{"id":226538,"date":"2025-10-26T13:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/226538\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T13:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:48:07","slug":"look-out-donald-inflation-and-economic-fears-are-coming-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/226538\/","title":{"rendered":"Look out, Donald: Inflation and economic fears are coming for you"},"content":{"rendered":"

This time last year, America was focused on the upcoming presidential election. Despite a major hiccup during the summer, in which President Joe Biden<\/a> bowed out after weeks of fevered speculation following a catastrophic debate performance and left Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> to carry the banner into November, Democrats were feeling very positive about their prospects. After all, the former guy, as Biden often referred to him, had lost the previous election, tried to stage a coup and had been convicted of 34 felonies<\/a>. He couldn\u2019t possibly make a comeback.<\/p>\n

But no matter how they tried to explain it to voters or to shift the focus to other issues, Democrats were faced with a problem. In the end, they couldn\u2019t escape it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In mid-2021, for the first time in 40 years, inflation<\/a> took hold of the American economy. The Covid-19 pandemic had caused upheaval around the world. Delayed consumer demand accelerated dramatically at a time when supply chains were chaotic and necessary government stimulus increased the money supply. The Russian invasion of Ukraine put even more stress on the situation by driving up food prices and energy costs. By June 2022, inflation reached 9%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, just a month before the presidential election, inflation had decreased dramatically to 2.4%<\/a>, just slightly above the Federal Reserve\u2019s target of 2%. But people weren\u2019t feeling the recovery \u2014 and in politics, perception is everything.<\/p>\n

Prices hadn\u2019t reverted to what they were before the pandemic. And when the price of eggs spiked <\/a>due to an outbreak of avian flu, it became the symbol of general anger and unhappiness at the overall economy. The vibes, as they became known, were bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many Democratic party officials, pundits and analysts believe inflation is what got Donald Trump<\/a> reelected. There were enough people who were spooked by perceptions about the economy, and many remembered the first Trump administration as a kind of golden economic age \u2014\u00a0mostly because he kept telling them they were. They believed he would bring prices down. At campaign events and in interviews, Trump would be asked what he planned to do about the cost of living, and he would meander around, saying that tariffs would bring in huge amounts of money, implying the government would cover additional costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Want more sharp takes on politics? Sign up for our free newsletter<\/a>, Standing Room Only, written by Amanda Marcotte, now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During one appearance<\/a>, he was asked about the soaring cost of child care. He clearly had no idea how to respond, so he first referenced his daughter Ivanka\u2019s work on the issue during his first term. Then Trump declared that, \u201crelatively speaking, [childcare is] not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we\u2019ll be taking in.\u201d At an event at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he posed with tables full of groceries and vowed<\/a>, \u201cWhen I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.\u201d<\/p>\n

That never happened, and now many of the people who were counting on their grocery bills going back to what they were seven or eight years ago are gravely disappointed. Still, that hasn\u2019t stopped Trump from telling them that their vibes are wrong and that inflation is gone. During a Thursday roundtable at the White House, he dismissed such anxieties<\/a>. \u201cInflation, I\u2019ve already taken care of,\u201d he said. \u201cEconomically, the country is the strongest it\u2019s ever been \u2014 thank God for tariffs. If we didn\u2019t have tariffs we\u2019d be a third-world nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a typically absurd comment and barely anyone believes it \u2014 not even many of his own supporters. Polling shows that inflation is the president\u2019s lowest issue rating, averaging in the mid-30s and dropping.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a typically absurd comment and barely anyone believes it \u2014\u00a0not even many of his own supporters. Polling shows<\/a> that inflation is the president\u2019s lowest issue rating, averaging in the mid-30s and dropping. While the price of eggs has fallen back to normal levels now that the bird flu crisis has abated, people are seeing the price of beef skyrocket by 51%<\/a> since February 2020. Americans famously love beef, so this placed Trump in dangerous territory \u2014\u00a0even before he announced his plan to quadruple imports of Argentinian beef<\/a>, which have left ranchers \u201cfurious,\u201d according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s tariffs haven\u2019t helped. Inflation has been edging up ever since he announced his trade war in April, despite the warnings of most economists, who cautioned that tariffs will raise prices for consumers. The full effects of Trump\u2019s tariffs haven\u2019t yet been felt. Bigger companies were able to front load their inventories in anticipation, and small businesses have been taking out loans and freezing hiring <\/a>to keep from raising prices. While farmers are being squeezed<\/a> by losing their international markets due to retaliatory tariffs, they are facing higher prices for their own inputs at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aside from the AI boom that\u2019s fueling the stock market bubble, the economy is basically frozen, according to economist Paul Krugman.<\/a> Everyone is holding their breath, waiting to see if the mercurial Trump will continue these tariffs, or if he will pull back once he\u2019s flattered just the right way or given something he wants in return. (On Saturday, Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods after a television ad funded by Ontario used the voice of President Ronald Reagan to denounce tariffs and aired during the World Series. He had already suspended trade talks with Canada on Thursday because of the ad.) But with the tariffs in effect, businesses are paying more for the imports they need to produce their goods and supply their customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government shutdown has delayed the release of all economic data except the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September, which the administration called back federal workers to produce because it\u2019s required to determine Social Security payments. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported<\/a> that the CPI showed a 3% rise when compared to September 2024 \u2014 the fastest annual pace since the start of the year. When combined with what is assumed to still be a deteriorating job market \u2014\u00a0those numbers are still unavailable due to the shutdown\u00a0\u2014 it shows that Trump\u2019s claim that the economy is the strongest it\u2019s ever been to be laughable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inflation is now a ticking time bomb for Republicans. They should have learned from the Biden administration\u2019s stumbles that you can\u2019t persuade people that they should be happy about the cost of living just because the statistics are good. And in this case, the statistics are not good. In fact, they\u2019re getting worse.<\/p>\n

Not even Trump, with his talent for pounding falsehoods so relentlessly that it convinces a lot of people to believe him instead of their own eyes, can beat the vibes when people are paying more and earning less. It\u2019s another perfect storm, and this time it\u2019s one entirely of his own making.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

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