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Unleash Prosperity Hotline Issue #1576
08/12/2026
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1) Shall I Compare Thee to the Biden Pay?

Let’s compare the “affordability” issue under Biden and Trump. We just updated the trend under both presidents. Under Biden real wages went straight down and then made a slight comeback during his last year in office. Under Trump 2.0 real wages are up 1.2%. That’s a small gain in affordability, but it isn’t negative. Under Biden the real wages were DOWN nearly 4%.

Real Wage Gains and Losses - Biden V Trump
A chart, "Real Wages — Biden vs. Trump 47."
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2) This Tax Cut Should Be a Lay Up

The Left loves to talk about “tax fairness,” so we can't imagine even Bernie Sanders being against this tax cut:

The exemption from capital gains tax on the sale of a home was set at $250,000 for an individual and $500k for a couple almost 30 years ago. Unlike most other tax code provisions that protect taxpayers from paying higher taxes due to inflation, this exemption level has never been adjusted for inflation. So as the charts below show, if these levels had been indexed for inflation, the exempt amounts would be $500,000 for singles and $1 million for couples.

Homeowners get screwed. Many are paying a hefty sales tax on phantom “gains” that are mostly due to inflation. This inflation tax also deters older Americans from selling their homes. Better to die in the house and avoid the tax thanks to the step-up in basis at death.

Any budget/reconciliation bill that passes this Fall should at the very least fix this injustice and bad economics. (Click on the images to view a larger version)

Tax Exemption on a Home for A Single Homeowner
A graph, "The home sale tax break has lost half its value since it was established."

Tax Exemption on a Home for A Married Homeowner
A graph, "The home sale tax break has lost half its value since it was established."
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3) Counties With Data Centers Are Getting Richer

Earlier this week UP conducted a focus group in a small town in Virginia that has several data centers. We confronted a lot of opposition - which only confirmed that Americans across the country have turned against building of more data centers in their county.

The question is why?

The chart below shows what we’ve been saying over and over: counties hosting large data centers have tended to experienced faster housing growth, rising home values, lower unemployment, and stronger job creation compared with the U.S. overall. The orange bar denotes cities with data centers already operational.

Data centers are often springboards for economic development, jobs, and more city services.

We understand people are mixed in their opinions about data centers - due to noise, water issues, higher utility bills, etc. Some of these are myths, and we think tech companies should avoid putting these facilities in communities that don’t want them.

But people need to know the facts and the advantages of having more jobs, more tax revenues, and higher home values, to name a few.
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4) Anybody Want Two-and-a-Half TRILLION Dollars?

This may be the biggest corporate investment/spending boom in American history. It’s the new gold rush:

According to Bloomberg, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle are planning on $2.6 trillion in future spending.
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Talk about making America great again. Wow!!
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5) Want Lower Prices? Repeal The Jones Act

A silver lining of this year’s turmoil over energy prices is that it just might accelerate the death of the Jones Act, a century old law that requires shipping from one U.S. port to another to be U.S. manufactured, owned, and crewed.

It has clearly failed in its purported goal of propping up the U.S. Merchant Marine. There are only 92 Jones Act-compliant ships today, of which only 55 are tankers. Even U.S. flagged ships can't carry cargo between American ports if they weren't also built in the U.S. and carried by American ships. The rule raises prices on all consumer goods but especially on fossil fuels and food.

President Trump suspended the Jones Act after the Iran conflict erupted in March, and extended it in April. He has now added another 90-day extension. There has since been a 50% increase in domestic shipments between U.S. ports, much of it gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

The longer the waiver lasts the more people will learn about its perversity. More than 40% of California’s gasoline imports come from the Bahamas, but they really originate in U.S. refineries, are then shipped to the Bahamas before being transported to California. That’s one reason for $6 a gallon gas prices in many Golden State cities.

Another three months of allowing market forces to operate will build a case that can be presented to Congress early next year asking to repeal the entire monstrosity. Until then, Trump should keep the waiver in place and consumers will continue to save.

Here is the progress so far, according to the Cato Jones Act Waiver Tracker:
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6) How Much Does It Cost?
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