CBS This Morning on Friday previewed America's surging gross domestic product. The show even credited the tax cuts for the booming economy. ABC’s Good Morning America ignored the news, despite two hours of available air time.
CBS co-host John Dickerson touted that economists are expecting “big things.” Talking to business analyst Jill Schlesinger, he wondered, “Why are they expecting it to be so good?” Schlesinger credited the Trump/congressional Republican tax cuts:
We're expecting it to be so good because of the tax cuts. Corporations have taken those tax savings and spent a ton of money in the second quarter and it looks like individuals have done some retail spending.
This may have been a little too much for co-host Gayle King (who is also a Democratic donor lobbying Oprah WInfrey to make a 2020 run). Schlesinger touted the coming good news:
We're expecting about a 4, maybe a 4.2 percent annual pace for the quarter, right. And what's fascinating about that, if we get a 4, 4.2 percent number, it would put it in the top ten of great growth quarters since the year 2000. So, this would be a very significant quarter.
King looked for the downside. She complained: “But, yet, you keep hearing great economic numbers and people saying, ‘My life isn't getting better.’ How does this effect them?”
After 9am, when two of the three morning shows had ended, the GDP number was announced as a 4.1 precent increase, the best in nearly four years. At about 9:40AM, the President spoke about the good economic news. NBC's Today broke in with live coverage. During the live break in, NBC’s Chuck Todd feared that Trump had “over-hyped” the strong economy. (The networks also ignored Trump's economic swing through Iowa on Thursday.)
CNBC and Bloomerg saw the news as a “win for Trump.” For more on the cable coverage of the GDP number, go here.
A transcript is below:
CBS This Morning
7/27/18
7:32:48 to 7:34:45
JOHN DICKERSON: And economists are expecting big thing this morning when the government releases its gross domestic product report for the second quarter of the year. Experts predict economic growth — powered by goods and services in this country — could show the best results in years. The U.S. economy has been growing for nine years, making this the second longest period on record. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger is with us. Jill, good morning.
JILL SCHLESINGER: Good morning.
DICKERSON: So this is a quarterly report. Quarterly is different than annual. Why is this important and why are they expecting it to be so good?
SCHLESINGER (CBS News business analyst): We're expecting it to be so good because of the tax cuts. Corporations have taken those tax savings and spent a ton of money in the second quarter and it looks like individuals have done some retail spending. Retail spending up pretty significantly. We're expecting about a 4, maybe a 4.2 percent annual pace for the quarter, right. And what's fascinating about that, if we get a 4, 4.2 percent number, it would put it in the top ten of great growth quarters since the year 2000. So, this would be a very significant quarter.
DICKERSON: But you can grow too hot?
SCHLESINGER: You can grow too hot. The fed will keep an eye on that. For the whole year we're expecting a three percent growth. It doesn’t sound so great. But if we got three percent print for the whole year of 2018, it would be the best year of growth since 2005.
ROBERTS: But, yet, you keep hearing great economic numbers and people saying, “My life isn't getting better.” How does this effect them?
SCHLESINGER: You know, I think that's really important. Sometimes we report great news and people feel left out. We know many middle income Americans whose incomes have not been rising significantly over the last 20 years. We're hopeful this is the year that wages start to surge a little bit. We're seeing progress, but if you feeling a little bit like “I’m not participating,” you are not alone.
ROBERTS: All right. Thank you, Jill.
