda media or a meme, you were probably upset by the recent announcement regarding gross domestic product in the United States. It was announced that GDP had decreased by .3 points when most economists had expected an increase of about .4 points. The headlines declared the failure of the Trump economic policies. Democrats and RINOS demanded a reversal to prevent the economy from slipping into a severe depression. The truth of the matter is, the numbers underlying the GDP are absolutely fantastic.

There were several things that brought the GDP down in the first quarter. In anticipation of tariffs on imported goods, a number of manufacturers doubled or increased their normal orders. In fact, about 41% more than was anticipated or is normal for the first quarter. This reduced the GDP by about 5%. That will be reversed in quarters two and three because those companies will not be importing any goods.

Consumer spending increased by 1.8%. Consumer spending is the largest driver of our economy and given the four years of Biden, an increase was unexpected in this past quarter. More importantly consumer spending outpaced government spending for the first time since Donald Trump was last in office by 3.2%.

The reduction in government spending decreased the GDP by about 25%. That number is going to continue to grow as DOGE continues uncovering and cancelling unnecessary and excessive spending. Government spending can drive the economy, but it is inefficient. The government collects taxes and fees, takes a cut of that for their bloated operating expenses and then puts some back into the market. Reducing the amount that they take out means the private sector has more money to spend which they do so more efficiently.

One story they omitted completely, even from the economists that don't like Trump's tariffs, is that interest payments on the federal debt decreased for the first time since 2019/ 2020. Let me check my playbook because I think that was the last year of Donald Trump's first term. When he left office, the federal debt was $500 billion. When Joe Biden left office, it was $1.1 trillion. The debt had not only doubled but the interest payment on that debt had more than doubled because interest rates on borrowing had increased.

Finally, capital investments in the United States increased 21.9%. This includes the construction of new manufacturing facilities, upgrades of other manufacturing facilities and the belief in the private sector that good economic times are on the horizon, so they are expanding production capabilities. That means good jobs for Americans.

I don't care who's doing the reporting. It proves the undeniable truth of life in my world that you must always look behind the headlines for the truth. Sometimes you find it in the article or the report, but most often you need to go to the source document which is readily available to anyone in this case at bea.gov.