How Trump Broke the Economy

32 ways Trump is making us poorer and destroying our future

From Biden Boom to Trump Tailspin

We're less than 8 months into Trump 2.0 and here's the reality: Job growth has flatlined. The unemployment rate is rising. Grocery prices are surging. Cuts to SNAP are starting to bite. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing. Small farms are in crisis. The travel sector is hurting. Consumers are stretched thin. Businesses aren't hiring. Job growth in America is now at its lowest level in 15 years. Just 11 months after The Economist called the U.S. economy "the envy of the world," the Biden Boom has been transformed into the Trump Tailspin.

Another disastrous jobs report was released on Friday September 5. Economists expected 75,000 jobs for August. Wall Street experts said the "sweet spot" for the August jobs number would be between 70,000 and 95,000. The actual number reported was 22,000. And another downward revision sent the June 2025 number into negative territory at -13,000 jobs.

32 facts about the current Trump downturn

1. U.S. job growth has flatlined. Over the past three months, Trump has created an average of just 29,000 jobs per month. Compare that to Biden, who created an averaged of over 340,000 jobs per month from January 2021 to December 2024.
2. Unemployment is 4.3% — the highest since late 2021. The U.S. economy lost 13,000 jobs in June, the first monthly loss since the Trump Crash of 2020. August’s jobless rate rose to 4.3%, reaching the highest level since October 2021, as the Biden recovery began to take hold.
3. Black unemployment has surged to 7.5%. Trump brags about record low Black unemployment in his 1st term. But his failed policies meant Black unemployment — rising fast by the end of 2019 — surged when Covid hit. Biden reduced Black unemployment to new all-time lows. Now, Trump is failing Black workers again — with year-over-year unemployment up from 6.1% to 7.5%.
4. Underemployment is 8.1% — the highest since late 2021. As CNBC highlighted, the underemployed rate — which includes discouraged workers and those working part-time jobs because they can't find full-time jobs — has surged under Trump to 8.1%, the highest level since October 2021.
5. Total job growth is at its lowest level in 15 years. "Since January, employers have added fewer jobs than in any year since 2010, when America had 17 million fewer workers and was emerging from a financial crisis," notes the New York Times.
6. Job openings are plunging. "Confirmed: America is in a serious job slump," read the CNN headline on September 3 as new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that job openings plunged to their lowest level in 10 months and fell "below the number of unemployed workers... for the first time since April 2021."
7. Young adults are facing food uncertainty — and career uncertainty. Young voters "swung to Trump in a big way" in 2024. But Trump has left them hanging in the wind in 2025. The "Big, Beautiful Bill" leaves 3 million young adults "vulnerable to losing nutrition assistance." Meanwhile, reports CNBC, entry level jobs are drying up, "with AI playing a big role" and "job losses among 16-24 year-olds are rising as the U.S. labor market hits its roughest patch since the pandemic."
8. In healthcare, job openings are at the lowest level since January 2021. Healthcare was the one sector propping up the job market amid the chaos and confusion sewn by Trump. Until now. Despite being one of the sectors least exposed to tariffs, healthcare added only 36,000 jobs in August. And job openings in the sector plunged this summer to the lowest level since January 2021.
9. U.S. factory activity just shrank for the 6th straight month. Trump promised to create a boom in manufacturing. So far, he's delivered only tariffs, confusion, and supply chain disruptions. "Trump’s scattershot tariff orders and retreats," are the primary reason manufacturing remains "bogged down," reports Bloomberg.
10. Trump has killed tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs. "Tariffs were supposed to bring back manufacturing jobs," reports Investopedia. Instead, manufacturing has lost jobs for four straight months. "Manufacturing employment is down 78,000 since last August, and there are now fewer people working in the sector than at any time since March 2022."
11. Trump is stealing from the poor to give to the rich. Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" creates new economic peril for the poorest Americans, with millions losing access to food aid and healthcare. The bill is "more regressive than any major law in decades," says the New York Times. According to Axios, the bottom 25% of households lose money under the law while the richest reap all the benefits.
12. Trump tariffs are impacting consumer spending. On September 3, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book reported that, in August, "nearly all Districts noted tariff-related price increases," leading to, "flat to declining consumer spending" because, for many households, "wages were failing to keep up with rising prices."
13. Trump immigration raids are disrupting the food industry, hurting local communities, leading to crop losses and rising prices. Phil Kafarakis, president of IMFA The Food Away From Home Association, says that, because of deportation efforts, "you are now going to be left with not enough laborers in the fields to pick up and collect product as its coming to harvest," which will only magnify the "horribly, incredibly impactful" effect of tariffs.
14. Food inflation is hitting hard just as SNAP benefits (food stamps) are getting cut. One of the biggest warning signs for consumers in the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report (release August 14) was the 38.9% increase in prices for fresh and dry vegetables from June to July which, reported Axios, "was the biggest month-on-month increase for fresh vegetables since March 2022." But it's not just "Veggie-flation." In July, wholesale beef prices jumped 4.6%. Eggs were up 7.3%, and coffee prices 1.1%.
15. SNAP cuts are destroying independent grocers who serve urban and rural communities. As NPR reports, grocery stores serving low-income urban and rural communities that might otherwise be food deserts are at the highest risk of closing as the result of the food stamp cuts in Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill." According to the National Grocers Association, these stores get up to 70% of their sales through SNAP.
16. SNAP cuts are devastating small farmers. One vegetable farmer in Pennsylvania says it didn't take long for the "Big, Beautiful Bill" to hurt her bottom line: "We are already seeing people scale back in the amount of dollars that they’re willing to spend... they don’t know if fresh produce is in the budget anymore." According to USDA data, "farmers stand to lose approximately $24 billion in revenue over 10 years as SNAP cuts reduce consumers’ ability to buy their products."
17. Household debt is at record levels — and student-loan and auto-loan delinquencies are rising. Consumers in America are stretched thinner than ever in 2025. Total household debt has risen $4.24 trillion (30%) to a record $18.39 trillion since the end of 2019. A record 1 in 5 car buyers now have a monthly payment over $1,000. Serious delinquencies on auto loans (90 days+) have surged to 5%. Meanwhile, 10.2% of all student debt is now 90+ days delinquent.
18. The use of "Buy Now, Pay Later" loans to pay for groceries is surging. Trump's failure to lower the cost of groceries is forcing many Americans to take out loans just to pay for food. In Lending Tree's 2025 survey, 25% of those using BNPL services have borrowed to pay for groceries or takeout (up from 14% in 2024). Among GenZ consumers, one in three now use BNPL loans to buy food. And BNPL users are having a harder time than ever keeping up with their payments: 41% say they paid late on at least one loan in the past year, up from 34% in 2024.
19. Small businesses are in "survival mode." According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: "97% of U.S. importers are small businesses. When tariffs rise, they face steep costs that threaten their survival." In August 2025, the New York Times highlighted multiple business owners who were in crisis or shutting down due to Trump tariffs. One garage door designer was "hanging on by a thread." One family-owned manufacturer of handcrafted clocks and home furniture in Michigan was shutting down operations after 99 years in business. In New York City, Trump tariffs forced Jennifer Bergman to close West Side Kids, a toy store founded by her mother 44 years ago. 
20. Corporate bankruptcies are at highest level since 2010. In 2020, Trump bankrupted a lot of companies because of his failure with Covid. So far in 2025, his tariff chaos has made things even worse. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, "year-to-date bankruptcy filings totaled 446 through the end of July, the most for this seven-month period since 2010." So far in 2025, 19 companies with $1 billion or more in assets and liabilities have filed for bankruptcy.
21. Electric bills are rising faster than inflation. Trump promised to halve electricity prices, noted CNN on September 4. Instead, electric bills are rising twice as fast as inflation. One of the main factors driving up costs — and straining the grid — is "the explosive growth of AI and the massive data centers behind it," reports PBS. (See also: Why Trump's embrace of AI acceleration even as he wages war on green energy will have even bigger long-term costs.)
22. Trump is destroying the clean energy sector — and hundreds of thousands of jobs. As Biden understood, tackling climate change isn't just a necessity for humanity. It's also a powerful way to spur economic growth. According the The League of Conservation Voters, Biden's "Inflation Reduction Act sparked a clean energy boom nationwide, funding over 750 projects big and small. The 'Big Ugly Bill' guts the tax incentives and grants that made these projects possible. Hundreds of these projects will be eliminated, and with them, hundreds of thousands of jobs in clean energy and manufacturing."
23. Trump's "war on wind" is killing projects actively under construction — and thousands of jobs. As TIME reported on September 6, Trump is moving aggressively to stop large, multibillion offshore wind farm projects designed to deliver "new electricity in a time of growing demand," despite the fact one major project was already 80% complete. Thousands of jobs are being lost immediately, reports the Center for American Progress. Even the GOP-friendly U.S. Chamber of Commerce slammed the move: "Revoking wind permits today opens the door to uncertainty for all types of energy projects in the future."
24. America's blue-collar workforce is shrinking. President Trump's policies are decimating the very "sectors he vowed to reinvigorate," reports Axios. Morgan Stanley economists note that "goods-producing" sectors, including manufacturing and construction, have lost 67,000 jobs in the past 4 months. According to one U.S. equipment manufacturer that has already laid off 15% of its workforce: "'Made in the USA' has become even more difficult due to tariffs on many components." Even in areas where employers want to hire, Trump's immigration crackdown is making that impossible.
25. Job cuts climbed 39% in August. As reported by Seeking Alpha, a new report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas show that U.S.-based employers announced 85,979 job cuts in August', up 39% from July and 13% higher than August 2024.
26. Year-to-date job cuts are at their highest level since 2020. "So far in 2025," writes Seeking Alpha, "companies have announced 892,362 job cuts, the highest year-to-date total since 2020." The YTD total is up 66% year-over-year, and has already exceeded full-year 2024’s total by 17%.
27. Affluent consumers are spending more — the middle class is spending less. While headline writers love to call U.S. consumers "resilient," most consumers in Trump's America aren't. Year-to-date spending is down at gas stations, department stores, electronic and appliance stores, building materials and garden supply stores, and "sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & book stores." The headline number of 1.3% growth in consumer spending for July was driven by 4.6% growth in $100K+ households. Meanwhile, spending by $50-$100K households dropped 1.0%.
28. Summer box office revenue fell — and missed estimates by more than $300 million. The movie theater business — where the summer season (May through Labor Day) typically makes up 35-40% of annual revenues — offers an easy-to-read, real-time view of Americans' belt-tightening. After a strong showing in May, attendance fizzled and final box office sales of $3.67 billion missed analysts' expectations of $4 billion by more than 8%.
29. Consumer confidence is falling — and the Expectations Index is signaling a recession. According to The Conference Board, "consumer confidence dipped slightly in August," but the Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions fell more sharply. Now at 74.8 (after a decline of 1.2 points in August), expectations are firmly "below the threshold of 80 that typically signals a recession ahead."
30. Trump has turned the world against Brand USA. "There's less appetite around the world to buy American as the United States' reputation plunges in the wake of President Trump's trade war," reports Axios. When Biden left office, America had a positive favorability rating of 15.34. Today, the average U.S. favorability rating across more than 40 major markets is at -3.24. In addition to Tesla, companies such as Coca-Cola and General Motors, and U.S. booze brands like Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve are suffering because of the anti-American sentiment enflamed by Trump.
31. A record number of Americans — 70% — say The American Dream is dead. In a new survey released September 1, The Wall Street Journal found that "the share of people who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living" has now fallen to 25%, "a record low in surveys dating to 1987." The discontent reaches across demographic lines, notes The Journal, with nearly 7 in 10 Americans saying "the American dream – that if you work hard, you will get ahead – no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys."
32. Trump is accelerating America's debt crisis — and sabotaging our long-term growth potential. The CBO estimates the final version of the "Big, Beautiful Bill" will add $4.1 trillion to the debt over 10 years, increasing to $5 trillion if 10 temporary provisions become permanent. The Budget Lab at Yale warns: "Larger deficits and debt result in more interest payments, higher interest rates, more crowding out of investment, and a larger decline of GDP in the long run."

Less than eight months into his second term, Trump's in "an economic doom loop," writes Axios. "His economic approval is collapsing, and the data underneath is only getting worse." Republicans are already panicking about the midterms because they know "Trump's signature legislation is toxic."

In the midst of the Trump Crash of 2020, I wrote that; "Trump is the dumbest person America could have picked to lead us through these complicated times."

That's truer than ever in 2025. But it's not just Trump's stupidity. It's also his psychopathy.

As I wrote in June this year: "In addition to relentless corruption, his presidencies will be remembered for the damage caused to the country by his incompetence and recklessness."

"Stupid Trump" is already creating an economic crisis that no amount of Truth Social propaganda or White House data manipulation can hide.

The worse danger comes when "Psychopath Trump" decides the only way he can stay in power is by creating an even bigger disaster.

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From the archives: 16 February 2020:

Don’t Believe The Hype

29 reasons why the Trump Economy is far weaker than he wants you to think

UnprecedentedRichard Hine