Stagflation

 

The Trump economy:

Economic growth was weaker than expected in the second quarter though underlying drivers were mostly solid. At the same time, inflation in June held well above the Federal Reserve’s goal and complicated the central bank’s policy path, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through June period, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a growth rate of 1.8%, following the 2.1% increase in the first quarter.

A separate report showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s primary forecasting gauge, fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.7%. The readings were in line with forecasts.

Excluding food and energy, core PCE posted a monthly increase of 0.1% and an annual level of 3.3%, against respective forecasts for 0.2% and 3.3%...

We of a certain age used to hear a lot about "stagflation" starting in the 60's and 70's as a portmanteau for "high inflation, stagnant economic growth, and elevated unemployment."

Today, it's a budding new reality under the mismanagement and incompetence of the Malignant Fascist's Epstein class of grifter/ advisors.  Tariffs, the Iran war of choice, and the MF's chaotic decision-making are all impacting the economy and people's pocketbooks negatively.  Every day, the MF and his minions try to put lipstick on the pig of their economy, but Americans who work for a living and those on a fixed income know the reality.  They know "affordability" isn't a hoax or a word Democrats made up.  And now, we need them to show up in November and give the MF a dose of reality.

Bonds Experiencing "Golden Age" Of Trump

 

=Gulp=

The specter of stagflation caused by the Iran war has wiped out more than $2.5 trillion from the value of global bonds in March, on track for the biggest monthly loss in more than three years. 

Bonds are tumbling as a surge in oil prices quickens inflation, which erodes the value of the fixed payments from debt. While the slide in bonds’ market value is less than the roughly $11.5 trillion lost in global equities, it’s perhaps more unexpected as debt typically gains in times of geopolitical turmoil.

“Markets are beginning to price what I think is going to be a stagflationary impulse manifested very soon,” Kathryn Rooney Vera, chief market strategist at StoneX Group Inc., said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The longer this goes on, the higher oil prices can rise.”

The total market value of government, corporate and securitized debt has fallen to $74.4 trillion from almost $77 trillion at the end of February, based on a Bloomberg index. That’s on course to be the biggest drop since September 2022, when the Federal Reserve was in the midst of an aggressive cycle of interest-rate hikes. In percentage terms, the gauge has slipped 3.1% this month... (our emphasis)

The "Golden Age" of Trump has arrived, with a vengeance! 

Biggest January Job Cuts Since 2009

 

Trump stagflation continues:

U.S.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, an increase of 118% from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. It is up 205% from the 35,553 job cuts announced in December, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

January’s total is the highest for the month since 2009, when 241,749 job cuts were announced. It is the highest monthly total since October 2025, when 153,074 cuts were recorded.

“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January. It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. (our emphasis)

The biggest job cuts were in Transportation (31,243), Technology (22,291), Healthcare (17,107), and Chemical manufacturing (4,701).

Not to worry, though.  When he's not covering up his massive presence in the Epstein Files, having his DHS domestic terrorists kill people and execute non-judicial warrants, seizing ballots from 2020 in Georgia, threatening new tariffs based on whims or slights (then walking them back), suing the Treasury Department for $10 billion taxpayer dollars, enriching himself and his family through foreign emoluments, letting a nuclear arms treaty with Russia expire while hamstringing Ukraine's defenses, building his $400 million golden ballroom, approving plans for his grand triumphal arch, critiquing the Grammys and writing promos for his wife's movie bomb, etc., he'll get right on it!

BONUS:  Plus, the lowest job openings since 2020.

Stagflation Ahead (Thanks, Trump!)

 

America's Golden Age under con artist and oft- bankrupted business genius Donald J. Trump will be arriving with a vengeance:

It’s a strange time for the US economy. Prices are rising, jobs growth has stalled, uncertainty is everywhere and stock markets have soared to record highs. Against this background a scary word last used in the 1970s is being uttered again: stagflation.

Stagflation is the term that describes “stagnant” growth combined with “inflation” of prices. It means that companies are producing and hiring less, but prices are still going up. It’s a scenario that some economists say can be worse than a recession.

The last time the US saw a period of prolonged stagflation was in the 1970s during the oil shock crisis. Higher oil prices caused inflation to rise, while unemployment rose as consumers cut back on spending.

For now, the US economy isn’t experiencing stagflation, but recent data has shown it is edging closer to it.

After Donald Trump’s tariffs were announced in the spring, official data initially suggested the economy was shaking them off. New jobs were being added to the economy at a stable pace, while inflation went down to 2.3% – the lowest it had been since 2021.

However, when new labor market data was released in August, it became clear that there had been an impact on hiring that had been slow to appear in the data. Initial job figures for May and June were revised down by 258,000. While figures in July and August were slightly stronger, it was still a marked drop compared with earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, inflation started crawling back up in April. In August, the annualized inflation rate hit 2.9%, the highest since January. [snip]

Economists are pointing to two policies coming out of the White House that are pushing the economy closer toward stagflation.

Trump’s crackdown on immigration has cut down the number of available workers and also increased the cost of hiring. And when it comes to prices, tariffs have just started to have a noticeable impact as companies pass tariff costs on to consumers...

The boneheaded incompetence of the Malignant Fascist and his coddling toadies, with decades of countervailing evidence of the destructiveness of their economic and monetary policies notwithstanding, means America is likely to have a repeat of the '70s stagflation that those of us of a certain age remember well.  Today's stagflation is entirely self- inflicted by the wrongheaded, late 19th Century beliefs of the Malignant Fascist and his bone- deep racism and anti- immigrant prejudices. 

We could easily have used the "I did that!" meme to head this post, but we decided against because credit for our ongoing catastrophe should be shared by everyone who voted for this.

(Gif:  our exalted Philosopher King)