\n But those excuses are already falling flat.\n <\/p>\n
\n Excuse No. 1) Biden. Trump continues to disparage Biden<\/a> for high inflation, but Biden hasn\u2019t been in office for 12 months, and polls show Americans are no longer giving Trump the benefit of the doubt.\n <\/p>\n \n For example, in CNN\u2019s most recent poll<\/a> on the economy, 61% of Americans said Trump\u2019s policies have \u201cworsened economic conditions in this country.\u201d That\u2019s a higher percentage than those who blamed Biden for the direction the economy had taken.\n <\/p>\n \n Excuse No. 2) Powell. Trump started criticizing his 2017 pick for Fed chair almost immediately after taking office again, slamming Powell for keeping interest rates higher than Trump wants.\n <\/p>\n \n Powell has acknowledged the Fed responded too late to rising inflation in 2021 and 2022, earning him the \u201ctoo late\u201d nickname Trump uses to blast Powell on social media. But Trump says Powell is once again too late, arguing that reduced interest rates would help bring down mortgage rates and unlock the frozen housing market.\n <\/p>\n \n Even though Powell was Trump\u2019s own choice to lead the Fed, Trump has said his nomination was a mistake and that the next Fed chair<\/a> will lower rates quickly.\n <\/p>\n \n When that chair is appointed, likely in May when Powell\u2019s term as chair expires, Trump will have claimed the economy for himself. That could be a politically precarious proposition for the president.\n <\/p>\n \n Among the many dangers of Trump\u2019s economic blame game is that the president has almost certainly overpromised on what the new Fed chair will be able to accomplish.\n <\/p>\n \n Although the Fed chair wields outsize influence over the voting members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, ultimately they are just one of 12 votes and cannot unilaterally set interest rates. Trump has a number of Fed appointments to make this year, and installing like-minded voters could help to usher in an era of lower rates \u2013 but it\u2019s by no means guaranteed.\n <\/p>\n \n Even if the next Fed chair gets rates down significantly in 2026, it\u2019s not clear that would dramatically improve America\u2019s affordability problems. It might actually make them worse.\n <\/p>\n \n Lower interest rates can reduce businesses\u2019 borrowing costs, unlocking capital for hiring and other expenses. Over time, that can help boost the job market, but it can also lift prices. More jobs can mean bigger paychecks, which can lead to more consumer demand.\n <\/p>\n \n Changes in interest rates can take many months to work their way through the economy, and the Fed already lowered rates in three straight meetings to close out 2025. Lowering rates further risks a longer-term reignition of inflation.\n <\/p>\n \n Lower interest rates could, however, help bring mortgage rates down. The two aren\u2019t directly linked \u2013 home loan rates are more closely tied to long-term US Treasury yields. But those tend to move in tandem over time with the Fed\u2019s short-term rate changes.\n <\/p>\n \n High rates have hurt the housing market, for sure, and reduced mortgage costs could crack open the market for some first-time buyers. A dip of even a single percentage point could shave hundreds of dollars off the monthly cost of owning a home \u2013 and hundreds of thousands of dollars off long-term interest payments.\n <\/p>\n \n But lower mortgage rates would not solve high housing prices, driven in large part by a massive supply shortage. America needs to build 4 million more homes to keep pace with population growth, according to Goldman Sachs. That has contributed to entrenched affordability problems in major metropolitan areas \u2013 especially New York and San Francisco.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s also possible lower mortgage rates would, instead, exacerbate America\u2019s growing wealth divide, enabling current homeowners to refinance their mortgages and unlock their home equity \u2013 while doing little to add much-needed supply to the market.\n <\/p>\n \n Ultimately, the president really can\u2019t do much to control the direction of the US economy \u2013 a $30 trillion behemoth that federal legislation and executive orders just don\u2019t have all that much sway over.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has already enacted policies that affect Americans\u2019 affordability \u2013 for better and worse. For example, tariffs have raised the average American household\u2019s expenses by $1,100 in 2025, according to the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation<\/a>. Trump\u2019s spending and tax bill will give millions of Americans a larger tax return in 2026, but it also is expected to remove millions of Americans from Medicaid<\/a> coverage. He has also gotten many drug companies to lower prices for Medicare patients and pitched $2,000 tariff rebate checks to be delivered ahead of this year\u2019s midterms.\n <\/p>\n \n Those policies, though significant for many Americans\u2019 wallets, will do little to solve the big, underlying problems that this economy faces. Hiring has stagnated<\/a>, unemployment is on the rise<\/a>, wage growth is falling<\/a>, inflation remains stubbornly high<\/a>, and lower-income Americans are living paycheck to paycheck<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/12-2025-12-11t204214z-1100628832-rc28tfax616n-rtrmadp-3-usa-trump-fed.jpg\")
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