Trump Says the Economy ‘Went to Hell’ under Biden. The Opposite Is True

THE GUARDIAN: By standard measures such as job and GDP growth and the stock market, the US economy was in excellent shape

Donald Trump keeps saying he inherited a terrible economy from Joe Biden and many Americans believe him, even though that’s not true. During his White House marketing event for Tesla on Tuesday, Trump said the US and its economy “went to hell” under Biden. Last week, in his national address to Congress, Trump said: “We inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”

But the truth is that by standard economic measures, the US economy was in excellent shape when Biden turned over the White House keys to Trump, even though most Americans, upset about inflation, told pollsters the economy was in poor shape.

When Biden left office, the unemployment rate was a low 4.1%, and during Biden’s four years in office, the average jobless rate was lower than for any president since the 1960s. Trump has repeatedly railed against the high inflation under Biden, but the fact is that by the time Biden left office, the inflation rate had fallen to just 2.9% – down more than two-thirds from its peak and near the Federal Reserve’s inflation goal. » | Steven Greenhouse | Sunday, March 16, 2025

Scott Galloway on Markets, Musk, and Trump’s “Weapons of Mass Distraction” | Amanpour & Company

Mar 12, 2025 | Scott Galloway believes there is method in Trump's "MAGA-nomics" -- from a tariff war to tax cuts for the rich. Galloway is an NYU professor, author and podcast host. He joins the show to break down what Trump's policies mean for the American economy.

‘Idiotic and Dangerous’: Republicans Running Out of Answers for Trump Torching the Economy

Mar 13, 2025 | David Gura, Bloomberg News Anchor and Correspondent and Matina Stevis Gridneff, New York Times Canada Bureau Chief join Nicolle Wallace with the latest impact of Donald Trump’s intentional trade war, the impact it has had on our relationships with our former key trading partners and the negative impact it will have on all Americans as price begin to rise across all aspects of the American marketplace.

The DOGE and Tariffs SCAM Designed to Wreck the US Economy

Mar 12, 2025 | Have Trump and Musk concocted a plan to crash the U.S. economy? Economists say tariffs don't work and that DOGE is a scam. Anthony Davis reports.

Five Minute News can be supported on Patreon here.

Trump's Billionaires Will Accelerate American Decline. Dr Richard Wolff Explains How

Jan 28, 2025 | On the campaign trail and beyond, Donald Trump and MAGA right have repeatedly presented themselves as the true representatives of America's beleaguered working class. And yet, like the Capitol rotunda on Inauguration Day, Trump's administration is filled with billionaires, mega-millionaires, and corporate oligarchs whose staggering wealth is increasing year after year while working people struggle to get by. How are people, voters and non-voters alike, supposed to square this seeming contradiction?

In this special post-Inauguration interview, Dr Richard Wolff explains how the naked oligarchy on display in Trump's inauguration and in his administration is not a contradiction, but a clear sign of a society hastening its own collapse under the weight of historic, unsustainable levels of inequality.

Why Trump Will Wreck the Economy - and What It Means for You

Jan 20, 2025 | Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury is threatening to crash the economy and blame it on liberals.

Math Larry joins Thom Hartmann to discuss how Donald Trump is to blame for the 2025 economic crash.

Bernie Sanders Issues Dire Warning about State of US as 2024 Draws to a Close

Dec 28, 2024 | In a video released to social media, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) warned that the US is veering into an oligarchy controlled by billionaires.

Richard Wolff`s Warning:"It's Going To Get Worse and Worse..."

Dec 14, 2024

The Lincoln Project: Message

Dec 12, 2024 | A message for Republican Senators: Trump's agenda will fleece your constituents, while lining the pockets of his billionaire buddies. If you vote for Trump's policies, the fallout will follow you to your graves. We'll make sure of it.

Under Trump Mk2, we will witness the USA being turned into a full-on plutocracy. Trump is the mega-billionaires' fool. And they’ll play him like one, too. We will soon witness the superrich getting richer and richer, and the impoverishment of ordinary Americans. How the American electorate could have fallen for this undemocratic cr** is beyond my comprehension. Moreover, if I am not greatly mistaken, after Trump, America will never be the same again.

By the way, when it comes to economics, Trump is clueless. Trump thinks that Wall Street rising and rising is indicative of the economy burgeoning and booming This is nonsense. Wall Street is like a casino. It is perfectly possible for the superrich to be making gazillions for themselves on the stock market even when the economy is faltering, even when the workers and middle class are struggling to survive.

We can look forward to a rough ride. – © Mark Alexander

Global Capitalism: The US Election and Trump 2.0 in Historical Perspective | November 2024

Nov 21, 2024

The Ring of Fire: MAGA Judge Kills Overtime Pay for 4 Million Workers

Nov 20, 2024 | A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump has blocked an overtime pay rule from the Biden Administration that would have guaranteed overtime pay for more than 4 million salaried workers across the country – and millions more would have been eligible next year. The rule has been stalled as employers were trying to prevent having to pay workers for their time, and now millions of people will be forced to work longer hours without any overtime. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this ruling.

The world had better STOP looking toward America for LEADERSHIP. That country is not a LEADER in anything much of any IMPORTANCE. The country has grown too big for its boots, or as an American might say, too big for its britches. The country pretends to be a Christian nation, but in actual fact, it is nothing of the sort. The nation is BACKWARD. “BIGLY”! We in Europe should stop looking Westward to the USA for inspiration; instead, we should start looking Eastward. We Europeans could teach Americans a whole lot. Let Americans suck up all that Trump has to offer them. Let them enjoy the bumpy ride ahead of them. They need to fasten their seatbelts. They will get no sympathy for their suffering from me; and they should get none from you, either. They will deserve all they will have to suffer through. The USA can no longer show the world the way forward. Good night, America! It's been nice knowing you. — © Mark Alexander

Steve Rattner: Trump’s Mass Deportation and Trade War Plans Will Tank the Economy

Oct 24, 2024 | Twenty-three Nobel Prize-winning economists endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump in a joint letter released Wednesday. Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner joins Morning Joe to discuss the economic plans of both Trump and Harris.

Economic Update: US Capitalism at the Crossroads

Jan 29, 2024

What Donald Trump & Joe Biden Get Wrong about the UAW* Strike & USA's Economic Future | The Warning

Sep 19, 2023 | Steve Schmidt breaks down the impact the UAW strike could have on the 2024 presidential election race and how Joe Biden needs to improve his stance with middle class Americans in order to prevent Donald Trump from winning a second term.

* United Automobile Workers

US Stripped of Top Rating by Fitch

Aug 2, 2023 | Bloomberg's Wendy Benjaminson and Ryan Teague Beckwith discuss Fitch downgrading the United States' rating from AAA to AA+ and how the past issues of the debt ceiling debate played a part in this downgrade along with the current talks of a potential government shutdown later this year. Wendy and Ryan speak with Annmarie Hordern and Joe Mathieu on Bloomberg's "Balance Of Power."

Thom Hartmann: Has PM Liz Truss Wrecked the UK Economy? Featuring Richard Wolff

Is British prime minister Liz Truss trashing the economy of her country? A tax cut for the rich and little for the poor. The pound sterling has crashed against the dollar and the euro.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has publicly rebuked the UK government, which is almost unheard of.

Is the country spinning out of control financially?


Bio: Professor Richard Wolff, Economist / Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books including The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself (also available as an eBook) / Host-Economic Update w/Prof. Richard Wolff on FSTV

The Dollar Is Strong. That Is Good for the U.S. but Bad for the World.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Federal Reserve may have no choice but to wage a relentless inflation fight, but countries rich and poor are feeling the pain of plunging currencies.

The Federal Reserve’s determination to crush inflation at home by raising interest rates is inflicting profound pain in other countries — pushing up prices, ballooning the size of debt payments and increasing the risk of a deep recession.

Those interest rate increases are pumping up the value of the dollar — the go-to currency for much of the world’s trade and transactions — and causing economic turmoil in both rich and poor nations. In Britain and across much of the European continent, the dollar’s acceleration is helping feed stinging inflation.

On Monday, the British pound touched a record low against the dollar as investors balked at a government tax cut and spending plan. And China, which tightly controls its currency, fixed the renminbi at its lowest level in two years while taking steps to manage its decline.

In Nigeria and Somalia, where the risk of starvation already lurks, the strong dollar is pushing up the price of imported food, fuel and medicine. The strong dollar is nudging debt-ridden Argentina, Egypt and Kenya closer to default and threatening to discourage foreign investment in emerging markets like India and South Korea.

“For the rest of the world, it’s a no-win situation,” said Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell and author of several books on currencies. At the same time, he said, the Fed has no choice but to act aggressively to control inflation: “Any delay in action could make things potentially even worse.” » | Patricia Cohen, Reporting from London | Monday, September 26, 2022

After Worst Start in 50 Years, Some See More Pain Ahead for Stock Market

THE NEW YORK TIMES: At the halfway point of the year, it’s been a historically horrible time for stocks. Bonds are in bad shape, too.

The stock market is on track for its worst first half of the year since at least 1970. | Julia Nikhinson/Associated Press
Wall Street set records in the first half of the year, none of them good.

The economy is on the cusp of a recession, battered by high inflation and rising interest rates, which eats into paychecks, dents consumer confidence and leads to corporate cutbacks. As it has teetered, markets have tanked.

The stock market is on track for its worst first six months of the year since at least 1970. The S&P 500 index, the cornerstone of many stock portfolios and retirement accounts, peaked in early January and has fallen 19.9 percent over the past six months.

The sell-off has been remarkably broad, with every sector except energy down this year. Bellwethers including Apple, Disney, JPMorgan Chase and Target have all fallen more than the overall market.

And that’s only part of the horror story for investors and companies this year. » | Isabella Simonetti | Thursday, June 30, 2022

Elon Musk Says a US Recession Is ‘Inevitable’

THE GUARDIAN: Tesla CEO says slump is likely to come in near term, amid plan to lay off 10% of firm’s salaried staff

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, says a US recession is ‘more likely than not in the near term’.Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters
Elon Musk has warned that a US recession is “more likely than not” as the Tesla chief executive confirmed plans to cut 10% of salaried staff at the electric carmaker over the next three months.

The world’s richest man said a recession in the US was inevitable but would most probably come in the short term.

“A recession is inevitable at some point. As to whether there is a recession in the near term, that is more likely than not,” Musk said in an interview via videolink at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday.

Musk said Tesla was planning to reduce salaried staff numbers by 10%, confirming plans revealed in an internal email this month by Reuters. » | Dan Milmo and agency | Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Chris Hedges | Richard Wolff: The Future of the American Economy