| Today’s CPI report shows that President Biden is bolstering the economy from the bottom up and middle out. Thanks to President Biden, the American people are seeing one of the strongest job markets in American history: over 15 million new jobs, rising wages, and historically low unemployment rates, and this month, lower costs from airline fares to gas prices. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is promising more tax breaks for the ultra-rich while rooting for the economy to crash for his own political gain. The contrast is clear: President Biden is dedicated to delivering economic results for hardworking families, while Trump is running on the same disastrous trickle-down MAGAnomics agenda to help his wealthy special interest backers – not the middle class.
President Biden is driving down inflation while maintaining a historically strong job market and exceeding expectations in jobs numbers last month.
Heather Long, Washington Post: “Good news on inflation today. You can really see it in the chart. The pinkish line (‘core inflation’) is the lowest since April 2021.”
Heather Long, Washington Post: “You can really see the inflation cooldown at last
Food +2.1% in past year –>smallest since 2020
Restaurants +4% in past yr–>smallest since 2021
Core inflation 3.4% –>smallest since 2021
Commodities -1.7% –>smallest since 2004
New vehicles -0.8% –>smallest since 2018
Pet food -1.1% –>smallest since 2020
Hopefully this trend continues and we see more services cooling off.”
Carl Quintanilla, CNBC: “* lowest headline MoM #CPI since May 2020
* lowest core MoM since Aug 2021”
Simon Rosenberg: “Inflation was zero in May. Groceries only up 1% over the past year, the prices of many items are failing. The spate of positive economic news in recent weeks has been remarkable. US economy is so strong, the ‘envy of the world.’”
Barron’s: “CPI Report: Inflation Cools to 3.3% Annual Rate”
Wall Street Journal: “Fed Rate Decision Today: CPI Undershoots Forecasts; Futures Gain”
U.S. Department of Labor: “Notably, the share of working age women in the labor force rose to a historic high of 78 percent. This is the highest the rate has been since we began tracking the data in 1948, and it is a welcome sign after the devastating effects that COVID-19 had on working women. Overall, the labor force participation rate among prime-age workers continues to outpace its pre-pandemic levels.”
CNBC: “U.S. job gains totaled 272,000 in May, much more than expected”
The Hill: “US adds 272,000 jobs in May, blowing past expectations”
Americans benefited from declining airfares in May after President Biden’s work on antitrust enforcement.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: “The index for airline fares fell 3.6 percent in May, following a 0.8-percent decrease in April.”
NBC News: “Judge blocks JetBlue-Spirit merger after DOJ’s antitrust challenge”
“A federal judge Tuesday blocked JetBlue Airways’ purchase of Spirit Airlines
after the Justice Department sued to stop the merger, saying the deal would drive up fares for price-sensitive consumers by taking the discount carrier out of the market.”
New York Times: “JetBlue-American Partnership Struck Down by Federal Judge”
Donald Trump’s plans for the economy could actually worsen inflation for the country.
The Atlantic: “Trump’s Plan to Supercharge Inflation”
“But a growing number of economists and policy analysts are warning that Trump’s second-term agenda of sweeping tariffs, mass deportation of undocumented migrants, and enormous tax cuts would accelerate, rather than alleviate, inflation….
“In a study released last month, the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics calculated that the tariffs Trump says he will impose on imports would dramatically raise costs for consumers…
“[Former Treasury Secretary Larry] Summers identified multiple pillars of Trump’s economic agenda that could accelerate inflation. These included compromising the independence of the Federal Reserve Board, enlarging the federal budget deficit by extending his 2017 tax cuts, raising tariffs, rescinding Biden policies designed to promote competition and reduce “junk fees,” and squeezing the labor supply by restricting new immigration and deporting undocumented migrants already here. Others note that top Trump advisers have also hinted that in a second term, he would seek to devalue the dollar, which would boost exports but further raise the cost of imported goods.”
Axios: “Trump’s inflation bomb: How his second-term plans could make it worse”
CNBC: “Trump could drive inflation higher with his second-term economic agenda, analysts say”
Vox: “Trump’s team keeps promising to increase inflation”
Trump had the worst job record in modern American history.
USA Today: “Fact check: Chart of job growth by president shows historic unemployment under Trump”
Newsweek: “Trump Leaving Office With 3M Less Jobs Than When He Entered, Worst Record Since Depression”
Fortune: “Trump to leave office with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover”
Washington Post: “President Trump took office at the crest of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. He leaves presiding over the worst labor market in modern U.S. history, as an already-sputtering economic recovery has turned negative.”
Trump’s MAGAnomics agenda put tax cuts to billionaires above the livelihoods of working families.
Center for American Progress: “The most significant piece of legislation former President Donald Trump signed during his first term had a dramatic cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent as its centerpiece. That corporate tax cut did not trickle down to ordinary workers but cost $1.3 trillion and helped fuel a record $1 trillion in stock buybacks the year after it passed.”
Forbes: “Trump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than The Working Class In 2018”
CBS News: “Two years after Trump tax cuts, middle-class Americans are falling behind”
Guardian: “They were billed as a ‘middle-class miracle’ but according to a new book Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.”
Politico: “The nation’s fiscal outlook looks ever bleaker, thanks in part to deficit spending during President Donald Trump’s first term, Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeeper projected Tuesday.”
Trump actively rooted for the U.S. economy to crash for his own political benefit, regardless of how it affects hardworking Americans.
CNN: “Trump says he hopes any economic crash would happen before he could serve a possible second term.”
“When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,” Trump said in an interview that aired Monday on the right-wing platform Lindell TV.”
The Hill: “Trump says he hopes economy crashes in next 12 months: ‘I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover’”
USA Today: “Donald Trump says he hopes economy tanks this election year ‘because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover’”
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