San José, CA – On Monday, July 15, Donald Trump was officially nominated as the Republican Party candidate for president. Given his lead, albeit slim, in the polls over President Biden, it would be wise to look at Trump’s economic policies.
A central part of Trump’s economic plans is to raise tariffs, or taxes on imports. He is calling for 10% across the board and 60% for imports from China. Trump proudly calls himself “Tariff Man” and holds up President William McKinley as a role model for raising tariffs. McKinley was congressperson and president who was a strong advocate for tariffs in the late 1900s.
San José, CA – On Thursday, July 18, the weekly report on unemployment insurance showed 243,000 new claims for the week ending July 13. This was 20,000 higher than the previous week.
San José, CA – On Thursday, July 11, the Department of Labor released the most popular measure of consumer prices, showing inflation continues to decline. The overall Consumer Price Index or CPI actually declined by 0.1% in June as compared to May. The year-over-year rise, from June 2023 to June 2024 was 3%. This was the lowest inflation rate in more than three years.
San José, CA – On Friday, July 5, the Department of Labor released its monthly employment report for the month of June. While mainstream news sources such as the Associated Press described the labor market as “healthy” the report was riddled with warning signs of a weaker jobs market.
San José, CA – The February 2024 employment report released by the Department of Labor on Friday, March 8 continued to show signs of weakness. While total job creation seemed healthy, with 275,000 net new jobs reported by the survey of employers, there were significant downsides to the overall report.
San José, CA – The January 2024 jobs report was labeled “Blockbuster” by the New York Times, “Hot” by the Wall Street Journal, and “Shockingly Strong” by the Washington Post. Yet the headlines of three of the national newspapers failed to capture the weaker side of the report.
San José, CA – On Tuesday, September 12, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in 2022. The report on poverty was dire, with the poverty rate as measured by the Supplemental Poverty Measure, or SPM, jumping almost 60% between 2021 and 2022.
San José, CA – On Friday, September 1, the Department of Labor’s report on the job market in August showed continued signs of cooling. Only 187,000 net new jobs were created, and the Labor Department adjusted down the new jobs for June and July by 130,000. This meant that the three month average was only 150,000 new jobs. In contrast, in the first three months of the year, employment grew on average by 312,000 jobs, so that the rate of job creation has been cut in half.
San José, CA – On Friday, May 19, Republicans walked out of debt ceiling negotiations with the Democrats. Presidential candidate Donald Trump followed with a no-compromise stance, saying the Republicans should hold out for “everything that they want.” More than a quarter of Democrat Senators who are opposed to the Republican cuts called on President Biden to overrule the debt ceiling using the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees that the national debt shall be paid.
San José, CA – After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, headquartered in the city of Santa Clara, just north of San José, the local news was full of interviews with technology entrepreneurs talking about the “importance to the community” to have all of the uninsured depositors get their money back. With the closing of Signature Bank in New York, which had large numbers of crypto-investment related depositors, over the weekend, federal regulators tried and failed to find buyers for the two banks. This made these two banks the biggest ever – with about $200 and $100 billion in deposits, respectively – to have to shut down.
