December 23, 2025
You may feel like the US economy is trash– but according to brand new data from the federal government today – the US economy is the best it’s been in years.
The third quarter GDP numbers were released by the commerce department this morning and it found that the US economy grew by 4.3% between July, August and September. 4.3%! That’s higher than any number we’ve seen in two years. This number is much much higher than anyone expected.
So what’s going on? First you should understand — GDP is the gross domestic product. It is the value of all the goods and service produced across the us economy. GDP is measured every quarter, ever year. So why is this third quarter GDP number so good? Well – first – according to the report GDP grew because imports fell so dramatically obviously because of president trump’s tariffs. Remember I said GDP is the measurement of all the goods and services produced across the u-s economy? Well – imported goods are not produced by the US economy so if imports are down – which they are – then they aren’t factored into the GDP number and that GDP number goes up. On top of that – the report said government spending increased – mostly in the defense sector. But the biggest reason for the significant jump in GDP – according to the commerce department came because of consumer spending. Consumer spending was up 3.5% when compared to 2.5% in the second quarter.
But – it may not be your spending that is increasing. Most economists say all the consumer spending we’re seeing in this report and across the US economy is likely coming from the highest earning Americans….not from middle income or lower income Americans. We know those groups are pulling back on their spending because of the increase in prices on every day goods and services. But those price increases don’t really impact the higher earners.
Read the GDP report here.
