US Economy Really Starting to Grow Again

“The Federal Reserve confirms the boom is widespread: manufacturing
activity, payrolls, and wages are rising nationwide,” the White House
reported.
“Manufacturing wages climbed 4.2% year-over-year — beating
inflation and putting more money in the pockets of American workers.”

Many today expect things to change immediately after an election but
change never really happens that fast – our country and our free
enterprise system try hard to react to changes that are coming faster
year after year. All the innovations that results from our competitive
economic structure have been coming even faster and faster over the
past 75 years and especially over the past 45 years.
Many people are risk adverse; they do not like change. Especially as a
lot of the press uses fear to gather viewers/reader to gather an audience
to sale to advertisers. Nothing wrong with that as long as people
understand where they are coming from – -just competing in our good
old free market/free enterprise system. But I digress!
Private sector capital investments are at an unprecedented level, an
estimated 4 trillion dollars is estimated to be transferred as baby
boomers grow older and pass on, stock market participation has grown
from about 50% to near 67% of workers due to 401(k)s and other
retirement saving vehicles, and all this is expected to continue at faster
rates.
The only thing that will stop this is bad government policies, heavy
regulation, and confiscatory taxes. One key thing that no one ever
mentions is that all taxes come from business. Payroll taxes, business
taxes, fees, licenses, permits, penalties, Social Security, Medicare,
Health Insurance and the very high cost of regulation are all a cost of
doing business and are paid by the consumers/customers everywhere.
They are just a cost of doing business.
Enough of that! Let’s move on with the good news.
Capital expenditure on data centers, IA technology, and factories are
boosting jobs along with local tax revenue. Besides IA, other factories
are being built to supply the above and for the reshoring of overseas
manufacturing here in the US. Construction workers are in great
demand right now, and their wages are growing at a much faster pace
than many other what many refer to as “Blue Collar jobs.”
Productivity is increasing due to better training, wage growth and
innovation in the trades, AI technology, and robotics. Productivity is the
key to any economy’s growth in standard of living, and the US has one of
the highest standards of living in the world. And it is going to go much
higher in the next couple of years based on what is happening now.
One more point – the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for July
manufacturing rose 55.6% in July 2026. Anything over 50% means
growth. This is the 7th month in a row for manufacturing growth in the
expansion territory.
Two keys to the future of jobs and growth will be a major overhaul of
education and increased vocational training.
Workers will have to get ready for even bigger changes in technology,
STEM education, vocational training, and ready to replace the large
amount of Baby Boomers retiring now and the near future.
Last note, the only way to beat inflation is to raise wage growth. Once
major inflation (normally caused by printing money – another discussion
coming soon) as we experienced +28% price increases between 2000
and 2004 – the prices do not really ever come way back down. Even
gasoline which has been over 4 dollars was also over 4 dollars during a
lot of Obama’s presidency and definitely during Biden’s presidency.
How quickly does the press forget. As you can see in the following chart
– wages are starting to overcome inflation.