The U.S. economy is running hotter than the headlines let on, Fox News contributor Liz Peek argued on Kudlow, joining financial journalist John Carney for a deep dive into the latest jobs data, ISM readings and corporate earnings. Liz’s message was simple: stop fixating on gas prices and look at the engine driving the economy — profits, productivity and an AI investment boom that is rippling far beyond Big Tech.
Pointing to Ed Yardeni’s forward earnings consensus, Liz said corporate profits are “booming” through the rest of this year and into next — a story she said never gets the attention it deserves. “High oil prices get the headline, gasoline prices get the headline, profits never get the headline,” she said. “But they’re driving the economy, every part of it.” Every earnings season, she noted, has delivered another big beat.
The macro backdrop supports her case. ISM services and manufacturing are both well above 50, JOLTS job openings remain near 6.9 million — in the top quartile of 25 years of data — and the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker just jumped to 3.7% for the second quarter. With labor force growth slowing as illegal immigration falls, employers are leaning into automation rather than hiring more bodies, a shift Liz framed as a productivity tailwind rather than a weakness.
The throughline, in her view, is artificial intelligence — but not in the narrow sense of data center stocks. Construction crews are being hired to build AI infrastructure, factories are filling orders for the parts that go inside, and durable goods orders are rising on American-made demand. Her bottom-line call: this isn’t a slowdown, it’s an acceleration. “Bet on America,” she said. Watch Liz Peek’s full appearance on Kudlow here.
