Speaking of GDP, I glanced at this chart from the St. Louis Fed showing South Dakota’s annual gross domestic product from 1997 through 2024:
Notice that big uptick in the bars after the Trump/covid recession? Consider:
- Average annual SD GDP growth from 1997 through 2020: 4.90%
- Average annual SD GDP growth from 2021 through 2024: 7.85%
- Average annual SD GDP growth from 2017 through 2020: 3.34%
- Average annual SD GDP growth from 2017 through 2019: 3.45%
- Average annual SD GDP growth from 1997 through 2016: 5.38%
If I were doing Larry Rhoden math, I’d say South Dakota’s rate of economic growth under President Biden was “like six times or seven times” bigger than the historical average. But unlike Larry, I’m not into baseless misinformation. The annual rate of GDP growth during President Biden’s Administration was only 1.6 times that of average annual GDP growth in the preceding 24 years.
South Dakota’s economic output grew 2.35 times faster under President Biden than it did during Trump’s first term. Even before covid, annual SD GDP growth under Trump never exceeded 3.56%, well below the 5.38% annual average in the preceding 20 years.