San José, CA – The latest report on Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, confirmed the slower growth of the economy under the Trump administration. In the first half of 2025, from January through June, the economy only grew at a 1.25% annual rate. This a bit more than half the rate of the first half of 2024, where the economy as measured by GDP grew at a 2.3% annual rate, showing that Trump’s trade war is a drag on U.S. economic growth.

San José, CA – On Tuesday, July 15, the Department of Labor reported that prices for consumer goods and services rose at a faster rate for a second month in a row. The Consumer Price Index, or CPI, rose at a 0.3% rate in June, or a 3.7% annual rate. The year-over-year increase, as compared to June 2024, was 2.7%, up from the 2.4% year over year rate in May.

San José, CA – On Friday, July 4, President Trump signed his “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to health insurance and food stamps for the poor, and more attacks on immigrants.

The tax cuts are so large that, despite historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps), the federal government will be borrowing more than $300 billion more each year for the next ten years.

The new law cuts taxes about $450 billion a year over the next ten years, mainly benefiting higher income households. Using adjusted gross income, we can see the richer a household, the more money Trump and the Republicans’ new law gives to them.

San José, CA – At first glance, the June jobs report released on Thursday, July 3 looks pretty good. The total net new jobs are reported at 147,000, on par with the average of 146,000 for the previous 12 months. Further, the previous two months’ estimates were revised up by a total of 16,000, not lower as has been the pattern. The unemployment rate ticked down by one-tenth of one percent from 4.2% in May to 4.1% in June.

The small drop in the unemployment rate could be accounted for by the drop in the “Labor Force Participation Rate” by the same one-tenth of one percent from 62.4% in May to 63.2% in June. What this means is many people without jobs gave up looking in June, which lowers both the unemployment rate as people have to be out of work and looking for work to be counted as unemployed.

San José, CA – On Friday, June 6, the Department of Labor released its monthly report on the jobs markets. While the headline numbers were solid, weaknesses are hidden in the report.

Wall Street, better known for a crowd mentality than deep analysis, responded positively, with major stock market price indices all up about 1%, while bond prices fell and interest rates rose as Federal Reserve interest rates cuts seemed less likely.

San José, CA – After a weekend of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng announced on Monday, May 12 that the United States would roll back its tariffs on Chinese imports by 115%, from 145% to 30%.

The Chinese agreed to match this tariff reduction, reducing China’s tariffs on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%. China did not agree to any of the U.S. trade demands and many U.S. news reports had to admit that China did well, with one headline from Bloomberg News reading, “Xi Defiance Pays Off as Trump Meets Most China Trade Demands.”

San José, CA – Two U.S. economic reports showed that the manufacturing sector shrank in April, despite (or more likely because of) Trump’s trade war – one that is meant to increase manufacturing in the United States.