General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's First Year Could Have Lasting Economic Consequences
For all the chaos along the way, President Trumps first year back in the White House is ending with an economy that looks, by most conventional measures, much like the one he inherited. Unemployment is low, consumer spending is strong and inflation is stubbornly high but gradually improving.
Tariffs, Mr. Trumps signature economic policy, havent set off the manufacturing renaissance he promised, but nor have they caused the surge in inflation that many forecasters feared. The stock market bobbed and weaved its way to a solid if not spectacular 16 percent gain. Analysts who began 2025 warning of the perils of uncertainty ended it by remarking on the U.S. economys surprising resilience.
Yet it would be a mistake to think that Mr. Trumps actions left the economy unscathed.
Much more so than in his first four years in office, Mr. Trump has begun his second term with what amounts to an all-out assault on many of the institutions and policy paradigms that have long been seen by leaders of both major political parties as the foundations of American economic strength.
He has sought to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve, fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency that collects key economic data, and cut funding to the universities that conduct much of the countrys cutting-edge scientific research. He has intervened in private business deals, taken stakes in private companies and threatened corporate executives who do not adequately embrace his policy priorities. He has sharply restricted immigration, questioned the value of Americas alliances and imposed punishing tariffs on friends as well as adversaries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/business/trump-first-year-economy.html?
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May all his enablers rot in hell.
(I actually don't believe in hell, sometimes I wish I did).
dgauss
(1,491 posts)It's hard not to feel that way considering the damage that is being done.
Johonny
(25,585 posts)On shit that doesn't help the long term GDP. No medical research, no funding for university research, he spent as much on ICE as Isreal pays for its army etc . . .
Then there is the lost economic trade deals. The lost markets. America is hurting and the hurt has only started.