New Poll Shows Public Is Very Unhappy With Trump's Economic Policy

 

The charts above are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between January 14th and 16th of a nationwide sample of 2,523 adults, with a 2.3 point margin of error.

Rural Support For Donald Trump Is Economic Suicide

 

During his campaign Donald Trump made many promises. He said he was going to bring prices down. He said he was going to brings jobs back to America. The voters in rural America believed him, and gave him their support.

Their support allowed him to score a very slim victory. About 62% of rural voters chose Trump. And they made up a significant 44% of his total vote. Without the support of rural voters, Trump would have been defeated.

But the policies that Trump have pursued since moving back into the White House are not helping those rural voters. In fact, they are making life much more difficult for them.

His tariffs Are increasing prices.

Inflation continues to rise in this country. And Trump is making sure they will continue to rise in the future. That's because he has placed tariffs on almost every country in the world. Every country is subject to a 10% tariff, and some have an even higher tariff. Since the U.S. imports much of what is on store shelves, this means prices for those goods will rise by at least 10% and more for some goods. This is bad news for those already struggling with inflation (which is everyone but the rich).

Farmers are going to be hurt.

The farming community had not fully recovered from the tariff mistakes of his first term - and now he has imposed much broader tariffs. One of the biggest market for U.S. farm products is China, but because Trump has put a 145% tariff on them China has retaliated by cutting off the buying of U.S. farm products. They have cancelled the orders they had, and they are increasing their buying from other countries (especially in South America). Trump has also cut almost all foreign aid by USAID. Much of that aid was food provided by American farmers. This double whammy by Trump could put many family farmers out of business.

The poor will suffer.

It is not known by many, but rural areas in this country have a lot of poverty. In fact, in many rural areas the percentage of poverty is higher than in urban areas. The rural poor will not only be hurt by rising inflation (much of it due to tariffs), but will see less help from the government as Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress cut government social programs. They are cutting these programs so they can give big tax breaks to the rich.

Healthcare is going to suffer.

Because of the significant poverty in rural areas, the number of people (especially children) on Medicaid is high. And Medicaid is high on the list of budget cuts. Both the Congress and Trump have proposed bills that could mean as much as $800 million in cuts to Medicaid. That would not just affect the poor and working classes. Many rural hospitals are barely hanging on, and they need the money Medicaid provides them. A serious cut to Medicaid will likely cause many rural hospitals to go out of business - forcing rural inhabitants to travel many miles to get to the nearest city hospital. That would make life harder for those in every economic bracket.

Older residents will suffer.

Trump has allowed Elon Musk and his DOGE team to do serious damage to the Social Security system. Offices have been closed and staff has been cut. This will make it much more difficult for retirees to get Social Security and/or make needed changes to their Social Security accounts. And if not rectified, could even interfere in payments in the future.

Rural voters put their faith in Donald Trump. But he has betrayed them. While increasing his own wealth, and that of his rich buddies, his policies will devastate the people in rural America.

Bidenomics Helped Keep The Economy Good (But It's Still Unfair)

Economist Paul Krugman is right. The U.S. economy is doing very well -- better than any other countries economy. And the laws passed and signed by President Biden helped. Jobs are being created and the unemployment rate is low. The growth of GDP is strong, and the stock market is at a record level. All the normally used indicators say the economy is healthy and growing.

But most Americans are still saying the economy is bad. Although the numbers have improved somewhat, it seems many still think the economy is not good. They are both wrong and right. While the economy is booming, it is still unfair. The rich are doing better than ever, while the middle class struggles to keep up and low-wage workers fall further behind each week. Why?

Prior to 1980, the rising productivity in this country was shared across all economic groups. The rich still got richer, but the middle class and working class also benefitted. But about 1980, the Republicans gained enough power to alter our economic system.

They instituted a "trickle-down" theory of economics - a system that gave more to the rich instead of sharing rising productivity among all groups. They said the once the rich had more it would trickle down and benefit everyone. It sounded good, but didn't work. Instead of letting the extra money trickle down, the rich just kept most of it and laughed all the way to the banks.

Donald Trump made it even worse by imposing tariffs on imported goods and giving the rich huge tax cuts. The effect of Trump actions and Republican policies have created the most unfair economy since before the Great Depression. And sadly, the right-wing is only offering more of the same old failed policies. They want to give more massive tax breaks to the rich, impose even more tariffs (which would raise prices on consumers), make it harder to create or join a union, keep the minimum wage at a poverty level, and take health insurance away from many Americans.

It doesn't have to be this way. We can return to a fair economy that would benefit all Americans. But it won't happen as long as Republicans have enough power to block it.

Remember this on Election Day!

Trump's Economic Agenda Would Devastate The Economy

Amazingly, there are still people who think Donald Trump would best handle the economy. They are wrong! His economic agenda would be terrible for most people in this country.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich lists 5 reasons why Trump would be bad for the economy: 

Earlier this week, Trump summarized his economic “plan.” Not surprisingly, it’s incoherent and filled with lies. I focus on five key parts of it. 

#1: Trump’s crazy tariff plan

Trump seems genuinely confused about what tariffs are and who pays them. 

TRUMP: We are taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs that China is paying for.

Nope. Tariffs are not paid by the other country. They’re paid by the American importer, with the cost typically passed onto American consumers, as even Fox Business pundits have to admit.

Targeted tariffs on specific products can give American-made goods an edge over imports, but there’s no strategy behind the tidal wave of tariffs Trump is proposing.

But Trump wants you to pay at least a 60 percent tax on everything imported from China and a 10 percent tax on everything imported from anywhere else. This would cost the average family an estimated $2,500 extra per year.

And this is a regressive tax, taking a higher percentage of the paychecks of the working class and the poor than out of the incomes of the wealthy.

#2: Trump’s plan for monopolies would create more of them

If you’ve watched our other videos, you know that corporate monopolies are among the biggest drivers of inflation. When there are fewer competitors, corporations can raise prices without worrying about losing customers to a cheaper competitor. Trump and the MAGA team want to make this worse.

Trump’s Project 2025 specifically seeks to fast-track airline mergers.

And as part of Trump’s efforts to solicit campaign donations from Big Oil executives, he’s suggested fast-tracking oil mergers. This would let them pump up your gas prices.

And speaking of gas prices, let’s talk about how …

#3: Trump would hike energy prices

Trump’s promising to kill the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy incentives and fuel efficiency standards. This means you’ll be spending more on fuel because your car will need more gas and your appliances will use more electricity.

#4: Trump would make your money worth less

The American economy is strong right now compared to those of other nations, so the American dollar is worth more vs. the euro, the yen, and other major currencies. At a moment when Americans are worried about how far their dollar goes, most people would call that a good thing.

But Trump and his economic advisers are reportedly so obsessed with trade deficitsthat they’re looking for ways to devalue the dollar. 

This might help big corporations that export products, but it would also raise import prices and overheat a U.S. economy already running hot.

#5: Trump’s wild deportation plan would drive up costs still further

Trump would decimate the American workforce — and he’s bragging about it.

TRUMP: We’ll carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.

Putting aside the horrific moral consequences, this would make the whole economy collapse.

There are more than a million undocumented laborers in construction, over a millionundocumented farm workers, and about a million undocumented food service workers. What do you think will happen to the price of food and housing if these workers are suddenly deported? Prices will explode.

By the way, these are not jobs that Americans born here in the United States are competing for, because most pay very little and many are dangerous. 

In sum, Trump has no understanding of the economy. 

He was terrible at business — which is why he’s driven so many businesses into the ground. (He’s even driven casinos into the ground. How do you lose money running a casino?)

 

Given another chance, he’ll drive the American economy into the ground, too.

Trump Would NOT Make The Economy Better For Workers

I was astounded the other day when some people were questioned. Several said they thought electing Donald Trump would be better for the economy. I could understand that if those questioned were rich, but they were not. They seemed to be members of the working and/or middle classes.

Where did they get such a crazy idea? How could they think that a super-rich person who has never done anything for workers would do so in a new term? What are his policies that they think would help workers?

Although Trump has been campaigning for months, he has only revealed three things he would do for the economy: extend the tax cut he got passed when he was in office, impose heavy tariffs (between 10% and 60%) on imported goods entering the U.S., and put billionaire corporate mogul Elon Musk in charge of de-regulating corporations.

Extending his tax cuts (82% of which went to the rich) will not help anyone but the rich - and it will add trillions of dollars to the national debt. How will that help the working or middle classes?

His tariff idea would just significantly increase the price of goods in the United States. Inflation has been reduced during the term of President Biden, and it is still falling. Trump's tariffs would reverse that - increasing inflation. How will that help the working or middle classes?

And de-regulating corporations would not help. Those regulations are in place to protect workers and consumers. And the corporations don't need that de-regulation, since they are currently making record profits with the regulations in place. How would de-regulation help the working and middle classes?

The truth is that Trump's economic policies would be great for the rich, super-rich, and corporations. But it would not help anyone else. Trump's policies would actually make things worse for the bottom 90% of Americans.

Trump loves to claim the economy was better under him than under Biden. That's a lie. Real GDP is higher now than it was under Trump. And more jobs have been created under Biden than under Trump. Both are true even after accounting for the effect of COVID.

Don't fall for Trump's lies. The economy would NOT be better under him - it would be worse for the working and middle classes! 

Biden Must Point Out The Unfairness Of Our Good Economy

President Biden has been touting how good the economy has been doing since he assumed office. And he is right. By all the normal economic indicators, the economy is doing very well. In fact, it is doing better than any of the other developed nations.

But poll after poll has shown that most Americans don't think the economy is doing well. And they are right. While the rich and upper middle classes are doing very well, most Americans still struggle to keep up with corporate inflation. This is because the booming economy is not a fair economy that benefits everyone.

How did this unfairness happen?

About 1980, the Republican Party gained enough power to change U.S. economic policy. Before then, the rising productivity was generally shared by the rich, the middle class, and the working class. And thanks to President Johnson's War on Poverty, even the poor got a share.

But the Republicans instituted their "trickle-down" economic policy. They tilted the economic playing field to favor the rich, telling Americans that when the rich got richer it would benefit everyone because that extra money for the rich would trickle down through the society and benefit everyone.

That didn't happen. While the rich got much richer, almost nothing trickled down. Rising productivity was no longer shared, but selfishly hogged by the rich and their corporations. The result was the biggest gap between the rich and other Americans since the 1920's - a gap that continues to grow larger every year!

President Biden should stop talking about how well the economy is doing, and start talking about the real economic issue - how unfair the Republican policies are to most Americans. And he needs to highlight what he (and a Democratic Congress) can do to return to an economy fair to all Americans. 

Republicans Don't Care About The Suffering Of The Poor

The United States is still the richest country on the planet. And yet, there is a higher percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty than in most other developed nations. At least 11.5% of U.S. citizens live on poverty. That's over 37 million people.

Why is this true? It is because one of our political parties (Republicans) has pursued (and continues to pursue) economic policies that favor the rich, does nothing for the working and middle classes, and actually punishes the poor. 

The U.S. government does offer some assistance to the poor, but Republicans have made sure that assistance is minimal and most are required to work to receive it. They tend to believe the poor are just lazy and must be forced to work. They are wrong. 

Government assistance is onerous and embarrassing, and most poor people would rather work than receive the assistance. But that work needs to offer them a way out of poverty - not just insure they remain poor.

There are two simple ways to drastically reduce the number of poor people in the United States.

The first is to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage. The current minimum wage is only $7.25 an hour. That is about $15,080 a year. The poverty level designated by the government is shown in the chart below.

The current minimum wage is only $20 a year above the poverty line for a single person. It is far below it for a family of two or more. And many households only have one wage earner (like a single parent with children). 

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage (at least $15 an hour) would instantly lift many families out of poverty.

But one more thing also needs to be done. The government needs to help working class and poor families with childcare. It doesn't help to make more if most of it goes to pay for childcare. President Biden tried to get childcare included in the laws he got passed earlier (assuring no family would pay more that 7% of income for childcare), but it was killed by the GOP.

A higher minimum wage, coupled with help to pay for childcare, would lift millions out of poverty. And would save millions in government assistance. That saving could be used to raise assistance for those who cannot work, and would help to reduce the federal deficit.

This makes imminent sense, but the Republicans will have none of it. They still think the right economic policy is to help the rich and corporations save on taxes. They seem to have no interest in helping the poor, the working class, and only give minimal assistance to the middle class. They say helping the rich to have more helps everyone. That has never been true.

This nation is rich enough to eliminate most (or all) poverty in its borders. But it will never happen as long as the Republicans have the power to dictate economic policy.

Biden Wants To Tax The Rich More & The Public Agrees

 

Since 1990, the number of billionaires has risen from about 70 to nearly 700. Those additional billionaires have not sprung from the middle or working classes, but from the already rich. Republican policies have allowed some millionaires to become billionaires - and some billionaires to become multi-billionaires (and approach trillionaire status).

We are fast becoming a nation of haves and have-nots. While the rich get much richer, the middle class is shrinking as it struggles to stay up with inflation, and the working class is falling behind.

In the midst of this, President Biden says he wants to raise taxes - not of the working and middle classes (or anyone making less than $400,000). Taxes would be raised on only the rich, and especially the super-rich.

And it looks like most Americans agree with the president. About 61% say taxes should be raised on those making above $400,000 (see the chart below), while only 20% want to keep those taxes at current levels and 17% would like to see the taxes on the rich lowered.

The president is right. It is obscene that a few should be ridiculously rich while most Americans struggle. The rich should pay more in taxes, especially the billionaires - who already have more money than they could possibly spend.

It comes down to this: Do we want a country where all citizens can thrive, or a country where only a few can be rich at the expense of all others?

If you prefer the former, then you must vote Democratic in November. The Republicans care only for the rich, and their failed economic policies would just make things worse for most Americans.

GOP Economic Policy Caused Social Security's Problems

Social Security is one of the most successful programs the government has created. It lifted millions of seniors out of abject poverty. For that reason, it is also one of the most popular programs.

But the Republicans have never liked Social Security. They voted against its establishment, and have continued to vote against it. They tried to replace it with a program that would put seniors at the mercy of rich interests in the stock market during the Bush II administration, and when that didn't work, they continue efforts to cut the program.

Republicans claim that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme that will continually require more funds until it can no longer be sustained. They point to the coming Social Security funding problem as proof. It is true that Social Security will need more funding in the near future or will be able to pay only about 80% of benefits. But that doesn't make it a "Ponzi scheme". It's a result of bad economic policy that the Republicans instituted.

In 1983, the retirement age was raised to 67, and new a new Social Security tax cutoff was instituted. With these moves, Social Security trustees estimated that would be sufficient to fund the program far into the future.

At the time, economic policy had rising productivity being shared among all groups in our society. That rising productivity for workers would mean that funding for Social Security would also rise and pay for the growing number of retirees.

But something happened to change that. The Republicans gained enough power to change the nation's economic policy. They instituted a trickle-down economic policy (telling Americans that giving more to the rich would benefit everyone). But the new policy allowed the rich to hog almost all of the rising productivity. That meant the rich got a huge increase in income and wealth, while workers were no longer sharing in the rising productivity.

Since worker wages were not rising as expected (because nothing was trickling down), the Social Security funding was also not rising. This caused the funding problem Social Security will soon see. In other words, the Republicans caused the problem with Social Security with their failed economic policy favoring the rich (at the detriment of everyone else).

Now they want to further cut Social Security benefits by raising the retirement age to 70. They claim it would not hurt Americans because of the rising life expectancy. That's disingenuous. While life expectancy has risen for many, it has not risen for those who must do physical labor all their working lives. Raising the retirement age will mean they will not receive the retirement benefit that worked and paid for all their lives. Once again, the Republicans favor the rich over the working men and women.

There are some cures for Social Security funding that would be much better than denying the benefit to workers. Here is what we need to do:

* Raise the cap on Social Security taxes. The current cap is about $168,000. Raise that to about $250,000 (or eliminate it altogether). This would have no effect on the amount paid by workers, but it would make the rich pay more.

* Raise the minimum wage to a livable wage. This would increase the Social Security funding since workers would be making more.

* Change our economic policy (which can only be done by voting the GOP out of power). Re-institute a policy like we had before where all segments of society share in rising productivity, instead of letting the rich hog all of it.

* Another thing that should be done (which the GOP opposes) is to pass a new and fair immigration policy. The U.S. needs foreign workers - not only to fill the jobs that Americans don't want, but also to pay Social Security (and other) taxes.

There are solutions to the economic disaster created by the Republicans for our economy and Social Security. But they can't happen until the Republicans are voted out of power (because they cling to their failed policy that helps only the rich). 

People Know The Economy Is Good - And Know It's Unfair

The chart above reflects the result of the newest Monmouth University Poll - done between February 8th and 12th of a nationwide sample of 902 adults, with a 4.1 point margin of error.

Right-wing news sources have been telling Americans the economy is bad. Major media sources have been reporting the economy is good. Which is it?

The major indicators (GDP growth, Unemployment rate, inflation rate, etc.) are all good. In fact, the U.S. economy is doing better than the economies of any of our friends (in Europe and Asia).

Note on the chart above though that the economy is not necessarily good for everyone. Only 33% say their family has benefitted some or a lot from the good economy. About 64% say the opposite. Why, if we have such a good economy, are most people not benefitting from it?

It's because a good economy doesn't mean it's a fair economy, and the U.S. economy is very unfair. The top 10% (and especially the top 1%) are doing very well in this good economy. But most of the bottom 90% of Americans are not. They are struggling to keep up with inflation (even though the inflation rate is falling).

Why is this? It's because the Republicans have had the power to control economic policy since about 1980, and they have a very simplistic economic viewpoint. They believe the key to a good economy is making sure those at the top can make more. They believe the rich will then share their new wealth with everyone else. Unfortunately, that view doesn't consider one important ingredient - GREED.

This GOP "trickle-down" theory of economics has never worked. Those at the top have seen their bank accounts fattened immensely, but they have not allowed much, if any, to trickle down to the masses.

Before 1980, the economy was much fairer. Rising productivity was shared between the wealthy, middle and working classes. Everyone benefitted. But after the GOP policies were enacted, the economic playing field was tilted to benefit the rich (to the detriment of everyone else).

Democrats have been trying to tell voters that the economy is good. They need to stop saying that, because the economy is good only for a few. They need to concentrate on how unfair the economy is, and explain to voters how they can make the economy more fair for everyone. After all, for someone not benefitting from a good economy, it's not a good economy.