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How is the Economy Doing Right Now?

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bèlla

bèlla

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Americans share what it’s really like to struggle right now

From small business owners to single parents, “CBS Evening News” reports on Americans feeling the squeeze as prices rise.

Unemployed woman says search for work has been "impossibly difficult"
Restaurant owner says he's "barely breaking even"
Cancer survivor says insurance will cost more than mortgage if subsidies expire
Army veteran shares struggle to find work and support her kids: "I feel invisible"
L.A. cookie shop owner sees profits crumble under tariff burden

 
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camille70

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In Trump-Friendly Iowa, the President’s Policies Have Hit Hard



Since siding with Barack Obama twice, Iowa has become a stronghold for Mr. Trump. Yet perhaps no state has struggled more with his economic policies. During the first quarter of 2025, Iowa’s gross domestic product dropped by 6.1 percent, more than any other state aside from neighboring Nebraska.

Manufacturing, which drives 17 percent of Iowa’s economic output, has been hit with higher production costs in part because of steep tariffs on inputs like aluminum and steel. Meatpacking plants, which help make Iowa the nation’s leading pork producer, rely heavily on foreign-born workers, hundreds of thousands of whom saw their legal status stripped away by the president. Mr. Trump’s war on renewable energy also threatens the wind industry that produces more than half of Iowa’s electricity.

Some of the state’s troubles, like bad weather, high interest rates, an aging and shrinking rural population, and global commodity prices, are beyond the president’s control. But new economic policies have magnified the state’s woes, according to economists, agricultural groups and some business leaders.
 
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bèlla

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Farm Bankruptcy: What They're Not Telling You

Farm bankruptcies are in the news. What's really going on? Here's the backstory on how US farmers are surprisingly wealthy, who's actually at risk of going bankrupt, and growing stronger after a crisis.

 
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Walmart CEO Says Company Is Doing A (3 Year) Hiring Freeze After Job Market Falls Apart

The nation’s largest private employer is hitting pause on hiring — and the ripple effects could be massive. Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, recently revealed that the company plans no workforce growth for the next three years, citing sweeping changes in the economy, massive automation efforts, and a destabilized job market.

For millions of hourly and retail workers, this announcement isn’t just about hiring—it signals a shift in opportunity, stability, and future for the American workforce. In this video, we break down what this hiring freeze means for jobs, wages, and the economy at large.

 
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Trump administration moves to overrule state laws protecting credit reports from medical debt

The Trump administration is moving to overrule any state laws that may protect consumers’ credit reports from medical debt and other debt issues.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has drafted what’s known as an interpretative rule related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, interpreting the law in a way that says the FCRA should preempt any state laws or regulations when it comes to how debt should be reported to the credit bureaus like Experian, Equifax and Trans Union.

This repeals previous Biden-era rules and regulations that allowed states to implement their own credit reporting bans. More than a dozen states like New York and Delaware prohibit the reporting of medical debt on a consumers’ credit report.

Medical debt is often the most disputed part of a consumer’s credit report, because insurance payments can take time, and oftentimes patients do not have the means to fully pay a medical bill if insurance is not covering a procedure that has already taken place.

The three credit bureaus jointly announced in 2023 they would no longer track any medical debts below $500, which at the time the bureaus said would eliminate 70% of all medical debts reported on consumers’ credit files. But some states have gone further than that. New York, Delaware and others passed laws where medical debts can no longer be reported to the credit bureaus.

The CFPB, which is largely not operating at the moment with the exception of actively repealing previous rules written under President Biden or earlier, says in its rule that Congress intended to “create national standards for the credit reporting system” under the FCRA and state laws run afoul of that intention.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that Americans owe roughly $220 billion in medical debt. In Republican-controlled states like South Dakota, Mississippi, West Virginia and Georgia, roughly one in six Americans have outstanding medical debt, according to the KFF.

Having outstanding, delinquent medical debt can impact the ability for an individual to apply for a mortgage, a credit card or an auto loan.

~bella
 
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DISTUISHING TWO TYPES OF TRUMP EFFECTS ON MIDDLE CLAS
1) Trump has cut programs for the middle class and the poor among us. He has also emasculated our health care, health, education and environmental agencies and policies, as well as R&D (especially in health issues).

2) Trump's tariffs hace made products more expensive through his tariffs, including those used by small businesses. They are also killing the farming sector
=====================
HOWEVER, TRUMP HAS NOT HURT THE MACRO ECON0MY
A) The stock market sets records each week. BTW, stocks are NOT only owned by the rich but also by the middle class.
B) You quote Amazon layoffs as if Amazon is hurting. AI is allowing them to shed workers. Amazon is doing fine. Amazon is forecast to need 600,000 new workers in the next 8 years. OF COURSE, almost all of these jobs will be filled by robots.
C) There is definitely a crisis among those "workers' who are untrained for the hundreds of thousands of jobs that WILL be available to humans. I put the word in quotations because so many youngsters feel entitled and really don't expect to have to work.
=================
MY BOTTOM LINE
We should distinguish between the effects on the Middle Class of Trump and the effects of automation and AI.
 
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Say it aint so

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bèlla said:
Trump administration moves to overrule state laws protecting credit reports from medical debt

The Trump administration is moving to overrule any state laws that may protect consumers’ credit reports from medical debt and other debt issues.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has drafted what’s known as an interpretative rule related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, interpreting the law in a way that says the FCRA should preempt any state laws or regulations when it comes to how debt should be reported to the credit bureaus like Experian, Equifax and Trans Union.

This repeals previous Biden-era rules and regulations that allowed states to implement their own credit reporting bans. More than a dozen states like New York and Delaware prohibit the reporting of medical debt on a consumers’ credit report.

Medical debt is often the most disputed part of a consumer’s credit report, because insurance payments can take time, and oftentimes patients do not have the means to fully pay a medical bill if insurance is not covering a procedure that has already taken place.

The three credit bureaus jointly announced in 2023 they would no longer track any medical debts below $500, which at the time the bureaus said would eliminate 70% of all medical debts reported on consumers’ credit files. But some states have gone further than that. New York, Delaware and others passed laws where medical debts can no longer be reported to the credit bureaus.

The CFPB, which is largely not operating at the moment with the exception of actively repealing previous rules written under President Biden or earlier, says in its rule that Congress intended to “create national standards for the credit reporting system” under the FCRA and state laws run afoul of that intention.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that Americans owe roughly $220 billion in medical debt. In Republican-controlled states like South Dakota, Mississippi, West Virginia and Georgia, roughly one in six Americans have outstanding medical debt, according to the KFF.

Having outstanding, delinquent medical debt can impact the ability for an individual to apply for a mortgage, a credit card or an auto loan.

~bella
Click to expand...
This needs to be fixed given the Trump admin.
"The Consumer Corporate Financial Protection Bureau has drafted what’s known as an interpretative rule related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, interpreting the law in a way that says the FCRA should preempt any state laws or regulations when it comes to how debt should be reported to the credit bureaus like Experian, Equifax and Trans Union."
 
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essentialsaltes

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camille70 said:
Oct. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. consumers will likely pay for more than half the cost of tariffs this year through higher prices, according to a new Goldman Sachs analysis.
Click to expand...

Trump tariffs could add $40 billion to holiday shoppers’ and sellers’ costs, LendingTree warns​

  • The average American holiday shopper will pay $132 more because of the tariffs implemented by President Trump, the online lending marketplace estimates.
  • “It can have a real impact on many families. It could prompt people to cut back on gift-giving this year or lead to them taking on extra debt,” said LendingTree’s chief consumer financial analyst.
Hark! the tariff angels sing
'Ten percent on ev'rything!'
 
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