{"id":312584,"date":"2025-11-28T16:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312584\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T16:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:30:09","slug":"amid-instability-and-fear-in-trumps-economy-americans-are-cutting-holiday-spending-us-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312584\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid \u2018instability and fear\u2019 in Trump\u2019s economy, Americans are cutting holiday spending | US economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans are feeling rattled about the state of the economy. Donald Trump has batted away<\/a> question after question from reporters on concerns over higher prices, just a year after he won an election promising to bring down costs.<\/p>\n

While the White House has tried to reduce concern<\/a>, floating tariff-funded $2,000 stimulus checks and removing import levies on certain agricultural imports, many consumers remain anxious.<\/p>\n

Preparing for the holiday season, and bracing for the spending it often demands, Guardian readers across the US expressed apprehension \u2013 and explained how they plan to spend \u2013 in this economy. Many said the higher cost of necessities, like groceries, was imposing on their ability to buy gifts for family and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love giving people gifts,\u201d said Grace Brown, 34, of Charlotte, North Carolina. \u201cI\u2019m a person that pays attention all year and will keep notes in my phone if someone mentions something in July they may want.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this year is different. As prices have climbed over the last year, Brown said that her budget for gifts has shrunk. Things already feel squeezed: she and her fiance are already limiting eating out, and have agreed they won\u2019t exchange gifts with each other this holiday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrices for everything have gone up,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard to have luxuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collection of key pricing data was halted during the shutdown, so it\u2019s unclear how much higher prices have been rising. In September, the latest available reading, prices went up 3%, compared with 2.3% in April.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the official data, consumers feel like prices have been climbing. On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence had fallen<\/a> to its lowest level since April, when Trump first announced his full slate of tariffs. The University of Michigan\u2019s Surveys of Consumers, another measure of consumer sentiment, similarly showed<\/a> drops in confidence after the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on a fixed income, we have had to cut way back on our spending for the holiday,\u201d said Jeffrey Larimore, 68, of Caldwell, Idaho. \u201cWe had enough disposable income to go out to dinner, take weekend trips and spoil [my granddaughters]. Since the tariffs have raised the cost of living, we have cut out all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan, a retired law enforcement officer in Texas, who wished to withhold his last name, said his family \u201ccan barely put food on the table\u201d let alone do holiday shopping for his young children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m scrambling to find some way to preserve some aspect of magic for them,\u201d he said. \u201cI spent my life in service to my country. What he [Trump] has done in less than a single year breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent surveys indicated that Americans are set to cut back on holiday shopping this year. Deloitte estimated<\/a> that spending could be down 4% compared with last year, while the National Retail Federation said that after hitting a record high last year, the amount of money Americans are planning to spend this year is down<\/a> 1.3%.<\/p>\n

In addition to prices going up, more Americans are concerned about the labor market. While expectations of unemployment dropped<\/a> after Trump\u2019s election, it has been climbing up over the last year. This sentiment tracks with the slow rise in unemployment, which was 4.4% in September \u2013 the highest it\u2019s been since October 2021. For many, this means that higher prices aren\u2019t the only concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy homeowner\u2019s insurance is up, 2026 health insurance is up, property taxes are up for 2026,\u201d said Sarah Tenbensel of Minneapolis. \u201cI may need a second job very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shari Dunn, 57, of Oregon, said that in addition to prices going up, \u201cthere is fear regarding employment and contacts\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just tariffs \u2013 it\u2019s everything. The instability and fear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dunn said she is participating in the economic boycott<\/a> taking place over the Black Friday shopping holiday, one of a handful of consumer boycotts<\/a> that have been organized since Trump started his second term.<\/p>\n

For some, this past year has meant opting out<\/a> of the economy in frustration with national politics. Linda McKim Bell, 79, of Portland, Oregon, said that she has tried not to buy anything new since Trump took office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have shopped all year at online thrift stores for my family gifts,\u201d she said. \u201cI am making the rest of our holiday gifts: orange marmalade and homemade pastries make great gifts. Will continue to buy items that are used as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said that even though she and her fiance have agreed not to exchange gifts, she may make a trip to Asheville, North Carolina, and support local artists there as the community continues to recover from Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we have money to spend, we try to spend it there with small businesses,\u201d Brown said. \u201cOne thing I just remember from high school is my teacher would always tell us \u2018you vote with your dollars\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Americans are feeling rattled about the state of the economy. Donald Trump has batted away question after question…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-312584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}