THE ECONOMY:...Americans Not Exactly Bitching About Consumer Prices On Basic Goods...Concerned, Yes...Bitching, Not Really...Numbers Point To A Good Economy...Politicians Talking About Other Things...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...So, where is the one issue generally at the top of any national political season - the economy? How's your bank account? Is everyone okay? Are we better off today than we were four years ago, as the politicians and pundits love to ask every election year?

It's not bad.

Republicans may be damning the price of bread and eggs, but it's not bad. Not at all. Americans are lucky to have well-stocked grocery stores and working gas pumps. You should see how people in other countries struggle with that.

This excerpt from a report on axios.com: [ . . .Economists anticipated lackluster economic growth last quarter. Instead, growth surged, a sign of the still-resilient economy.

The soft landing was very much intact this spring. Price pressures eased, but not at the expense of the strong economy and labor market.

"While these estimates will be revised a few times, they do point to the continued strength of the U.S. economy despite the high interest rate environment we've been in for over a year," NerdWallet economist Elizabeth Renter wrote Thursday morning.

The economy grew at an annualized 2.8% in the second quarter, up from the modest gain of 1.4% at the start of 2024.

The consumer was the key driver of last quarter's strong economic growth. Personal consumption expenditures increased at a 2.3% annualized rate, gaining from the 1.5% pace in the prior period. That category contributed 1.6 percentage point to the increase in GDP figure.

Another big contributor to growth: Businesses stocked up inventories at a strong rate, adding 0.8 percentage point to GDP. Given that consumer spending was so brisk last quarter, the stocking was likely to keep up with current demand - not to make up for prior shortfalls. ]

The economy has not exactly been a topic on the presidential campaign trail, at least not yet.

Perhaps its ongoing strength has kept it as a low-rung issue, a host of other major news developments - assassination attempts and candidates dropping out - in the race superseding its usual standing.

Prices for the basic consumer needs have risen a bit, but maybe not enough to bother political interests. It wasn't that long ago that the price of a dozen eggs (average $3, a bit higher in Texas) set the tone for some political criticism. That waned and is now largely off the screen, no blip in sight.

That may yet change as candidates near the election finish line.

For now, it appears Americans have other things on their minds....

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