Oh Hey, How's THE JOBS?
Not good, Bob.
Is the war in Venezuela to distract from the war in Ukraine to distract from the DHS war at home to distract from the Epstein Files to distract from The Groceries? It is a Zen koan! But Trump’s approval rating on the economy (along with everything else) has been steadily sinking, and lately is underwater 14 percent, with a 55.5 percent disapproval of how he is handling The Groceries.
Now, according to the Trump Labor Department’s own jobs data published Friday (and also leaked early by Trump on Thursday), 2025 was the worst year for hiring since 2020, and what the Wall Street Journal says is the worst year for annual job growth outside of a recession since 2003.
The percentage of unemployed people who’d been without a job for 27 weeks or longer climbed to 26 percent in December, the highest since early 2022, meaning millions of people are working multiple part-time jobs to get by. It’s a K-shaped economy: things are getting better at the top, and worse at the bottom. You can see it in car prices: while the average cost of a new car went above $50k for the first time last year, at the same time, auto loan defaults and repossessions are on the rise for people with lower pre-purchase credit scores.
Yet on Friday, the Dow and S&P hit record-high closing levels! Because weak jobs means no interest rate hike, which means rich people can still borrow from Peter to pay Paul leverage their assets on the cheap. And earnings for defense and AI-chip companies are just swell.
Even everybody on Fox News except Steve Moore knows a stagnant labor market is not a good thing.
What’s more, according to the National Women’s Law Center, the job losses were women’s. In 2025 the women’s labor force increased by just 184,000, while men’s increased by 572,000, meaning men joined the labor force at three times the rate of women last year. And the unemployment rate for Black and Latina women also increased disproportionately to other demographics. Feature, not bug, as they aim to shut down all the daycares and put women back where we belong.
Hit hardest in 2025 were states with large numbers of federal workers — California, Maryland, Virginia and Texas — as more than 317,000 federal jobs (out of about 2.1 million) were eliminated in 2025.
Just the economic stewardship you’d expect from the guy who bankrupted six companies, including two casinos, is an adjudicated con man and fraud, and is even trying to peddle fake-gold watches to suckers.
But if you tell entitled, selfish, and/or undereducated people that they are superior to Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, they will cheer while you take their jobs and health insurance, shoot their neighbors in the face, rape their kids and pick their pockets, apparently.
But next week could bring big economic news: The Supreme Court might rule Wednesday on the legality of Trump using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy all of those tariffs that have been driving consumer prices through the roof over the past year. Or they might not! They just love to keep everybody guessing.
Reports are due out on the Consumer Price Index for December, the budget deficit, and new and existing home sales for October and December. And all signs point to outlook not good for those. House prices hit record highs in 2025 and are up more than 50 percent nationally since 2019. And low interest rates means prices will stay high.
We have all gone grocery shopping lately. War with Venezuela and/or Mexico is not going to cheapen the Folger’s and bananas.
But in better news, if you have adult children, in the near future they may have little choice but to come live with you, given how expensive it is just to live! The median age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40. Fluff the pillows!
Trump also announced that he directed Fannie and Freddie Mac to buy $200 million more in mortgage bonds. Housing speculation, what could go wrong? And he also said this week that he was “taking steps” to ban large investors from buying single-family homes, which we will believe never. Ban large investors other than his best friends, that we could believe.
Friday he threw more “affordability” spaghetti at the wall, this time ripped straight from a Bernie Sanders proposal (do it, Trump! Be a legend!).
Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be “ripped off” by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. AFFORDABILITY! Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%. Coincidentally, the January 20th date will coincide with the one year anniversary of the historic and very successful Trump Administration. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Not a law, not even an executive order. But he’s calling now with an incredible offer! Concepts of frameworks of steps of the affordability. Throw in $6 and you’ll get a dozen eggs for free!
[WSJ gift link]
So employers are BEMOANING the fact that they can't find workers with the skills they need.
Leave us remember that one of the things that UNIONS do is run training programs for their members.
It's almost as if Corporate 'Murica's crippling of unions causes unfilled jerbs for Corporate 'Murica.
"Just the economic stewardship you’d expect from the guy who bankrupted six companies..."
Let's not forget the only viable challenger to the NFL in 60 years. The USFL.