Durable goods data and a right-leaning rebuttal of "no manufacturing boom" coverage
A Breitbart Business Digest column, republished by Hot Air, cites the Census Bureau's durable goods release to argue US manufacturing is booming and disputes Politico and Axios coverage that questioned the strength of the revival.
1 / 1
The story, neutrally told
Right · 1Breitbart's John Carney wrote that the Census Bureau's durable goods release on Tuesday 27 October showed new orders up 8.0 percent year-to-date through September. BreitbartR “New orders are up 8.0 percent year-to-date through September.” Read at Breitbart ↗ Right · 1He reported core capital goods orders (non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft) up 10.9 percent, with primary metals orders up 16 percent, machinery 13.4 percent and computer and related equipment 20.3 percent. BreitbartR “Primary metals orders are up 16 percent, fabricated metal products up 8.8 percent, machinery orders up 13.4 percent” Read at Breitbart ↗ Right · 1Against January–September 2024, President Biden's final year in office, the column said durable goods orders are up 15.9 percent and core capital goods orders up 13.9 percent, or 6.4 percent after deflating by the producer price index for private capital equipment. BreitbartR “Even if we deflate these numbers by the producer price index for private capital equipment, core capital goods orders are up 6.4 percent since the final Biden year.” Read at Breitbart ↗
Right · 2It said shipments are keeping pace: durable goods shipments up 8.5 percent, core capital goods shipments up 8.8 percent and computer shipments up 18.8 percent. BreitbartR “Shipments of durable goods, for example, are up 8.5 percent. Core capital goods shipments are up 8.8 percent.” Read at Breitbart ↗ Hot AirR “Computer shipments are up 18.8 percent.” Read at Hot Air ↗ Right · 1The column contests two recent media pieces. Politico described an "output bump" and said manufacturing construction spending had fallen from about $250 billion annually in November 2024 to $170 billion in August, citing the St. Louis Fed. Axios, citing Burning Glass Institute economist Gad Levanon, said job gains were concentrated in advanced manufacturing. BreitbartR “Spending on manufacturing construction projects has been in free fall since late 2024, dropping from an annual rate of around $250 billion in November 2024 to $170 billion this August”“Those industries, which account for just 38 percent of manufacturing employment, added 56,000 jobs, while the rest of manufacturing lost 16,000.” Read at Breitbart ↗ Right · 1Carney's rebuttal is that August construction spending was still more than twice the August 2019 pace, that computer, electronics and electrical equipment plants account for about $72.5 billion of the $81 billion decline, and that data centres, recorded as office construction, reached an annualised $85 billion. BreitbartR “It shows that spending on construction of computer, electronics, and electrical equipment factories has fallen approximately $72.5 billion from September 2024.”“Spending on data center construction reached an annualized $85 billion in August” Read at Breitbart ↗
Right · 1He attributes the earlier surge to subsidies from the CHIPS Act, Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure law that pulled spending forward, and says rising productivity is a good sign rather than a reason to discount output. BreitbartR “Those subsidies pulled forward spending from future years.”“A manufacturing renaissance accompanied by rising productivity is exactly what we should hope for.” Read at Breitbart ↗ Right · 1On jobs, he says fabricated metals, electrical equipment and primary metals together added 47,400 jobs over the year against a net 40,000 for all manufacturing, and suggests nondurable job losses may partly reflect deportations; this is his own inference, not a sourced finding. BreitbartR “That’s 47,400 jobs in just three traditional manufacturing industries, more than the 40,000 net jobs added by the entire manufacturing sector.”“It’s very likely that at least some of these reductions do not reflect voluntary reductions in headcount but are the result of deportations” Read at Breitbart ↗ Right · 1Hot Air republished the opening of the column on 29 October under the headline "The Surreal War Against America's Manufacturing Boom", carrying the orders and shipments figures. Hot AirR “The report, in other words, describes a boom in demand for American-made durable goods.” Read at Hot Air ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left0 outlets
No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Centre0 outlets
No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Right2 outlets
- Framing
- Opinion pieces present the durable goods data as proof of a manufacturing renaissance and portray Politico and Axios as downplaying it.
- Emphasis
- Year-to-date orders and shipments gains, comparison with Biden's final year, and rebuttals of construction and jobs worries.
- Leaves out or plays down
- The Politico and Axios arguments are given only as quoted and rebutted by the columnist; no economists critical of the boom are heard directly, and the Hot Air version omits the rebuttal section.
- Charged language
- “Surreal War”“manufacturing boom”“renaissance”“Fortunately, it’s bunk.”
What every side reports
- The Census Bureau released durable goods data on Tuesday 27 October.
- Both articles report orders up 8.0 percent year-to-date through September and shipments up 8.5 percent.
Where accounts differ
-
Whether US manufacturing is booming
- Left
- No left outlet covered the story; Politico and Axios views appear only as quoted by Breitbart.
- Centre
- No centre outlet covered the story.
- Right
- The columnist says orders, shipments, equipment investment and construction spending show a boom, and that critics in Politico and Axios are wrong.
Census Bureau organisation
Its durable goods release is the data source the column relies on; the Bureau itself is not quoted.
“Census Bureau data gives us some very direct evidence that this subsidized pulling forward is responsible for almost all of the decline.” — Breitbart
US manufacturing topic
The column describes US manufacturing as in a renaissance, with traditional industries also growing.
“Factory output in traditional manufacturing is also rising.” — Breitbart
Left0 articles
No coverage yet.
Centre0 articles
No coverage yet.
Right2 articles
-
BreitbartR · · Opinion
Breitbart Business Digest: The Surreal War Against America's Manufacturing Boom
Critical Opinion column arguing the Census data shows a boom and that Politico and Axios coverage misleads.
-
Hot AirR · · Opinion
The Surreal War Against America's Manufacturing Boom
Celebratory Short republished excerpt of the Breitbart column highlighting rising orders and shipments.
- 27 Oct 22:17 First BreitbartR Breitbart Business Digest: The Surreal War Against America's Manufacturing Boom Opinion
- 29 Oct 17:00 +42h 43m Hot AirR The Surreal War Against America's Manufacturing Boom Opinion
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.
Ask about this story
Loading…