5% Growth? Or Even Better?

Just to reprise my New Year’s message that a Trump economic boom could deliver 5 percent, 6 percent, or even 7 percent growth, there are numbers out today that are uniformly stronger than even I thought. Economists take note: President Trump knows the economy better than you do. And what’s wrong with 5 percent or better growth?

The Atlanta Fed GDPNow for the fourth quarter, which you recall was the shutdown quarter, was revised up to 5.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the productivity of the economy, which is one of the most significant variables, has averaged 4.5 percent the last two quarters. That’s output per hour, for the non-farm economy.

Perhaps more importantly, non-financial corporate productivity, last two quarters, is up 3.8 percent.

So, productivity trending around 4 percent opens the door wide open for 5-percent plus economic growth.