Even Fox can’t deny it anymore. Dean Baker with the deets: Soaring Structure Investment Makes Up for Slowing Consumption, as GDP Grows at 2.4 Percent in Q2 The economy grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, as strong investment growth offset slower consumption growth. Consumption spending grew at a just a 1.6 percent annual rate, down from a 4.6 percent rate in the first quarter. However, non-residential investment grew at 7.7 percent rate. Investment accounted for 0.99 percentage points of the growth in the quarter, only slightly less than the 1.12 pp attributable to consumption. Soaring Factory Investment Continues to be Major Factor Driving Growth All the categories of investment showed healthy growth in the quarter, with equipment investment growing at a 10.8 percent annual rate after falling the prior two categories. Those drops were likely driven largely by continuing supply chain problems with cars and semiconductor chips. Structure investment increased at a 9.7 percent annual rate after growing at a 15.8 percent annual rate the last two quarters. This is driven by factory construction growing at a 94.0 percent annual rate. This is the clean energy and chip boom, resulting from the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act. Investment in intellectual products grew at a modest 3.9 percent rate. The weakness is partly attributable to the writers strike, as investment in the entertainment category fell at a 1.2 percent rate after growing at a 5.5 percent rate in the first quarter. Service Consumption Drives Growth in…