Fox Business host Larry Kudlow is calling out the national press for reducing the entire American economy to the price of a gallon of gasoline — and he brought the receipts to prove it.
In a commentary published Tuesday by Fox Business, Kudlow acknowledged that gas prices are "uncomfortably high" and "a problem for some people," and said he does not want to deny that. He also conceded that diesel prices are a "big problem for truckers." But he argued that adjusted for inflation, fuel costs today are roughly where they were during the Biden years — and that the press has done the country a "great disservice" by not reporting the rest of the story.
The Numbers Kudlow Says Americans Aren't Hearing
According to Kudlow, consumer spending rose 3.4 percent annually after inflation in the first quarter of this year, 3.8 percent in the second quarter, and is tracking around 3.5 percent in the third quarter, which is scheduled to be reported Thursday. He described those as "big numbers."
Same-store chain sales, he added, are up almost 10 percent over the past year. Gross domestic product is likely to come in around 3.5 percent in the third quarter when it is reported later this week, per Kudlow.
"So, if gasoline costs are so bad, why is consumer spending so strong?" Kudlow wrote.
The answer, he argues, is business investment. Kudlow pointed to Mark Skousen's business-to-business spending measure, which he said is booming, and to business capital expenditure — spending on machinery, equipment and factories — which he described as "the seed corn for future economic growth and productivity and wage gains."
Kudlow cited 15 percent growth in capital expenditure in the first half of the year and what he said looks like about 16.5 percent capex growth in the third quarter alone.
"We haven't seen numbers like this since the Reagan 1980s. Four decades ago. Why isn't the press reporting that?"
Why It Matters
The commentary lands as Republicans are being urged to tout economic gains ahead of the midterms — a push that was itself the subject of a panel discussion on "Kudlow," according to Fox Business. Kudlow's argument is that the story the White House and GOP candidates should be telling is already visible in the data, if only voters were hearing it.
The numbers he cites are not yet official. The third-quarter GDP and consumer spending figures are due later this week, and the capital expenditure figures come from Kudlow's own commentary rather than from a published government release included in the Fox Business piece. What is known is that the Biden-era inflation surge left prices elevated across the board, and that gasoline remains the most visible price in the economy — the one voters see on a sign every morning.
Kudlow's point is that the sign is not the whole economy. Consumer spending, chain-store sales and business investment are all pointing the same direction, he says, and none of it is making the front page.
Our Take
This is the fight conservatives have to win, and Kudlow just handed them the ammunition. For years, the legacy media treated gas prices as the single authoritative measure of the American economy — front and center, above the fold, every single day. Now that the numbers are moving the other way, the same outlets have gone quiet on consumer spending, chain-store sales and capital investment.
Patriots, ask yourselves: when was the last time you saw a network evening newscast lead with a 16.5 percent capital expenditure surge? When was the last time a front page told you same-store sales were up nearly 10 percent? You haven't, because the press is not in the business of reporting good news for this administration. The Biden years gave them a stick to beat Republicans with, and they are not about to put it down.
The story that must be told is that this economy — the Trump-Vance economy — is doing what the Reagan economy did four decades ago, and it is happening while the media keeps its cameras pointed at the pump. Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail should be shouting these numbers from every podium between now and November.
The third-quarter GDP report drops later this week. Watch what the press does with it. If the number is strong, you will hear about gas prices. If it is weak, you will hear about nothing else. That tells you everything about who they are working for.
