tRumps late soaring GDP report is not only sus but Is More Evidence of What a Fraudulent Number It Is

Exports rose 8.8% while imports of goods fell at a 4.7% rate. While an economy as thoroughly dynamic as the U.S.’s shouldn’t be measured in the first place precisely because human action can't reliably be measured, consider once again that falling imports paradoxically increase GDP. Contemplate the meaning of what you just read.

Really, what other than investment could be a bigger signal of booming economic growth than the inflow of foreign plenty? The latter is a market signal that global producers are so optimistic about the present and future of the country exported to that they direct their production in ever greater amounts to that country. But GDP is shrunken by rising imports, while boosted by falling inflows of foreign goods.

Looked at in the present, President Trump and those in his Amen Corner will point to the GDP number with all-knowing glee, but the latter is substantially an effect of tariffs limiting the inflow of goods, thus mitigating a “trade deficit” that has long signaled U.S. economic growth much greater than GDP indicated. To simplify it as much as possible, what’s good for economic growth is bad for GDP, and vice versa.

Some will add that consumer spending also played a big role in the GDP report, but consumption is an effect of growth that already happened. Which means GDP is a monument to double counting in addition to a fraudulent measure of economic growth. Wise minds will dismiss this most worthless of numbers that only an economist could love.

https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2025/12/24/soaring_gdp_is_more_evidence_of_what_a_fraudulent_number_it_is_1155157.html