Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is feeling good about the US economy. Really good. In recent remarks, Bessent described the macroeconomic picture as “very healthy” and “very strong,” projecting the kind of confidence that tends to move markets when it comes from the person managing America’s $36 trillion balance sheet.
The optimism isn’t entirely unfounded. Bessent pointed to private-sector real GDP growth of 4.7% on an annualized basis over recent quarters, a number that strips out government spending to isolate what the productive economy is actually doing.
The case for ‘non-inflationary growth’
Inflation has been cooling toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, a trend that Bessent attributes to the administration’s tax reforms and broader deregulation push. The combination of solid growth and falling prices is what Bessent is calling “non-inflationary growth.”
Bessent has projected this dynamic will carry into 2026, describing the US as having “all the makings for a very strong economy” with roughly 2.6% growth and continued cooling on the inflation front.
