Thorns in Trump’s rosy picture of the economy

In 2025, the 80% of workers with no or few connections to investments faced a soft labor market. While there were no mass layoffs — except for the federal government workers — jobs were hard to find, and raises were limited to 3.2%, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Unemployment, at 4.4%, was moderate by historical standards.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported unemployment for Black workers at 7.5% — nearly double the national average. Black women, particularly those who are college-educated, saw steep employment declines. This drop in employment can be linked to President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity.

In 2024, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for Black workers varied a lot but had never reached 7%. For example, in May 2024 it averaged 6.1%, with Black women at 5.5% and Black men at 6.8%. It still remained significantly higher than the overall national average throughout 2024.

Trump and his boosters like to point to the stock market, where the Dow Jones index now is flirting with 50,000, as proof that the economy is doing well. In 2025, stock indices increased approximately between 11% and 20%. The S&P 500 rose by 17.9%, while the NASDAQ Composite increased by 21.1%, driven largely by artificial intelligence (AI)-related tech and communication.

The capitalists who own these corporations and their henchmen who run them but still get a paycheck are doing fine. Their “investments,” many of which are really speculations, are still profitable.

As the Epstein revelations demonstrate, their corruption and manipulations, plots and conspiracies spread all over the world, leading them to try to ignore objective reality.

For example, Trump and his allies are pushing “clean,” “beautiful” coal because of the superprofits made from exploiting the labor of mine workers. But the byproducts and pollution produced by burning coal contribute to global warming, which increases violent weather — catastrophic storms and flooding, wildfires, punishing droughts and extreme cold snaps.

They ignore and put up bureaucratic obstacles to the renewable production of electricity, which is currently cheaper than using coal.

Fifteen million mainly low-wage workers have had to confront the loss of health insurance, taken away by Trump’s “Big [Bad] Beautiful Bill.” They have had to pay 85% to 90% of the cost of Trump’s tariffs, which the Supreme Court of the United States just declared an illegal tax, but did not require it be refunded. The price of housing has forced workers to choose between food on their table or a roof over their head.

Trump’s rosy view of the economy is also challenged by data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released in February 2026 that shows an annualized rate of 1.4% growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 — significantly below the 2.5% to 3.0% rate predicted by the administration. 

The government has manipulated inflation by removing the prices of food and fuel from its calculation, because they are too volatile, leaving a sour taste in the mouths and minds of many workers.

And the repression that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has waged against Minnesota communities has made it clear that resistance is justified and can be organized to be effective.