Bidenomics delivers. Trump blows smoke. The EPC market (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) tends to be counter-cyclical. Spending there leads to jobs and increased manufacturing later. When engineers (moi) and construction workers (later) start looking for work, others are getting jobs in factories we’d just completed designing and building. As new factories come online, our work might slow down. Know the difference. So here are two stories about that. Axios: Bidenomics naysayers will focus on tales of a manufacturing “contraction” (Bloomberg): The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing gauge edged up 0.7 point to 47.4 last month, helped by a pickup in production, according to data released Wednesday. Readings below 50 indicate contraction, and the figure was near economists’ expectations. The December result extends the longest stretch of shrinking activity since 2000-2001, when the dot-com bubble burst and sparked a recession. High borrowing costs, waning demand, etc., etc. However (Industry Week): To many investors and observers, the Dec. 13 signal from the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting Federal Open Market Committee that it might cut three times this year was a reason to move to a more optimistic stance about continued growth in the U.S. economy. It looks like many corporate executives were already there. A handful of recently published surveys, reports and forecasts have shown that leaders in manufacturing and beyond are pretty upbeat about what lies ahead in 2024. The “vibecession” that writer and financial educator Kyla Scanlon coined to sum up persistent negativity in the face of improving economic data looks to be leaving…