Trump is Hellbent on Tossing Economy Into the Dumpster

An economist warned Monday that the U.S. is “gagging” on uncertainty around the Trump administration’s economic policymaking and that the situation could get worse.

An analysis from the Peterson Institute has found that the tariffs could cost the typical U.S. household over $1,200 a year. But don't worry! Billionaire Hedge fund Manager and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed Trump’s tariffs won’t cause a spike in inflation. And who's more trustworthy than a billionaire who's also a hedge fund manager who ALSO bought his position by donating about $3 million to Trump and other Republicans?

“At some point, the tariffs will do economic damage because they’ll cost American jobs,” one analyst said. “Especially if other countries respond and retaliate and raise their own tariffs and impose their own trade restrictions—which is what they did, certainly what China did, back in President Trump’s first term.” He added that the “initial effects” of tariffs would be “higher inflation” before seeing “weaker economic growth” further down the line.

When asked about the impacts of Consumer confidence being down, consumer spending dropping, layoffs ticking up, and GDP forecasts turning negative, Analyst Mark Zandi had the following to say: “Well, I’m worried,” Zandi answered, citing “uncertainty around economic policy” under Trump’s administration. “It feels like the economy’s gagging on the uncertainty and, you know, the longer the uncertainty hangs around, the more likely the economy’s going to start choking,” he said. “And yeah, I think it’s going to do a lot of damage.”

Other Terrible Indicators

Auto industry experts have forecasted that Donald Trump’s tariffs are expected to send car prices soaring by as much as $12,000 per vehicle. After hemming and hawing and threatening for a month, Trump plans to impose broad tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico, starting on Tuesday. If Trump follows through with his pledged tariff rate of 25 percent, automotive groups say it will cost at least $4,000 more to build crossover utility vehicles.

A large SUV with “significant” parts manufactured in Mexico will see an increase of $9,000, while a pickup truck will see an $8,000 increase.

The price to produce an electric vehicle will jump $12,000.

Even before the tariffs, sticker prices were up more than 20 percent this year compared to 2020.

But this shouldn't affect AMERICAN car companies right? Well, considering parts are shipped back and forth between America and Canada during production - yes. And considering every single factory I've ever seen from the "good old days" are now $5000 dollar lofts rented out by software engineers, I don't think America has the infrastructure to bring car manufacturing fully stateside. So those "American jobs" MAGA keeps yelling about seem highly unlikely.

Oh and one more thing - The former head of the Social Security Administration warns that the entire system is ready to “collapse,” disrupting benefits payments within the next 30 to 90 days.”

“People should start saving now,” he urged.

Here's a video of the DOW dropping in real time as Trump talks about tariffs: