Bob Schwartz

Tag: economy

December 8, 2025

The U.S. is NOT the “hottest” economy in the world. Number 17 according to The Economist.

You may have heard somewhere from someone that the U.S. economy is the “hottest”, the best it has ever been, the best in the world.

According to The Economist, one of the premier news publications in the world, and definitely not liberal and biased against conservative or crazy governments, that just isn’t true.

Below is an excerpt from The Economist article Which economy did best in 2025?, including their five-factor methodology. Also included is the chart for the 36 countries considered.

Notes:

The published chart is interactive, but you may not be able to access the article and chart without a subscription. So the chart below includes only three of the five component data points used in the calculation.

Way to go Portugal (#1), Ireland (#2), and all the other countries that don’t claim to be “hot” but are actually “hotter” than the U.S. We in the U.S. would love to have a “hot” economy that would benefit all Americans, but as believers in truth, however inconvenient, the American economy is not currently “hot” and is not benefiting all Americans, despite someone’s claims.

Speaking of “hot”, how about Slovenia at #9? Whether or not, according to some, Melania is “hot” or “not”, her birthplace is “hotter” than the U.S. (#17).

The Economist

Which economy did best in 2025?
Our annual ranking returns

For the fifth year in succession, The Economist has searched for the “economy of the year”. We have compiled data on five indicators—inflation, “inflation breadth”, gdp, jobs and stockmarket performance—for 36 mostly rich countries. We have ranked them according to how well they have done on each measure, creating an overall score of economic success in 2025. The table below shows the rankings.

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June 29, 2018

Lying Without Consequence: “Trump’s top economic adviser says deficit ‘is coming down rapidly,’ contradicting virtually all available data”

Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man in the Trump Administration

 

Lying is Trump’s practice and the policy of his administration, even about the most significant public questions. But that is the not biggest issue.

The biggest issue is that there is no consequence for the lies. When the nation’s top economist completely misrepresents the state of the economy—in spite of all evidence to the contrary—nothing happens to him. Or to his boss. In fact, it seems that the best qualification for a job in the administration—and for keeping on Trump’s good side—is to be the biggest possible liar.

Washington Post:

President Trump’s top economic adviser said Friday that the federal deficit is “coming down rapidly,” contradicting estimates by nonpartisan analysts, Congress’s official scorekeeper and a branch of the White House.

Larry Kudlow, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on Fox Business that stronger economic growth was creating enough new tax revenue to bring down the deficit.

“The deficit — which was one of the other criticisms [of the GOP tax law] — is coming down, and it’s coming down rapidly,” Kudlow said. “It’s throwing up enormous amounts of new tax revenue.”

@larry_kudlow: “The deficit… is coming down, and it’s coming down rapidly. Growth solves a lot of problems.” pic.twitter.com/H375h7rV0a
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) June 29, 2018

It’s hard to know where Kudlow is getting his numbers. The deficit from January through April was $161 billion, according to Treasury, up from $135 billion at the same point last year. And it will deteriorate further from here, since the Treasury collects a large amount of tax revenue during April when taxes are due for most Americans….

Commenting specifically on the 2017 tax law, the CBO said it would increase deficits by $1.27 trillion over the next decade, even when including the positive effects of the law on the economy.  Annual deficits require the government to borrow money to finance its operations, adding debt. The CBO estimates that the amount of debt the United States will have in a decade will equal almost the total size of the economy.

Official White House data suggest deficits are increasing, too. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget says the deficit is rising from $665 billion in 2017 to $832 billion in 2018, and will approach $1 trillion annually in 2019.

“Deficits are not going down. They are going up,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank that advocates for budget discipline.

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