Kudlow: Record-high GDP for 3rd quarter growth 'exceeded all expectations'
Larry Ludlow, National Economic Council director, discusses record US economy growth on 'America's Newsroom.'
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden dismissed the U.S. economy's record-shattering growth as not "nearly enough" to get the country out of a "deep hole" on Thursday.
"This report underscores three inescapable truths about Donald Trump’s economy: we are in a deep hole and President Trump’s failure to act has meant that Q3 growth wasn’t nearly enough to get us out of; the recovery is slowing if not stalling; and the recovery that is happening is helping those at the top, but leaving tens of millions of working families and small businesses behind," Biden said in a statement.
US ECONOMIC GROWTH SHATTERS RECORD AT 33.1%, BUT FAILS TO SNAP CORONAVIRUS RECESSION
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, surged by 33.1% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from July through September, the Commerce Department said in its first reading of the data Thursday. The previous post-World War II record was a 16.7% increase in 1950.
The economy had contracted at an annual revised rate of 31.4% in the previous quarter, the sharpest decline in modern American history, and the economy remains 3.5% smaller than at the end of 2019.
The GDP data, released Thursday morning, was one of the last major economic indicators to come out ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Another key indicator, weekly unemployment claims, showed that the number of Americans filing for claims fell under 800,000 for the first time since March.
More than 65 million Americans ‒ roughly 40% of the nation's labor force ‒ have sought jobless aid since the coronavirus lockdowns began in mid-March.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, closes his umbrella as he boards his campaign plane at New Castle Airport in New Castle, Del., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, to travel to Florida for drive-in rallies. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
"Even with today’s report, GDP still remains $6,000 per household below its pre-crisis level, payrolls are down by nearly 11 million workers, and 23 million people are claiming unemployment ‒ including 750,000 new claims last week," Biden continued. "Today's report is not a victory for these families."
BIDEN AND TRUMP TO TANGLE IN TAMPA ON THURSDAY
The Trump campaign, however, took a victory lap on the GDP figure, touting it as "absolute validation of President Trump's policies, which create jobs and opportunities for Americans in every corner of the country."
"The president built the world’s best economy once and he's rapidly doing it again," Trump 2020 communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
"GDP number just announced," President Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday. "Biggest and Best in the History of our Country, and not even close. Next year will be FANTASTIC!!! However, Sleepy Joe Biden and his proposed record setting tax increase, would kill it all. So glad this great GDP number came out before November 3rd."
Biden also hit Trump after hope for another coronavirus relief being passed before the election faded, saying Trump has "no plan to convene Congress to get a deal done to get economic relief to those who badly need it."
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told "America's Newsroom" Thursday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was "stringing us along" and "going to hold up key assistance like the [Paycheck Protection Program], small business assistance and unemployment assistance."
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"I don't think this recovery depends on the assistance package, per se," Kudlow said. "But I do think unemployment assistance, PPP, small business assistance, helping the schools, that could have helped a lot. And it's not going to happen. The Democrats have been completely intransigent."
FOX Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.
