Americans are peeking at their 401(k) plans and investments, and daring to think that maybe, just maybe, America is getting great again. Numbers suggest this may be true.

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its 23rd all-time high of 2017 on Wednesday, closing at 21,532,” writes Gateway Pundit contributor and economic analyst Joe Hoft, who found that the market is up 9 percent since President Trump’s inauguration, and 17 percent since the Nov. 8 election — closing at record highs “an amazing 40 times” since that day.

“Americans are benefitting greatly in their 401k’s from the recent change in administrations. When compared to President Obama, the current president is smashing it. In Obama’s entire first term, the U.S. stock market never reached a new closing high,” Mr. Hoft notes.

America is getting some nice reviews elsewhere.

“The prevailing view among publics around the world is that the United States remains the top global economic power, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. “Across 38 nations polled, a median of 42 percent say the U.S. is the world’s leading economy, while 32 percent name China. In all of the countries surveyed in Latin America, as well as most in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, publics tend to believe the U.S. is the top economy. And by a 51 percent to 35 percent margin, Americans name their own country rather than China.”

MEGA-MAGA

Let’s hear it for “MAGAnomics, a handy-dandy new term coined by Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal:

“If the Trump administration has one overarching goal, it’s to Make America Great Again. But what does this mean? It means we are promoting MAGAnomics — and that means sustained 3 percent economic growth. For most of our nation’s modern history, a healthy American economy meant one that grew at roughly 3.5 percent. That was the average growth rate between the late 1940s and 2007. Since then, it has hardly topped 2 percent.”

Mr. Mulvaney says three percent growth in the next decade will yield a $16 trillion increase in the nation’s gross domestic product, an increase of $2.9 trillion in U.S. government revenues, and a $7 trillion rise in American wages.

“If we enact the president’s broad agenda — if MAGAnomics is allowed to work — we will have set the stage for the greatest revival of the American economy since the early 1980s. It will remind people — including those who have forgotten, or those who don’t want you to remember — what a great America means. That is driving everything we do,” he noted.

PROTECTIVE MEDIA AT WORK

“ABC, CBS, NBC evening news shows have been dominated by one subject this week: Donald J. Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower,” writes analyst Geoffrey Dickens, in a new study for Newsbusters.org, a conservative press watchdog.

During four nights this week, the three networks devoted over 62 minutes of airtime to Mr. Trump’s story — but have ignored “Hillary Clinton’s Russia-Uranium scandal” since 2015. ABC, CBS and NBC gave the matter just three minutes during the entire two-year period, Mr. Dickens found.

He recalls that Peter Schweizer — author of the 2015 book “Clinton Cash” — revealed that a Canadian uranium company, seeking approval of a sale to the Russian government from the State Department, which Mrs. Clinton then led, donated millions to the Clinton Foundation.

“At the time, she was considered the favorite to win the Democratic nomination — but the networks couldn’t care less,” observes Mr. Dickens.

DEMOCRATS STILL STUCK ON ‘RESISTANCE’

Saturday is “National Resistance Summer Day of Action,” says Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez.

“Democrats are hitting the pavement and going door-to-door in our communities, talking to our neighbors about the issues that matter in each state — whether it’s stopping the Republican health care repeal, fighting back against Betsy DeVos‘ attacks on public education, or supporting Democratic candidates who will take on the GOP,” Mr. Perez notes in a new outreach.

“What we do this weekend couldn’t be more important,” the chairman advises, asking his loyal flock to “commit to canvass.”

HUFFINGTON POST IN SEARCH OF AMERICA

Coming soon to a highway near you: The Huffington Post seven-week bus tour which will roll through 20 states in search of, well, something.

“We want to know: What does it mean to be American today? To find out, we’re hitting the road this fall to interview people about their hopes, dreams, fears and definition of being American,” the news organization notes.

“Trust in the news media is at an all-time low. We want to address that head-on, and build trust in the work we do, by visiting communities that are largely ignored by national media,” explains Huffington Post editor Lydia Polgreen.

The journey commences in September.

WEEKEND REAL ESTATE

For sale: Merrywood, the childhood home of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, classic Georgian mansion built of brick and limestone in 1919 on seven acres above the Potomac River in McLean, Virginia. Four stories, nine bedrooms, 13 baths; 23,000-square-feet. Original plaster, woodwork, architectural details preserved. Entry hall, multiple formal rooms, chef’s kitchen, wine cellar, elevator. Formal gardens, pavilions, complete outdoor kitchen, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, carriage house, “scenic vistas.” Priced at $49.5 million through Sothesbysrealty.com; find the home here.

POLL DU JOUR

• 34 percent of Americans say the “Trump administration’s relationship with Russia” is a very serious problem; 6 percent of Republicans, 29 percent of independents and 62 percent of Democrats agree.

• 14 percent overall say it is somewhat serious; 7 percent of Republicans, 14 percent of independents and 19 percent of Democrats agree.

• 18 percent are not sure; 10 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of independents and 10 percent of Democrats agree.

• 13 percent overall say it is not very serious; 25 percent of Republicans, 12 percent of independents and 6 percent of Democrats agree.

• 21 percent overall say it is not a problem at all; 52 percent of Republicans, 18 percent of independents and 3 percent of Democrats agree.

Source: A YouGov/Huffington Post poll of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted July 11-13.

• Ballyhoo and balderdash to [email protected]

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