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Pardon me from again borrowing from my G20 interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Yet I really want to repeat my view that the most powerful news story, however unreported, is the emergence of an economic boom that is now cutting across every sector of the landscape.
And here is more of what Mr. Bessent said to me in response to my growthier point of view: “And as you said, the president’s policies have laid the groundwork for this economy. So we have regulatory certainty. The president tasked this administration with cutting the regulatory burden, and that’s part of what we’re talking about here today.”
That’s the important regulatory side of the economic boom. By the way, that includes drill, baby, drill, where we are now producing almost 14 million barrels of oil per day, which is an extraordinary number. Plus, record natural gas and liquefied natural gas exports around the world, where Trumpian policies have made America the energy capital of the globe.
And then there’s a tax policy that the press doesn’t really want to write about. Yet perhaps the single most underrated yet powerful policy, is the permanent restoration of 100 percent bonus depreciation to deduct the full cost of qualifying investments, immediately in year one. Anything, machinery, equipment, restaurants, tech startups; small businesses can deduct even more up front than ever before.
This is an enormous part of the AI boom and the data center construction boom, which like the factories of old, is creating massive new job opportunities in manufacturing for working folks, like carpenters, welders, electricians, and plumbers. And counter to the doomsday crowd, these data centers generate their own electricity, their own water systems, they pay more in taxes, and they allow localities to even cut property taxes along the way. And let’s not forget tax-free tips, tax-free overtime, and roughly $300 billion in individual refunds during the latest tax season.
Just today, we got new numbers on the productivity of nonfinancial companies, which is now running at 3.1 percent annually over the past two years, an unheard of accomplishment. Nothing like it since the 1990s. And the manufacturing indexes from the Institute for Supply Management are up for eight months in a row. While the service indexes are up 15 months in a row.
There is a boom out there, folks, and that’s the story that Secretary Bessent has been telling us. If only the press would listen.
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