Embedded Files
Next Meeting: 02/09/26, 7 PM, Ozark-Dale Library
Will Trump Tariffs Reignite Inflation?
Will Trump Tariffs Reignite Inflation?
How Will Proposed Federal Budget Cuts Impact Unemployment Rate?
How Will Proposed Federal Budget Cuts Impact Unemployment Rate?
Focus on Economy & Inflation:
Trump claims victory on US economy despite many Americans’ cost of living concerns
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/13/trump-economy-cost-of-living
Comment: "In speech, president delivers triumph assessment, claiming US prices are down despite official data showing otherwise"
Comment: And that whopper was just one of many falsehoods uttered by the President.
Trump warns of ‘complete mess’ if supreme court rejects tariffs
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/13/donald-trump-supreme-court-tariffs-iran-us-trade
Comment: "US president speaks after saying that any country that does business with Iran will face 25% levy on trade with US"
Comment: "Donald Trump has said 'it would be a complete mess' if the US supreme court were to strike down his global trade tariffs."
"In a lengthy post on social media, the US president said 'WE’RE SCREWED' if the supreme court rules against the tariffs. The decision is expected as soon as Wednesday. It is a crucial legal test of his controversial economic strategy and his power."
"Trump said it would be difficult to reverse the tariffs as businesses and countries could claim refunds, saying 'it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay'. He added: 'It would be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our Country to pay.' "
"In November, the supreme court appeared sceptical of the legal basis of the Trump administration's sweeping global tariff regime when justices questioned the president’s authority to impose the levies. Justices heard oral arguments on the legality of Trump’s tariffs."
Comment: The "complete mess" is a mess of Trump's own making, and the mess will only get worse as the illegal tariffs continue.
As enhanced ACA subsidies lapse, millions poised to drop health insurance
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/13/enhanced-aca-subsidies-lapse-uninsured.html
Comment: "About 1.5 million people had dropped their Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans by early January, according to initial data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services."
"The decline comes as enhanced federal subsidies for ACA premiums expired at the end of 2025, sending premium payments soaring for many this year."
"The CMS data is an early indicator of the fallout from the loss of subsidies. The final tally of a decline in coverage won’t be available until midyear."
"Republicans may face a political backlash at the polls if the subsidies aren’t restored, experts said. Most ACA enrollment growth has occurred in states that voted for President Donald Trump."
Video: Still reveling in yesterday’s victory against the crooked Trumpsters. - January 13, 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xS8_2nmDlM
Comment: Video from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, discussing a court judgment that overturned Trump's attempt to stop a major offshore wind energy project off the New England coast that will lower electricity costs for consumers .
Marrying for health insurance? The ACA cost crisis forces some drastic choices
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/12/nx-s1-5672426/aca-congress-insurance-subsidies-costs
China threatens to retaliate over Trump’s 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/12/trump-tariffs-iran
Comment: "China has threatened to retaliate against Donald Trump after the US president said he would impose 25% tariffs on countries that trade with Iran as a way of punishing Tehran for its brutal crackdown on the biggest anti-regime protests in years."
"Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said Beijing would 'take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests' after Trump threatened to ramp up the global trade war."
"Trump, who is still reviewing a range of military options against the Iranian regime, said the new tariffs would be 'effective immediately', without providing further details about whether there would be any exemptions, including for countries that only trade humanitarian goods such as medicines. More than 140 countries still trade with Iran, according to the World Bank, but sometimes only in minuscule amounts."
Comment: Trump makes these grand pronouncements without any thought of how the tariffs would be implemented and what the economic and foreign relation consequences to the U.S. would be.
A Supreme Court ruling that strikes down Trump’s tariffs would be the fastest way to revive the stalling job market, top economist says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/supreme-court-ruling-strikes-down-205747755.html
Video: 2025 now weakest job growth year since pandemic - January 9, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-WIdZMgpIY
Video: The mounting economic challenges weakening the job market - January 9, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbGBDgb7cTY
Comment: "The U.S. economy added a modest 50,000 jobs in December. It was below expectations and capped the weakest year for job growth since the pandemic. Employers added a total of 584,000 jobs for all of 2025, a big drop from the 2 million created in 2024. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.4%, but the jobs report points to a soft market."
More seniors are becoming homeless. Shelters are trying to adapt
Dollar Posts Worst Year Since 2017 With More Fed Cuts Expected
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dollar-set-worst-since-2017-110341700.html
Charted: The Distribution of Household Income in America
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/distribution-of-household-income-in-america/
Comment: "High income households in America capture a large share of the nation’s earnings, and this gulf has widened over time."
"In 2024, the top 20%—with an average household income of $316,100—took home 52.2% of all national income, up 8.7 percentage points from 1974. Meanwhile, the bottom 20% received just 3.1%, further shrinking over the period."
"This graphic shows U.S. household income distribution in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau."
"Trends in U.S. Income Distribution (2024 vs. 1974)"
"Below, we show how household income is divided across different income brackets:"
Comment: Please see linked article for income distribution chart.
Trump gives Christmas subsidies to farmers, lumps of coal to others
Bank of America CEO says the market "will punish people if we don't have an independent Fed"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bank-of-america-ceo-brian-moynihan-independent-fed-jerome-powell/
Comment: "Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan said last week that, as President Trump searches for a new chair of the Federal Reserve, maintaining the banking system's independence is paramount."
"The market 'will punish people if we don't have an independent Fed,' Moyniham said in a segment for 'Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan' that was recorded on Dec. 17 and aired Sunday. 'And everybody knows that.' "
SNAP benefit cuts will leave millions of Americans overworked and underfed
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5664077-food-insecurity-snap-eligibility/
Comment: "2025 marked a volatile year for the 41.7 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to buy food. But while their benefits were restored after the government shutdown ended, budget cuts and new work requirements mean the challenges will continue in the new year."
"As of December, millions of Americans are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits once again. That’s because President Trump’s ' One Big Beautiful Bill,' passed over the summer, reduced SNAP funding by $186 billion, the largest cut in the program’s history. In addition to this sweeping slash to funding, there are now tighter work requirements for determining who is eligible for SNAP benefits and for how long. Those who do not meet new work requirements will lose their benefits when their SNAP eligibility is next recertified, which happens every six to 12 months."
"What happens when millions of Americans are unable to meet work requirements?"
Comment: "Before Dec. 1, SNAP work requirements included exemptions for non-disabled adults above 54, veterans, people experiencing houselessness, and youth aging out of foster care. New work requirements, however, increase the upper age limit to 64 and remove these other exemptions. The bill also entirely restricts immigrants from receiving SNAP benefits, including refugees, asylees, and human trafficking survivors."
Renewable energy is cheaper and healthier – so why isn’t it replacing fossil fuels faster?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/renewable-energy-cheaper-healthier-why-150824011.html
Comment: "A decade ago, the cheapest way to meet growing demand for electricity was to build more coal or natural gas power plants. Not anymore. Solar and wind power aren’t just better for the climate; they’re also less expensive today than fossil fuels at utility scale, and they’re less harmful to people’s health."
Bankruptcies are exploding across the economy, hitting small businesses and households. Few industries are immune.
These small business owners will become uninsured after key ACA subsidies expire | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/27/politics/small-businesses-health-insurance-aca
US voters linking climate crisis to rising bills despite Trump’s ‘green scam’ claims
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/26/us-voters-link-climate-crisis-affordability
Comment: "Most Americans now connect the worsening climate crisis with their cost of living pressures, with clear majorities also disagreeing with moves by the Trump administration to gut climate research and halt windfarms, new polling has found."
"About 65% of registered voters in the US think that global heating is affecting the cost of living, according to the polling by Yale University and George Mason University."
"Extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, storms and heatwaves, exacerbated by the climate crisis, are taking a toll on food production, with recent spikes in the cost of coffee and chocolate blamed by experts, at least in part, on global heating."
"Meanwhile, many Americans have faced rising home electricity costs and steep increases in home insurance premiums, with both of these areas also influenced by the climate crisis and the Trump administration’s decision to choke off solar and wind power, often the cheapest source of energy."
"There has also been a broad backlash in many communities against new datacenters, which have been championed by the administration and the tech industry for advancing artificial intelligence but attacked by critics for causing planet-heating emissions and raising power bills."
Comment: "The US, unlike most other industrialized countries, remains highly polarized in its consideration of the climate crisis. While the Yale poll found that 59% of voters would prefer to back a candidate who supports action on climate, this number is skewed by the overwhelming majority of Democrats who want this."
"Just 21% of conservative Republicans, by contrast, want to support a climate hawk candidate, with 37% wanting the complete opposite."
" 'Looking at the long-term trajectory, there’s been a huge increase in the proportion of Americans who think climate change should be a priority for the president and Congress,' said Leiserowitz. 'But with Republicans, this number has basically been flat the whole time. It hasn’t changed much.' "
Trump launched global tariff wars in 2025. Here’s a recap of his trade actions this year
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-timeline-economy-2b10860dfdb2a5d9c3c4527136314992
As insurance prices rise, women puzzle through coverage options for their families
The ultraprocessed food makers have an answer for RFK Jr.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/25/ultraprocessed-food-rfk-affordability-maha-00692808
Comment: "Makers of ultraprocessed food have struggled all year to find a message to counter Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s, that they are poisoning the American people. They think they’ve hit on one: Kennedy’s plans are going to make already enormous grocery bills even bigger."
"Food manufacturers are making that case in an attempt to stop a wave of state moves to regulate food ingredients backed by Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement. The companies think it’ll resonate, considering how affordability concerns dogged GOP candidates in this year’s elections and threaten to again in the higher-stakes 2026 midterms."
Comment: Americans can either go broke at the grocery store or at the hospital. Welcome to Trump's America.
PBS: Trump administration says it will begin garnishing wages of student loan borrowers in default
Consumer confidence drops in December to lowest level since U.S. tariffs rolled out in April
New poll finds Americans in sour mood on economy and US leadership
US farmers say Trump’s $12bn package not enough to undo damage from tariffs
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/22/trump-aid-package-us-farmers
Comment: "Donald Trump, having promised to 'NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN', appeared to come through for them this month when he unveiled a $12bn aid package. Industry leaders say thousands of farms will still go bust this year."
"While the US president has vowed to increase domestic farm production, and even claimed this formed a 'big part' of his plan to lower grocery prices for Americans, many US farmers are grappling with mounting financial issues – compounded by Trump’s agenda."
"Grain farmers, in particular, have been hit by trade disruptions caused by tariff hikes, and $11bn of the US Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Bridge Assistance Program will go to row-crop farmers. Trump’s trade war with China has hit soya bean farmers the hardest, as China bought 54% of US soya bean exports last year, according to the American Soybean Association."
Comment: Too little, too late?
Comment: Please remember that this $12 billion dollar bailout, as insufficient as it is, will be paid for by US taxpayers. This is true, even if Trump claims that the money will come from funds raised by the tariffs. Tariffs are taxes, paid by U.S. importers, with much of the tariff cost ultimately paid by the consumer or end user.
Many farmers are going into 2026 on the brink
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/nx-s1-5646526/many-farmers-are-going-into-2026-on-the-brink
Less than a fifth of Americans say Trump has benefited their wallets: Poll
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5659177-trump-policies-financial-impact/
Trump’s ‘A+++++' economy collides with reality in a Pennsylvania city critical to the midterms
Donald Trump promised a new ‘golden age’ for the US economy. Where is it?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/20/trump-us-economy
Video: Mitt Romney: Tax the rich, like me - December 19, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdraM_I8CU
Comment: "Former U.S. Senator Mitt Romney says he has had an awakening, arguing that the U.S. is headed for financial disaster. Romney wrote in a New York Times op-ed that the only way to avoid it is to 'tax the rich.' University of Michigan Professor of Public Policy Betsey Stevenson, Co-anchor of CNBC's 'Squawk Box' Andrew Ross Sorkin, and co-founder of Punchbowl News Jake Sherman join Katy Tur with their reaction and analysis."
As Wage Growth Slows and Unemployment Rises, Trump Tax Cuts Deliver Big for Mega-Rich Retail CEOs
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-tax-cuts-retail-ceos
Video: Steve Rattner: The economy will grow more slowly this year than it did in last year of the Biden WH - December 18, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnqjTD79kU0
Comment: "Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner joins Morning Joe to discuss the latest U.S. jobs data and the president's Wednesday White House address."
Comment: Good economic analysis, especially on jobs and unemployment.
US prices continued to rise despite Trump claims they are ‘rapidly’ falling
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/18/november-us-inflation
Comment: "Longest federal government shutdown meant data was only collected for second half of November"
Trump promised a blue-collar jobs boom. The opposite is happening
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/economy/jobs-trump-manufacturing-trade
Americans are more dissatisfied with Trump's handling of the economy than ever, poll shows
Video: Many Canadians are still vacationing but not in the USA - December 16, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcpI1fBc87o
Comment: "Many Canadians continue to avoid travel to the United States due to trade tensions and other economic factors."
Behold, it’s the Trump who stole Christmas
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/16/trump-who-stole-christmas-affordability
Comment: "Trump gave what was billed as a 'Christmas speech' in rural Pennsylvania this past week that began with his 'wishing each and everyone one of you a very merry Christmas, happy New Year, all of that stuff' and boasting that now, under his presidency: 'Everybody’s saying ‘merry Christmas’ again.' ”
"He then claimed – contrary to the experience of nearly everyone in the crowd – that he had gotten them 'lower prices' and 'bigger paychecks'. He also asserted that anyone having difficulty making ends meet should just cut back on buying stuff. 'You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils … Every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two,” he said, adding: 'You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice. You don’t need 37 dolls.' ”
"It’s rich – Trump preaching austerity while raking in billions from his crypto investments."
" 'The only thing that is truly going up big, it’s called the stock market and your 401(k)s,' Trump continued, apparently unaware that 92% of the stock market is owned by the richest 10% of Americans while most Americans own no stock at all. Just over a third have a 401(k), 403(b), 503(b) or Thrift Savings Plan."
"He was supposed to talk about affordability, but Trump’s narcissistic brain seemed incapable of the minimal empathy to recognize the public’s angst over the cost of living. So he veered far off the affordability script to attack Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota congresswoman, ridicule windmills, mock transgender people, and call Joe Biden a 'son of a bitch'.
"Small wonder that most voters have had it with Trump. Even the Maga faithful are starting to have second thoughts."
About 130,000 Alabamians at risk of losing health care without ACA tax credit
U.S. Unemployment Rises to Four-Year High. Here’s What That Means for Trump’s Economic Plan
https://time.com/7341141/unemployment-report-trump-economy/
CNN: Unemployment rate hit a four-year high last month
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/16/economy/us-jobs-report-final-november-october
CNN: America’s job market just got some troubling news
https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/us-jobs-report-november-retail-sales
Five worrying employment trends buried in the latest jobs report
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/jobs-trends-teen-black-factory-workers-rcna249517
Comment: "The latest federal jobs report reveals rising unemployment among Black workers, disappearing factory jobs and lopsided growth in the health care sector."
"On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released delayed jobs data from the last two months, showing the U.S. shed 105,000 jobs in October and added 64,000 jobs in November."
"But a deeper look at the employment data reveals several trends that could spell trouble for the U.S. labor market if they maintain their current trajectories."
Thousands of carve-outs and caveats are weakening Trump’s emergency tariffs
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/14/trump-tariff-exemptions-us-imports-data-00685168
Comment: "In September, the White House exempted hundreds of goods, including critical minerals and industrial materials, totaling nearly $280 billion worth of annual imports. Then in November, the administration exempted $252 billion worth of mostly agricultural imports like beef, coffee and bananas, some of which are not widely produced in the U.S. — just after cost-of-living issues became a major talking point out of Democratic electoral victories — on top of the hundreds of other carve-outs."
" 'The administration, for most of this year, spent a lot of time saying tariffs are a way to offload taxes onto foreigners,' said Ed Gresser, a former assistant U.S. trade representative under Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump’s first term, who now works at the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. 'I think that becomes very hard to continue arguing when you then say, ‘But we are going to get rid of tariffs on coffee and beef, and that will bring prices down.’ … It’s a big retreat in principle.' "
Comment: "In an interview with POLITICO on Monday, Trump said he was open to adding even more exemptions to tariffs. He downplayed the existing carve-outs as 'very small' and 'not a big deal,' and said he plans to pair them with tariff increases elsewhere."
Comment: "In addition to the exemptions from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, more than $300 billion of imports are also exempted as part of trade deals the administration has negotiated in recent months, including with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and more recently, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brazil. The deal with Brazil removed a range of products from a cumulative tariff of 50 percent, making two-thirds of imports from the country free from emergency tariffs."
Comment: "As the rates of tariffs and their subsequent exemptions are quickly added and amended, businesses are struggling to keep pace, said Sabine Altendorf, an economist with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations."
" 'When there’s uncertainty and rapid changes, it makes operations very difficult,' Altendorf said. 'Especially for agricultural products where growing times and planting times are involved, it’s very important for market actors to be able to plan ahead.' "
Comment: Notice, that as currently implemented, the tariffs give Trump the ability to easily pick economic winners and losers, when it comes to certain U.S. businesses and industries, or to extort individual trading partners into compliance with unrelated U.S. diplomatic or foreign policy objectives. Sometimes, tariffs have been adjusted based solely on Trump's whims or a perceived personal slight from the effected country.
Comment: Constantly changing tariffs significantly impact business planning, as companies try to guess the rapidly changing costs of imported sales inventory, manufacturing components, or production equipment/supplies. International supply chains, even where the finished product is assembled/manufactured in the United States, can be severely disrupted.
Stop criticizing Trump's bad economy. You're making him sad. | Opinion
Comment: "Poor Donald. The problem isn’t that grocery prices are high and scattershot tariffs have made Christmas shopping more expensive and Republican cruelty has done away with Affordable Care Act subsidies, leaving millions of Americans to face skyrocketing health insurance premiums. No, the problem is that nobody is giving the president credit for all the good things happening in the make-believe world he inhabits."
Video: How tariffs on China are making the holiday season less merry for shoppers - December 13, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz-Fmu0sr8w
‘Not a gift-giving year’: student loan debt upends US borrowers’ holiday spending
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/13/student-loan-debt-trump-holiday-shopping
Comment: "A recent survey found that a whopping 40% of student loan borrowers say that their loans have negatively affected their ability to cover their basic needs, such as food, housing and transportation – a financial burden that becomes even more apparent around the holiday season."
Trump's approval rating on the economy hits record low 31%
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/12/trump-economy-inflation-affordability
Trump says U.S. prices are "coming down tremendously." Here's what the data shows.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-speech-affordability-fact-check-inflation-data/
Comment: "President Trump delivered a message Tuesday evening aimed at the millions of Americans struggling to afford daily necessities, saying his administration is 'crushing' inflation and that 'prices are coming down tremendously.' Economic data tells a different story.
"Prices have edged higher for much of Mr. Trump's first year back in the White House, with inflation in September rising at an annual rate of 3% (the most recent available inflation data because of the recent U.S. government shutdown)."
Tourists from 42 countries will have to submit 5 years of social media history to enter U.S. under Trump plan
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-tourists-social-media-history-5-years-trump/
Comment: "The Trump administration is proposing to ask visitors from several dozen nations that enjoy visa-free travel to the U.S. to submit additional personal information before entering the country, including five years of their social media history, the Department of Homeland Security said in a notice this week."
"Citizens of 42 countries enrolled in the visa waiver program can generally come to the U.S. for up to 90 days for tourism or business travel, without needing to apply for a visa at an American embassy or consulate, a process that can take months or even years."
"The list of countries in the visa waiver program includes many European nations like the United Kingdom, Germany and France, as well as some U.S. allies around the world, including Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea."
Comment: "The notice said CBP plans to ask visa waiver travelers to share their social media history for the past five years, emails they have used for the past 10 years and the personal information of immediate family members, including phone numbers and residences. The submission of social media history from the last five years will be a mandatory requirement under the proposal, according to the notice."
Comment: How do you think this proposed requirement will impact tourism and those trying to conduct international business here in the U.S.
Comment: How do you think a European CEO (or his European subordinates) will react when asked to submit 5 years of social media activity, just to enter the country to do business. Do you think he might reconsider opening an auto manufacturing plant here in Alabama?
Comment: Did this harebrained proposal originate from Stephen Miller?
Video: U.S. plans to require foreign tourists from dozens of countries to disclose social media history - December 10, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdVhGCB8NOo
Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/10/tourists-social-media-trump
Canada launches $1.2 billion push to attract talent, as U.S. charges $100,000 fee for H-1B visas
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canada-push-attract-talent-us-100000-fee-h-1b-visas/
Comment: Canada has launched a $1.2 billion initiative aimed at drawing leading researchers to the country, as the U.S. intensifies restrictions on highly skilled workers by charging $100,000 for H-1B visas.
"The Canadian government announced on Tuesday that its investment over 12 years will be used to recruit and support over 1,000 individuals advancing world-leading research in critical fields, including doctors and scientists."
" 'As other countries constrain academic freedoms and undermine cutting-edge research, Canada is investing in – and doubling down on – science,' Melanie Joly, Canada's industry minister, said in a statement. 'Today's investment is about securing Canada's place at the forefront of discovery and innovation and leveraging our strength in science to support our future well-being and prosperity for generations to come.' "
Comment: While Trump is discouraging these scientists, experts, and researchers, Canada realizes that these innovators will drive economic prosperity in the future. At least, for us, Canada is a better home for these talented people than China.
Trump veers off-script and does little to calm Republican nerves
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz94133zl9qo
Comment: "When Donald Trump took the stage at a rally on Tuesday night, he was expected to address concerns around affordability and the state of the US economy."
"Over the course of a sprawling 90-minute speech in Pennsylvania, he did talk about the economy – but also immigration, his Democratic critics, Venezuelan boat strikes, windmills and golfing."
"If some Republicans, and his White House aides were hoping for a focused message that the party could use to deflect repeated Democratic attacks over the economy, the president did little to deliver."
"Instead, it was a typical Trump rally speech, with his 'weave', as he likes to describe his style of frequent rhetorical tangents, on full display."
"He said Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who he called 'Susie Trump', had instructed him to focus on the economy."
"He complained about his advisers not wanting him to talk about border security – which he talked about anyway."
" 'I haven't read practically anything off the stupid teleprompter,' Trump said about an hour into his speech."
"And when he did talk about economy, the president's message was that things were bad during his predecessor's term, they were getting better now and that the best was yet to come."
Comment: Do you think Trump's rambling speech is indicative of his inability to focus on the economy, other than to make vague promises and blame any problems on his predecessor?
Trump's speech on combating inflation turns to grievances about immigrants
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/g-s1-101506/trumps-speech-grievances-about-immigrants
Comment: "The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and resort in Mount Pocono that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats had used the term 'affordability' as a 'hoax' to hurt his reputation. But his remarks weaved wildly to include grievances he first raised behind closed doors in his first term in 2018 — and later denied saying — asking why the U.S. doesn't have more immigrants from Scandinavia."
" 'Why is it we only take people from s—-hole countries, right?' Trump said onstage. 'Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?' "
"Trump said he objected to taking immigrants from 'hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.' He added for emphasis that those places 'are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime'."
Comment: "Following dismal results for Republicans in last month's off-cycle elections, the White House has sought to convince voters that the economy will emerge stronger next year and that any anxieties over inflation have nothing to do with Trump."
"He displayed a chart comparing price increases under his predecessor, Joe Biden, to prices under his own watch to argue his case. But the overall inflation rate has climbed since he announced broad tariffs in April and left many Americans worried about their grocery, utility and housing bills."
Comment: When he doesn't have a viable plan for improving the economy, Trump's solution is to blame the immigrants and divert the public's attention from his disastrous tariffs.
More than 75% of homes across the U.S. are unaffordable, study finds
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/affordable-housing-home-prices-bankrate/
Comment: "Homeownership is increasingly out of reach for most U.S. families as the gap between people's earnings and home prices widens, according to a new analysis."
"More than 75% of homes across the country are unaffordable for the typical household, Bankrate said in a report. The personal finance firm defines a home as affordable if the annual housing costs do not exceed 30% of a household's income."
Video: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says tariffs "have not in fact compromised our farmers" - December 09, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdM-HQ4MP4M
Comment: Another Trump administration official destroying her credibility, while covering for Trump?
Trump trade rep changes China soybean purchase timeline, cites ‘discrepancy’
Comment: "U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday that the deadline for China to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans from American farmers was not the end of December as the White House has said, but the end of the 'growing season'."
"Greer’s comment at the hearing came on the heels of a report by NBC News showing that the pace of China's purchases of soybeans in recent weeks was well short of reaching the agreed amount by the end of the calendar year."
Comment: This is just another example of the chaos and confusion associated with the Trump administration's tariffs and trade negotiations. This "discrepancy" will delay Chinese soybean purchases and will hurt soybean farmers even more. It will also hurt the American taxpayer, since the Trump administration is having to pay out a $12B bailout to help farmers survive the disastrous impacts caused by his tariffs.
Trump will again test ‘blame Democrats’ message on the economy — this time at a casino
Video: ‘Wrong and illegal’: Dem AGs slam Trump’s Agriculture Dept for SNAP cut threat - December 07, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiZUNjIsMQU
100K Alabamians could lose health insurance overnight
https://www.wsfa.com/2025/12/07/100k-alabamians-could-lose-health-insurance-overnight/
CNN: Swing-district Republican sounds alarm over GOP’s affordability agenda: ‘Doing nothing is not an option’
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/07/politics/brian-fitzpatrick-republicans-affordability-2026
Comment: "Swing-district" Republicans may want to address affordability, but those in predominantly Republican districts only want to pledge allegiance to Trump, for fear of provoking a MAGA primary opponent. In other words, these Republicans are willing to ignore the economic needs of their constituents in an attempt to save their jobs.
Video: Canadians need to ‘be prepared’ to face new security measures at U.S. border: immigration expert - December 07, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coP35COOMSE
Comment: Tourism from Canada is already suffering. Do you think these additional requirements will help?
Video: Key inflation report shows prices rose 2.8% in September - December 06, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlxT1ONSK2s
1 in 4 Affordable Care Act enrollees would 'very likely' forego health insurance if premiums double: Poll
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/1-4-affordable-care-act-enrollees-forego-health/story?id=128073349
Comment: Linked article also includes video.
Video: Trump announcing federal fuel standard changes - December 03, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phclFrW5sjI
Comment: Trump claims that this will lower new car costs, but claim ignores fuel cost. Also not mentioned are cost increases resulting from climate change impacts, including increased home and auto insurance rates due to more frequent and more powerful storms like hurricanes, floods, and tornados.
Alabama reports fewer job openings in August, new data shows
https://www.al.com/business/2025/12/alabama-reports-fewer-job-openings-in-august-new-data-shows.html
Comment: "The number of job openings in Alabama dipped in August, according to new data released Tuesday. "
"The state reported 105,000 job openings this August, which was down nearly 5% from July and down 13% compared to the year before, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The data is seasonally adjusted."
"The job openings rate in Alabama, 4.5%, sat just above the national rate of 4.3% in August. Job openings include all positions that are open on the last business day of August, that could start within 30 days and includes active recruiting from the employer."
Mom-and-Pop Business Bankruptcies Hit a Record as Debts Rise
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mom-pop-business-bankruptcies-hit-135207752.html
Video: New, stricter requirements implemented for SNAP benefits - December 02, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24JQnlQ-guM
Trump Official Panics as Brutal Jobs Report Blames Trump’s Tariffs
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-official-panics-brutal-jobs-165800280.html
Comment: "It turns out that Donald Trump’s tariffs aren’t good for private-sector jobs."
"A new report from payroll processor ADP found that private employees lost nearly 32,000 jobs in November, far off analyst projections that they would add 10,000 jobs. The data is a sharp decline from October, when businesses overall added 47,000 jobs, according to the ADP’s revised estimate."
" 'Larger companies are still hiring,' wrote Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, on X. 'Smaller firms (under 50 workers) are doing the layoffs. It’s been a very tough year for small biz due to tariffs and more selective spending from lower and middle-class consumers.' "
Video: Jeffries: Republicans "have done nothing...but stumble, fumble and bumble" on Health Care - December 01, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25zR0195laA
The agriculture secretary says SNAP changes are coming. Here's what we know
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/01/nx-s1-5608225/snap-rule-changes-usda-rollins
Comment: "Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is promising big changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which currently helps almost 42 million Americans buy groceries."
"In recent media appearances, she said attention on SNAP during the government shutdown 'has given us a platform to completely deconstruct the program' and said details about structural changes to the program would be released this week."
"Rollins has made a case for sweeping changes to SNAP by asserting her agency uncovered 'massive fraud' in state data the agency demanded, and has emphasized statistics suggesting wrongdoing without providing the underlying data or details. "
"The Trump administration's latest campaign for SNAP changes comes as millions of recipients are already poised to lose benefits in the coming years as states begin to implement new work requirements and eligibility rules that Republicans in Congress passed over the summer that are the deepest cuts in history to the program."
Comment: "Food policy experts say they are concerned that Rollins' talking points suggest a distorted view of the prevalence of SNAP recipients committing fraud, and seem to conflate fraud with payment errors of any kind."
" My worry is that she's risking setting a public narrative that this is a program that has more fraud than it actually does, or that the people who need it and use it to meet their very basic food needs are somehow committing a crime by seeking food assistance,' said Stacy Dean, executive director of George Washington University's Global Food Institute and a former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official during the Biden administration."
Comment: "Comments Rollins made in recent weeks that everyone on SNAP would have to reapply sparked confusion among SNAP recipients, state officials and food policy experts. SNAP recipients already have to go through a recertification process — in most cases every six or 12 months, and it is unclear what legal authority USDA would have to add additional steps."
"A group of Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter last month asking Rollins to clarify what she meant and pointed out that SNAP is facing 'unprecedented cuts' and there is additional uncertainty after the Trump administration halted SNAP payments during the shutdown."
" 'We are therefore troubled that the Administration could choose, at this moment, to add additional red tape that creates duplicative and unnecessary barriers to accessing nutrition assistance for families,' the letter reads."
Mapped: U.S. Credit Card Delinquency Rates by State (2025)
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-u-s-credit-card-delinquency-rates-by-state-2025/
Comment: Note that Alabama has one of the highest credit card delinquency rates in the nation.
What it would mean to have Kevin Hassett as Fed chair
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/01/kevin-hassett-trump-fed-chair
Comment: "Odds are building that President Trump will appoint White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett as the next Federal Reserve chair."
Comment: "The pick would put a Trump loyalist in the world's most powerful economic policymaking seat, allowing him to push for the much lower interest rates the White House has been demanding."
"Hassett would have closer ties to the sitting president than any Fed chair appointee has had in modern times."
Comment: "Even if the Fed cuts short-term rates, lower long-term rates — those that determine borrowing costs for homes, autos and more — are no sure thing if financial markets believe the Fed is simply doing Trump's bidding, with little regard for inflation."
"That perception might be difficult for a pick like Hassett to shake, given his relationships with the White House."
Americans say Trump has done more to raise prices than lower them by 2-to-1: New poll
Video: Consumer confidence tumbles in November to lowest point since April, report finds - November 25, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNecdGdTL_Y
Video: Trump officials struggle to message affordability to voters - November 25, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_WJm3xEVoc
New limits for a rent algorithm that prosecutors say let landlords drive up prices
Comment: "Landlords could no longer rely on rent-pricing software to quietly track each other’s moves and push rents higher using confidential data, under a settlement between RealPage Inc. and federal prosecutors to end what critics said was illegal 'algorithmic collusion'."
"The deal announced Monday by the Department of Justice follows a yearlong federal antitrust lawsuit, launched during the Biden administration, against the Texas-based software company. RealPage would not have to pay any damages or admit any wrongdoing. The settlement must still be approved by a judge."
Comment: While this may be good news for renters in the future, we note that Trump's DOJ's settlement imposes no penalties on RealPage for antitrust actions. The lawsuit was originally brought by the Biden administration. One wonders if the Trump administration would have ever brought the lawsuit to protect renters from coordinated attempts to fix higher rental prices.
Visualizing the World’s Rare Earth Reserves
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-worlds-rare-earth-reserves/
Comment: If rare earth minerals are so important to our future economic development, why is the Trump administration involved in an economic / foreign policy fight with Brazil (high tariffs, etc.), instead of helping Brazil develop its vast rare earth mineral reserves and establishing Brazil as a source of these materials for the U.S?
Consumer confidence slides as Americans grow wary of high costs and sluggish job gains
https://apnews.com/article/consumer-confidence-economy-55848421b5ff33ed244c8a4291f7facf
Comment: "U.S. consumers were much less confident in the economy in November in the aftermath of the government shutdown, weak hiring and stubborn inflation."
"The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to 88.7 in November from an upwardly revised October reading of 95.5, the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs that caused the stock market to plunge."
"The figures suggest that Americans are increasingly wary of high costs and sluggish job gains, with perceptions of the labor market worsening, the survey found. Declining confidence could pose political problems for Trump and Republicans in Congress, as the dimmer views of the economy were seen among all political affiliations and were particularly sharp among independents, the Conference Board said."
Comment: "Less-confident consumers may spend less, though the connection isn’t always clear. In recent years, consumer spending has held up even when the available data suggests they’ve grown more anxious."
Trump signs executive order launching AI initiative being compared to the Manhattan Project
Comment: "The order announced the 'Genesis Mission' for AI, a new federal push to mobilize the federal government's research and data to create artificial intelligence models."
Comment: What will be the mechanism to provide tangible benefits of this government funded initiative to the American public, and not just to corporations and billionaires?
Video: Trump delays announcing framework to manage health care costs - November 24, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWE9QrhfYZw
Video: Canadians hold off on U.S. travel amid strained relations - November 24, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IQ-NoJfKNc
Trump approval on economy down 15 points since March: Poll
https://thehill.com/business/economy/5620183-donald-trump-approval-drop-economy/
Homeless shelters are adapting to meet the growing number of seniors among them
Comment: "Seniors are the fastest-growing homeless population across the nation. Now, some shelters are trying to make it easier to accommodate the elderly."
Trump quietly holds off on Canada tariff increase
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/23/canada-tariffs-trump-00663710
Comment: "President Donald Trump has yet to follow through on his threat to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian imports, four weeks after he halted 'all trade negotiations' over an anti-tariff ad the province of Ontario ran during the Major League Baseball World Series."
" 'Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 25, after announcing two days earlier that he was terminating trade talks over the the 'egregious' ad."
"Trump’s announcement had Canadian exporters preparing for a worst-case scenario: a sweeping levy layered on top of existing double-digit duties, which would have been particularly painful for industries like autos, where components cross the border multiple times before reaching their final form."
"But to date, the Trump administration hasn’t sent any official documentation ordering U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enforce the new, higher duty, and U.S. importers have not received any new regulatory guidance."
Comment: "The White House did not say whether it still plans to impose the tariff when asked for comment. But a separate U.S. official suggested the Trump administration had opted to hold off on additional duties — which would have sent tariffs on Canadian goods to 45 percent — and instead continue to dangle the threat as the two sides gear up for future talks."
Comment: More Trump instigated changes and confusion regarding tariffs makes it difficult for U.S. (and Canadian) businesses to plan and invest.
Trump lifts tariffs on Brazilian beef, coffee
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5616802-trump-lifts-tariffs-brazil/
Trump cuts more tariffs with eye toward grocery prices
Comment: "President Donald Trump on Thursday eliminated tariffs on a large swath of Brazilian agricultural goods, including beef and coffee, dropping steep tariffs he imposed this summer as he feuded with Brazil’s government and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva."
Comment: "Brazil is a major exporter of foods to the U.S. like fruit juices and sugar, in addition to beef and coffee. The order effectively removes the 40 percent duty that was still on those goods, after Trump dropped Brazil’s 10 percent 'reciprocal' duty on a long list of food products as part of a separate action last week. It’s the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to address American cost of living and affordability concerns, after voters punished Republicans in off-year elections in early November."
"The list of food imports from Brazil that will no longer face tariffs matches the list in the Nov. 14 order, which struck down 'reciprocal tariffs' on more than 200 goods worldwide, including products used in fertilizer, tropical fruits like bananas and pineapples, coffee and several spices like cocoa, cinnamon and coriander."
"The new order on Brazil is backdated to Nov. 13, and the president said in the text that the administration will issue refunds for tariffs collected on imports of Brazilian agricultural products since that time."
"The White House in July issued an executive order imposing a 40 percent tariff on Brazilian goods, citing the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally, on allegations he sought to overturn the country’s 2022 election. The higher tariffs were stacked on top of existing 10 percent duties from Trump’s 'reciprocal' tariffs that were imposed in April to total 50 percent duties."
Comment: Since July, Americans have been paying 40% more for Brazilian products, simply because Trump was unhappy that his Brazilian pal, Bolsonaro, was arrested for trying to "overturn the country’s 2022 election." Sound familiar.
Comment: Now, when Trump is starting to feel the heat from voters angry about high grocery prices, he decides that "affordability" is a real issue, and he is deciding to eliminate some of his more onerous Brazilian tariffs.
Jobs report revision flips Trump-era gain to loss — and it’s fueling bad poll numbers
Comment: "The September report, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), found that employment in July and August was overstated by 33,000."
"Job creation in July was revised down by 7,000 from a gain of 79,000 to 72,000 and job gains in August were lowered by 26,000 from a gain of 22,000 to a loss of 4,000."
All SNAP recipients will have to reapply, USDA chief says
https://www.al.com/news/2025/11/all-snap-recipients-will-have-to-reapply-usda-chief-says.html
Alabama SNAP recipients face new work requirements after shutdown
Comment: "Alabama SNAP recipients must meet expanded work requirements and provide additional verification to maintain food benefits."
Comment: Video is included with the article.
China slow-walks U.S. soybean purchases as stockpiles hit multi-year highs, undermining Trump’s trade deal claims
Video: The Trump administration is racing to reframe his tariff rollbacks - November 17, 2025
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-racing-reframe-tariff-191946991.html
Trump's tariffs are costing companies. Keeping up with them may cost even more.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/16/trump-tariffs-ceo-company-resources-00651968
Comment "Businesses from Wall Street to main street are struggling to comply with President Donald Trump’s byzantine tariff regime, driving up costs and counteracting, for some, the benefits of the corporate tax cuts Republicans passed earlier this year."
"Trump has ripped up the U.S. tariff code over the past year, replacing a decades-old system that imposed the same tariffs on imports from all but a few countries with a vastly more complicated system of many different tariff rates depending on the origin of imported goods."
Comment: " 'This has been an exhausting year, I’d say, for most CEOs in the country,' said Gary Shapiro, CEO and vice chair of the Consumer Technology Association, an industry group whose 1,300 member companies include major brands like Amazon, Walmart and AMD, as well as many small businesses and startups. 'The level of executive time that’s been put in this has been enormous. So instead of focusing on innovation, they’re focusing on how they deal with the tariffs.' "
"Upping the pressure, the Justice Department has announced that it intends to make the prosecution of customs fraud one of its top priorities."
"The proliferation of trade regulations and threat of intensified enforcement has driven many companies to beef up their staff and spend what could add up to tens of millions of dollars to ensure they are not running afoul of Trump’s requirements."
Comment: "In one sign of the duress small businesses are facing, they have led the charge in the Supreme Court case challenging Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose both the reciprocal and the fentanyl-related tariffs."
"Crutchfield Corp., a family-owned electronics retailer based in Charlottesville, Virginia, filed a 'friend of the court' brief supporting the litigants in the case, in which the owners detailed its difficulties in coping with Trump’s erratic tariff actions."
" 'If tariffs can be imposed, increased, decreased, suspended or altered … through the changing whim of a single person, then Crutchfield cannot plan for the short term, let alone the long run,' the company wrote in its brief, asking 'the Court to quell the chaos'."
Fortune: Bessent says Trump’s $2,000 checks would need congressional vote
https://fortune.com/2025/11/16/bessent-trump-2000-tariff-dividend-check-congressional-vote/
Comment: The Headline says it all. Trump's proposed $2,000 check is very unlikely to occur.
Trump's Republican Party insists there's no affordability crisis and dismisses election losses
Comment: Republicans can continually deny the obvious, but the public is starting to wake up.
Voters in Virginia and New Jersey send a message: It’s Trump’s economy now
Tariff justifications are Trump's Swiss Army knife
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/15/tariff-justifications-are-trumps-swiss-army-knife
Comment: "President Trump has touted tariffs as the key to unlocking America's Golden Age — and his rationale for how they'll do that constantly shifts."
Comment: "Trump wields tariffs like an all-powerful multipurpose tool, but economists say his strategy isn't enough to address all of America's problems, especially if he's double-dipping into tariff revenues to fix cost of living issues, balance the trade deficit and reshore manufacturing."
Comment: "The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the Trump administration's authority to impose reciprocal tariffs on trading partners last week, and the court appeared skeptical of the legality of the move."
"Some of the justices suggested that in effect, the tariffs serve as a tax on Americans — a power strictly reserved for Congress."
"A potential ruling limiting tariffs would erase many of Trump's current plans for the money and would be what Trump has described as a logistical nightmare to figure out what to do with the billions of dollars in revenue America has already collected."
"Nonetheless, the president has pressed on, defending his tariffs and even finding new projects to spend the revenue on, including an improbable $2,000 rebate check for low-income Americans."
USDA data casts doubt on China’s soybean purchase promises touted by Trump
https://apnews.com/article/china-trump-xi-soybean-farmers-brazil-72ded79cdd71ce61e93337b8984e6f69
Comment: "New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month after a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping."
"The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit in South Korea that totaled 332,000 metric tons. That’s well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years."
"American farmers were hopeful that their biggest customer would resume buying their crops. But CoBank’s Tanner Ehmke, who is its lead economist for grains and oilseed, said there isn’t much incentive for China to buy from America right now because they have plenty of soybeans on hand that they have bought from Brazil and other South American countries this year, and the remaining tariffs ensure that U.S. soybeans remain more expensive than Brazilian beans."
Video: President Trump lowers tariffs on some food items - November 14, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2FBiyn5afk
Trump scraps tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruit in a push to lower prices
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/14/g-s1-97936/trump-tariffs-executive-order-beef-coffee-fruit
Comment: "President Trump announced Friday that he was scrapping U.S. tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other commodities — a dramatic move that comes amid mounting pressure on his administration to better combat high consumer prices."
"Trump has built his second term around imposing steep levies on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of encouraging domestic production and lifting the U.S. economy. His abrupt retreat from his signature tariff policy on so many staples key to the American diet is significant, and it comes after voters in off-year elections this month cited economic concerns as their top issue, resulting in big wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and other key races around the country."
""We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee," Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida hours after the tariff announcement was made."
"Pressed on his tariffs helping to increase consumer prices, Trump acknowledged, 'I say they may, in some cases' have that effect."
Comment: "Meanwhile, inflation — despite Trump's pronouncements that it has vanished since he took office in January — remains elevated, further increasing pressure on U.S. consumers."
"The Trump administration has insisted that its tariffs had helped fill government coffers and weren't a major factor in higher prices at grocery stores around the country. But Democrats were quick to paint Friday's move as an acknowledgement that Trump's policies were hurting American pocketbooks."
Video: Trump issues order rolling back some his food tariffs after high price complaints - November 14, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT0la1DfIj8
Comment: Consumers and news reporters have been pointing out the tariff impact to food prices for months. It took some recent election results to get Trump's attention.
Video: What to know about Trump's promise of $2,000 tariff dividend payments - November 14, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6hkioMH1Ic
Comment: Don't count on that dividend. Payments require congressional approval and there are a lot of questions to be answered.
The affordability crisis is forcing Trump to radically reshape his economic plan on the fly | CNN Business
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/business/cost-of-living-affordability-plan-trump
$2,000 tariff rebate checks? 50-year mortgages? Making sense of Trump's new proposals.
Comment: "Ever since Democrats swept the Nov. 4 elections, the president has been trying to regain his footing on cost-of-living issues."
Comment: "Democrats swept the major races in this year’s elections, delivering a check on President Trump’s second term — and a negative verdict on his economic leadership so far."
"Ever since, Trump has been trying to figure out how to regain the upper hand on cost-of-living issues. Asked about voter perceptions of an 'affordability crisis,' he dismissed them as 'a con job by the Democrats,' insisting that polls showing otherwise are 'fake' and that America now has 'the greatest economy we’ve ever had'."
" 'I don’t want to hear about the affordability,' the president said."
"But at the same time, Trump’s actions may be speaking louder than his words. In recent days, he’s announced a flurry of policies designed to ease the pressure on household budgets. Here’s everything you need to know about the president’s three biggest proposals."
Comment: As Trump desperately tries to improve the public's perception of his economic performance, he has proposed some unusual new actions. Please read the negative evaluation from economic experts regarding these new proposed actions.
Video: 'Groceries are way down': Trump repeatedly dismissed concerns about affordability- November 12, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT8_qNmcUDM
Comment: Fact check exposes lack of credibility from Trump. Is Trump lying or is he ignorant of the facts? Does it really matter to you?
Video: 'Incoherent.' Trump struggles to land economic message with Americans - November 11, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDCP3AXK1tQ
Video: 'Shark Tank' judge reacts to Trump's 50-year mortgage proposal - November 11, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FwTxib77qY
Trump proposes 50-year mortgage plan as housing costs soar
Comment: A 50-year mortgage plan could be characterized as "rent," because it will be very difficult for a home owner to obtain substantial home equity unless he makes monthly payments for decades.
Comment: With a 50-year mortgage, home owners will be making payments into their seventies, into their retirement years where their income will likely be limited. If there is a foreclosure, where will these seniors live?
Comment: Of course, people in the real estate business like this idea, because it helps them sell homes at exorbitant prices, to folks that can't afford them.
Comment: The idea helps politicians because this phony solution helps them avoid finding real solutions to the housing crisis facing young adults.
‘Yikes’: Top investment bank looks under the hood of the economy and finds ‘the labor market doesn’t look that good’
https://fortune.com/2025/11/10/economy-bad-low-hire-fire-labor-market-recession-levels-ubs/
Video: Supreme Court temporarily blocks full SNAP payments, putting recipients in limbo - November 8, 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uCM1jl3MD4
Visualized: U.S. Inflation by Category in 2025
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualized-u-s-inflation-by-category-in-2025/
Video: Trump touts cheaper but smaller Thanksgiving meal - November 7, 2026
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp-video/mmvo251580485688
Comment: "President Trump says the economy is in a "golden age," pointing to Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal bundle, which is roughly 25% less expensive this year than it was last year — but also contains fewer items."
Comment: When confronted with the facts, Trump lies and, of course, blames everything on Biden.
Trump touts Walmart's cheaper Thanksgiving meal, downplays missing products
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/07/trump-thanksgiving-walmart-snap-benefits
Comment: "President Trump has been pointing to Walmart's reduced Thanksgiving meal as proof that his economic agenda is driving prices down across the board."
Comment: "While the meal does cost less at a time when grocery prices are on the rise and millions are uncertain if they'll receive their full November SNAP benefits, the family feast also includes less food."
Comment: With Trump, it's always a good idea to read the small print.
Trump Hit With Jaw-Dropping 20-Year Record Number of Layoffs
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hit-with-jaw-dropping-20-year-record-number-of-layoffs/
Video: Ruhle: The economy is in a tricky place - November 6, 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxdke2avCXY
Job cuts in October hit highest level for the month in 22 years, Challenger says
Comment: "Layoff announcements soared in October as companies recalibrated staffing levels during the artificial intelligence boom, a sign of potential trouble ahead for the labor market, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas."
"Job cuts for the month totaled 153,074, a 183% surge from September and 175% higher than the same month a year ago. It was the highest level for any October since 2003. This has been the worst year for announced layoffs since 2009."
Comment: "The report provides a glimpse into the labor market at a time when the government has suspended data gathering and releases during the shutdown in Washington, D.C."
Yes, Trump's tariffs are raising billions — but at a steep economic cost
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/05/nx-s1-5596488/tariffs-trump-economy-inflation
Comment: "The tariffs at the heart of this week's Supreme Court case are raising tens of billions of dollars for the federal government. They're also costing consumers, frustrating businesses and hurting the manufacturers they're supposed to help."
"The average tax on U.S. imports today is nearly 18%, according to economists at the Budget Lab at Yale — up from 2.4% before Trump returned to the White House. The Treasury Department is collecting almost four times as much tariff revenue now as it was a year ago. The average tariff rate would be closer to 9% were it nor for the 'emergency tariffs' the Supreme Court is reviewing."
"Despite the administration's repeated claims that foreign suppliers are paying the tariffs, most of the bill is being paid by U.S. importers. And ultimately, at least some of the tab will be passed along to American consumers in the form of higher prices."
" 'It's a tax,' says Patrick Allen, a wine importer based in Columbus, Ohio. 'And it gets built into the price everybody is paying for goods.' "
Majority of Americans say tariffs hurt their family's financial situation, are spending more on groceries and utilities: Poll
Mapped: Median Rent Price by U.S. State
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-median-rent-by-u-s-state/
Comment: For older folks who own their homes, please consider the challenges of rent cost to younger folks just starting out.
Treasury Dept. says inflation is running 'above target' as Trump insists there is 'no inflation'
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna241696
US manufacturing mired in weakness as tariff gloom spreads
Comment: "U.S. manufacturing contracted for an eighth straight month in October as new orders remained subdued, and suppliers were taking longer to deliver materials to factories against the backdrop of tariffs on imported goods."
"Accounts from manufacturers in the Institute for Supply Management survey on Monday painted a dire picture of the factory sector, which ironically President Donald Trump's sweeping duties are intended to stimulate. Economists have long argued it was impossible to restore manufacturing to its former glory because of structural issues, including worker shortages."
"Some makers of computer and electronic products agreed, and noted last month that 'the cost to import in many cases is still more attractive than sourcing within the U.S.' The ISM added to the gloom from other advanced nations' factory surveys."
" 'Tariffs have been roiling the sector for much of this year,' said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets. 'The comments from individual respondents suggest that firms are exhausted by all of the back and forth on tariffs since the beginning of April and are suffering mightily as their customers have pulled back significantly.' "
Comment: More chaos and confusion introduced unnecessarily by the Trump administration.
CNN: White House says it will partially fund SNAP benefits after Trump threatens to withhold them until shutdown ends
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/04/politics/snap-benefits-trump-threat
Video: Trump administration to partially fund SNAP after judge's order - November 3, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDGIlmtslds
SNAP benefits will restart, but will be half the normal payment and delayed
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/nx-s1-5596121/snap-food-benefits-trump-government-shutdown
Comment: "The administration warns there could be lengthy delays before benefits get into the hands of low-income families who depend on SNAP to put food on the table."
Comment: "A delay in benefits was expected regardless of the outcome of the court cases, because many beneficiaries have their cards recharged early in the month and the process of loading cards can take a week or more in many states."
"The government said Monday that state agencies will have to recode their eligibility systems to adjust for the reduced benefits, and it is unclear how quickly state systems will be able to do so. It warned that in some states, these system changes 'will take anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months'."
Video: SNAP benefits will be partially funded as shutdown stretches on, White House says - November 3, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIN1T0QBps
SNAP benefits: Trump administration will provide only half of usual food stamp assistance in November | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/03/politics/november-snap-benefits-government-trump
Video: Millions of Americans brace for higher health insurance costs as open enrollment begins - November 3, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7E4OMAl1Vs
Some Americans are getting sticker shock as they shop for Affordable Care Act insurance
For News Articles links from before November 1st, 2025, please go to one of the following, depending on the article date:
https://sites.google.com/view/dem3oldnews/home/old3-the-economy
https://sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/old2-the-economy
OR
https://sites.google.com/view/demoldnews/home/old-the-economy
There you will find a continuation of the news links & comments from the period prior to November 1, 2025. The article history can be viewed as follows:
www.dalecodemocrats.com (latest)
sites.google.com/view/dem3oldnews/home/ (May 1, 2025 - October 31, 2025)
sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/ (Nov 2024 election - April 30, 2025)
sites.google.com/view/demoldnews/home/ (Prior to 2024 election)
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