Trump Unveils Sweeping New Tariffs Expected to Cost Americans $100 Billion a Year

Trump uses bogus claims to continue to impose a national sales tax on Americans

Jake Johnson

On July 23, Donald Trump  unveiled a new package of tariffs targeting 60 countries that account for over 99% of US imports, a move that—if upheld in court—would cost Americans an estimated $100 billion per year in the form of higher costs.

The duties, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, were announced as part of Trump's effort to maneuver around repeated court rulings against his sweeping tariffs, including by the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court. Jamieson Greer, the Trump administration’s top trade official, pointed to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to justify the new tariffs, introduced with the purported goal of penalizing countries “for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”

Observers questioned the administration’s pretext. “Magically, the US tariff probe on forced labor practices is done perfectly in time to replace the generalized but expiring Section 122 tariffs,” noted Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove, referring to the legal authority Trump cited for earlier tariffs.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) acknowledged that “Section 301 is a law Congress passed,” but added, “What was passed in 1974 was authority to respond to specific unfair trade practices after investigation.”

“What is being done with it now is a tariff on 99% of American trade, set by Trump, with no expiration, no vote, and no ceiling,” said Levin. “If a delegation that broad is lawful, then the tariff power in Article I means very little. The Supreme Court struck down the last version of this policy in February. The response was to avoid Congress and find a different statute and rebuild substantially the same tariffs, effective the same minute the old ones lapsed.”

The list of countries targeted by the Section 301 tariffs includes Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

Between the start of his second administration and January 2026, Trump’s tariffs cost American families $1,700 each on average as importers passed burdens onto consumers in the form of higher prices. The tariffs have also hammered small businesses, increased hardship for farmers, and failed to arrest the decline of American manufacturing jobs.

Trump screws seniors again by ending subsidy for Medicare prescription drug plans

Dr. Oz says you don't need it anymore

Jake Johnson for Common Dreams

The Trump administration said it would end a subsidy program that helped lower premiums for seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, a move that’s expected to increase monthly costs for millions of Americans amid a broader affordability crisis.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), headed by Mehmet Oz, announced “the conclusion of the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration” for the coming year, just months before the start of Medicare open enrollment. Oz characterized the subsidy program as a “bailout” for insurance companies and said that “premiums will go up by less than $10 for most Medicare recipients.”

But The Wall Street Journal, which reported the administration’s move ahead of the public announcement, noted that nearly half of Medicare Part D plan enrollees would likely see increases “largely in the $11 to $20 range a month.” The subsidy program, established in the wake of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, cut the average Part D premium by more than 25% this year.

You’re not imagining it: Your kid’s school supplies cost more this year

From lunchboxes to No. 2 pencils, the prices are skyrocketing. Here's how much.

Chabeli Carrazana, Economy and Child Care Reporter

This story was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of The 19th. Meet Chabeli and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Pencils are more expensive. So are notebooks, scissors, glue sticks — just about every back-to-school item that families will load into their literal or virtual carts this summer has gone up in price at a time when American families already feel crushed by rising costs.

According to one analysis of the 21 most common school supply items by the Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation, two progressive think tanks, prices are up about 7.7 percent with parents paying an average of $173.45 for their school supply haul. That’s an even bigger jump than last year. Add to that an 11 percent hike in prices for school lunch essentials — from the literal tons of blueberries needed to feed young children to apple juice — and costs balloon to nearly $4,000 a year to cover supplies and meals. 

That data was first shared exclusively with The 19th. The analysis is based on weekly retail transaction data on millions of products collected by NielsenIQ from about 50,000 retailers.

With school supply costs outpacing inflation, many families — and especially the women who do the majority of purchases in American households — are going to feel the sticker shock, said Lindsay Owens, the president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative.

“Women in this country are rip-roaring mad about the price hikes that they're absorbing. They're trying to manage household finances and budgeting. They're trying to feed their kids healthy food,” Owens said. “The work is getting harder of providing for your family.”

Here are the school supplies with the biggest spikes in price: 

• Lunch boxes are up 27 percent
• Notebooks, notebook paper, tissues and index cards are all up about 20 percent
• Scissor costs rose 14 percent
• Dry erase markers and glue sticks are up 8 percent
• Headphones, binders, crayons, colored pencils and No. 2 pencils increased between 5 and 7 percent

On the lunch side: 

• 12 ounces of blueberries are up a whopping 48 percent
• A loaf of sandwich bread is up 22 percent
• Apple juice prices have risen 20 percent
• A pound of oranges has risen 17 percent
• A box of packaged animal crackers will run you nearly 16 percent more 
• A package of chocolate chip cookies is up 14 percent

Driving up some of these costs are tariffs and the war on Iran. 

Trump solves inflation

MAGA declaring war on seniors — and it could be their downfall

Is Trump testing to see how much he can take away from seniors before they rebel?

Alex Henderson

According to data from the Roper Center at Cornell University, 50 percent of U.S. seniors — those who are 65 or older — voted for Donald Trump in 2024 compared to 49 percent for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. 

The senior vote was close in 2024, and seniors, Roper says, played an important role in getting Trump past the finish line. But according to Salon's Heather Digby Parton, seniors could be the ones who doom Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

Parton notes that because so many seniors vote GOP, "it's always been a mystery" to her "why Republicans have always been so bent on destroying the safety net that brought the elderly out of poverty and assured them a baseline level of subsistence and medical care." And she points that crucial safety-net programs used by seniors — Social Security and Medicare — came from liberal Democratic presidents.

"From the moment Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935 to the day Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Act 30 years later," Parton explains, "the right has been trying to destroy them. In the early days, it sprang from their obsession with anti-communism, arguments that the country couldn't afford it, and that individuals and their families are rightfully responsible for their own care in old age.

“In a 1961 radio address — 20 years before he became president — Ronald Reagan said, 'One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine' ... Before Medicare was created, only 54 percent of elderly people had health insurance, and that could be cancelled without cause when they got sick — which, as you know, tends to happen when you get old."

Parton continues, "Three years after it was enacted, 96 percent of people over 65 had hospital insurance. It was literally a life saver. Over the years, Medicaid, created at the same time to assist people living below the poverty line, came to cover many of the health expenses that Medicare didn't for elderly people, most importantly for nursing homes and caregivers. The GOP has been hacking away at these vital programs ever since, and yet, senior citizens have been voting for them in greater numbers than any other age cohort."

Rhode Island energy costs are soaring. So are political tensions.

Does not hold RI Energy responsible

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

 (Photo by Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)

In declaring a state of emergency over rising energy prices, Gov. Dan McKee simultaneously declared war on the environmental groups, lawmakers and state regulators who he alleges are standing in the way of relief for struggling families.

“Anybody who tells you that what we’re proposing is not helping people pay their utility bills, they’re basically advocating for their own personal self interests,” McKee said at a press conference at United Way of Rhode Island’s Providence office on Thursday.

He wasn’t talking about the cluster of social service agency leaders who surrounded him, cheering as he signed an executive order, authorizing $28 million in proceeds from the state’s gas cap-and-trade program to offset winter electricity bills for Rhode Island Energy customers. 

Instead, McKee was referring in broad terms to the people who spoke out during the 2026 legislative session against his proposed energy affordability plan. The proposal, which was largely dismantled by lawmakers in the final fiscal 2027 budget, sought to save ratepayers $1 billion on energy bills over five years in part by weakening state programs meant to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Environmental groups, solar developers, and Democratic lawmakers all cited concerns with McKee’s plan, arguing that the short-term savings came with long-term costs to climate change, energy independence and ratepayer savings. In signing the fiscal 2027 budget, which did not include these contested components, in June, McKee praised lawmakers for acknowledging many of his priorities, including energy affordability.

Six weeks later, barreling toward a contested Democratic primary against challenger Helena Buonanno Foulkes, the governor was quick to point fingers at the people who dismantled his energy plans.

“This was an all-out effort to water down the plan I put in place,” McKee said. “Anybody who was testifying and pushing back against energy savings that are needed right now, they are part of the cohort that said ‘let them pay more.’”

McKee declined to name who specifically made this statement or when.

Larry Chretien, executive director at Green Energy Consumers Alliance, which was one of the groups opposed to McKee’s energy proposal, said in an interview he was “shocked and saddened” by McKee’s accusations.

Chretien stressed the merits of maintaining the state’s path to decarbonization, in turn protecting ratepayers from seasonal price volatility, refusing to play the blame game.

“He’s zigging while the rest of the world is moving toward this direction of renewables and energy efficiency,” Chretien said of McKee. “Look at what happened with the Strait of Hormuz. There’s no better example of why we need to have alternatives.”

This bill by local state Senators Victoria Gu and Sue Sosnowski would have capped RI Energy profits while McKee's administration currently guarantees RI Energy a 9.275% profit margin. This bill did not pass

Is the Price-Fixing "Crackdown" for Real?

Not until they arrest and try corporate offenders

by Philip Mattera, director of the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First for the Dirt Diggers Digest 

Throughout his second term, Donald Trump has struggled to find an effective message on the issue of inflation. For a time, he tried to deny the problem existed, choosing to depict the affordability crisis as an invention of the Democrats.

Then he concocted far-fetched claims such as the idea that “illegal aliens” were to blame. After his attack on Iran caused fuel and other prices to shoot up, Trump insisted the increase would last only a short time.

Now, at long last, Trump seems to be acknowledging that inflation is real and the government needs to do something about it. Yet, of course, he wants to give the impression he can solve the problem with what amounts to a wave of a magic wand. He just tried that by taking credit for some selective grocery price reductions announced by Walmart, only to end up with egg on his face when the retailer disclosed that the cuts were scheduled well before Trump stepped in.

Apart from Trump’s antics, some parts of the administration are taking a more serious approach by focusing on one of the more significant causes of high prices: collusion among producers.

A perfect storm of factors is driving up US produce prices, but shoppers can still save

Just invest in stocks or crypto

Elizabeth Canales, Mississippi State University

From tomatoes and berries to lettuce and peppers, shoppers are feeling sticker shock in the produce aisle.

Recent headlines have focused in particular on soaring tomato prices. They spiked by roughly one-fifth from June 2025 to June 2026, according to consumer price data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But across the board, fruits and vegetables have gotten more expensive. Lettuce prices jumped by about 32% during that same 12-month period, while prices for all fresh vegetables increased about 10%. Fresh fruit saw smaller hikes, with apples up 7% and citrus fruit prices rising 6%.

As an agricultural economist, I see a complex mix of factors at work: extreme weather, worker shortages and rising labor costs, and high energy and shipping prices, as well as fallout from the Trump administration’s trade policies, just to name a few. And because some of these inflation drivers affect multiple sectors, costs are building up throughout the supply chain.

The breadth of these factors suggests that widespread relief may not come quickly. But inflation-weary shoppers can still take some steps to ease the sting of high prices.

What’s driving higher fruit and vegetable prices?

To start with, weather disruptions have cut supply and pushed prices up.

Unusual freezes in Florida in early 2026, for example, hit a variety of crops – including citrus, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes and sweet corn – leading to yield losses and higher prices.

Imports also play a critical role in the U.S. food supply, especially during the winter and early spring months, when domestic production is limited. And if adverse weather conditions coincide with changes in trade policy, as is the case with the U.S.-Mexico relationship, produce supply and prices are especially affected.

The surge in tomato prices is a good example.

To protect the domestic tomato industry, the U.S. Commerce Department withdrew in June 2025 from a deal with Mexico, known formally as the U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement, to end duty-free access for Mexican tomatoes. This move effectively imposed a 17% antidumping duty on most tomato imports.

With imports accounting for about three-quarters of the U.S. tomato supply and Mexico supplying the overwhelming majority of foreign-grown tomatoes, U.S. consumers ultimately picked up the tab. In addition, reports suggest that Mexican tomato production declined after the agreement ended, with tomato imports dropping by 13% year over year. That diminished supply likely pushed prices higher.

Rising costs across the produce supply chain

Growing everything from strawberries to collard greens is labor intensive, and for many years, worker shortages have compelled farms to hike wages. Amid those pressures, producers are reporting that having to pay more for labor is adding to their own rising production costs.

Another factor is fertilizer prices, which have spiked due to disruptions caused by the Iran war. This geopolitical shock has affected the flow of goods, including fertilizer and oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz, hiking prices and fueling volatility in global fertilizer markets.

Fertilizer prices paid to manufacturers jumped by more than 20% year over year in June 2026, while nitrogen fertilizer prices increased a whopping 46%, according to U.S. government data.

With all these factors driving up costs, farmers have little control over the prices they receive for their products. Market prices are largely determined by the forces of demand and supply, including domestic production and imports. And considering that producer costs account for only about one-third of the retail price for fresh produce, those increases aren’t always fully passed through to consumers.

Beyond production costs, higher fuel prices have made doing business throughout the supply chain more expensive. The Iran war has resulted in a significant spike in fuel prices – roughly 27% over the year – which trickles down through the economy.

This jump has a pronounced effect on refrigerated truck rates, which are critical for shipping fresh produce. Those were 20% higher in June 2026 compared with June 2025, according to data from the Department of Agriculture.

In effect, these increases raise both the cost of producing fresh produce and of getting it from the farm to the final consumer.

What can shoppers do?

Food inflation delivers a major hit on consumer budgets, particularly for low-income Americans, who are more sensitive to price increases. When the quality of diet in vulnerable households drops, rising food costs may be among the contributing reasons. A May 2026 survey of shoppers illustrates this financial squeeze, with 1 in 3 households reporting a drop in fresh produce purchases as a result.

But there are still workarounds if you’re seeking affordable yet healthy options. For example, certain types of produce and legumes have been less affected by inflation, including bananas, oranges, potatoes, dried beans, peas and lentils.

Shoppers should also look to canned and frozen fruit and vegetables to save money. They’re just as healthy but less affected by inflation because their longer shelf life means that factors such as weather and transportation play less of a role. Prices for processed produce increased year over year by just 3%, and 2.4% for frozen.

The substitution for cheaper alternatives is already evident in consumer choices, as 1 in 5 shoppers have reported shifting from fresh to frozen produce.

That said, sustained produce inflation makes healthy eating more difficult – which is why the search for affordable alternatives is increasingly important.

With so many factors contributing to higher inflation, some of the challenges affecting produce prices may be too long-lasting and hard to resolve overnight. As a result, relief at the checkout line may take longer than many consumers would like.

Elizabeth Canales, Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Energy costs are high and unaffordable

What utilities, governments, communities and you can do to help cut energy costs

Sanya Carley, University of Pennsylvania; Alexandra Klass, University of Michigan; Alison L. Knasin, University of Pennsylvania; David Konisky, Indiana University, and Shelley Welton, University of Pennsylvania

For many Americans, energy bills are becoming increasingly unaffordable.

Energy prices increased approximately 30% on average from 2021 to 2026. In some places, the rates of increase have been much steeper. In the Mid-Atlantic and eastern Midwest region where several of us live, the regional electricity grid is run by PJM Interconnection, and power prices in the first quarter of 2026 were 76% higher than the same period in 2025.

These rising utility costs are a shock to many people, including those already having a hard time paying for the energy they need. In 2024, 1 in 3 American households reported struggling to pay their energy bills, and 15.1 million homes were disconnected from their electricity or gas services because the residents couldn’t pay their bill. Energy insecurity is a pervasive and potentially dangerous predicament for these millions of households, and a growing challenge for America as energy bills rise.

Energy markets, which we study, are famously complex. But many parties in these marketplaces, from the federal government to individual consumers, have opportunities to help provide Americans with affordable energy. Some may not be obvious to the casual observer, or even to savvy energy wonks.

He's going to need more Sharpies

Americans' ability to afford health care falls to 5-year low

Losing ground

By West Health Institute

Edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

Share of U.S. adults who are "Cost Secure"
dips below half. Credit: West Health-Gallup
Center on Healthcare in America

New research released from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America finds that fewer than half of Americans (49%) are considered "Cost Secure," meaning they can consistently afford health care and prescription medications when and where they need them, the lowest level recorded since West Health and Gallup launched its Healthcare Affordability Index in 2021.

In the past year alone, 2.8 million Americans dropped out of the Cost Secure category, unable to keep up with rising health care costs. The new data largely extend last year's downward trends, with continued declines in affordability evident among traditionally vulnerable populations, including Black and Hispanic adults and lower-income households.

"The fact that fewer than half of Americans can reliably afford health care should alarm every person, policymaker and health care leader in the country," said Tim Lash, president of the West Health Policy Center.

"Millions of Americans are being priced out of health care because costs are rising faster than their ability to pay. Without meaningful reforms that better address health care delivery, high prescription drug prices and rising insurance premiums, Americans will continue to struggle and affordability will only continue to deteriorate."

Health care spending is on the rise in the U.S., reaching $5.3 trillion in 2024, a 7.2% increase from the prior year and growing more than twice the rate of overall inflation (2.9%). Hospital prices climbed 3.4% in 2024, the fastest increase since 2007, while prescription drug spending rose 7.9%.

Soaring US beef prices likely to rise further thanks to trade tensions and disease outbreaks

Trump blunders lead to more expensive burgers

Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee and Charles Martinez

It’s summer grilling season, but for many Americans, surging prices mean beef is no longer what’s for dinner.

The cost of beef, having spiked since early 2025, is coming under even more pressure. The most recent is the screwworm outbreak that hit cattle in Mexico and has now spread to the United States, where the cattle herd has already fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s, due in part to drought.

Meanwhile, potential trade disruptions loom. Just before U.S. and Mexican trade negotiators began meeting on June 16-17, 2026, to discuss the long-standing deal binding North America, Donald Trump warned that Washington may not renew the agreement, which was negotiated during his first term, and instead potentially withdraw from it altogether.

As international trade and livestock economists, we have studied how North American trade has deeply integrated cattle and beef markets, influencing production, prices and the movement of animals and meat products across Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

And because beef is both a top agricultural import and export for the U.S., the industry is especially vulnerable to any disruptions to the existing trade deal. As one example, the cost of ground beef is up by more than 20% just since January 2025.

Current trade uncertainty, reflecting Trump’s more fragmented, bilateral approach to negotiations, couldn’t come at a worse moment for inflation-weary consumers. The growing turmoil in the North American beef market risks further tightening supplies and raising prices.

The Non-Victory

Compared to where we were before February 28, it's a terrible failure

Robert Reich

Trump again claims victory in Iran. He’s claimed victory before, but now he has a so-called “agreement” with Iran.

That agreement, which appears to be no more than a memo of understanding — that is, a set of principles to which Iran and the United States have agreed — stops the fighting and reopens the Strait of Hormuz but it does not deal with the issue that caused Trump to initiate the conflict: Iran’s nuclear program.

Keep that in mind as you hear various renditions of what’s been decided. Recall that the Strait of Hormuz was open before Trump began bombing Iran. 

At best, the agreement Trump is touting restores the status quo to where it was when he commenced hostilities. Remember also that Iran had agreed to limit its development of nuclear-grade materials in its treaty with the Obama administration, which Trump revoked in 2018.

So what has been accomplished? Iran now is under the control of a more extremist regime than when Trump started this war. 

Oil prices are far higher, and will take some time to return to where they were before it began (if they ever do). 

Meanwhile, Trump has caused the United States to be more dependent on fossil fuels than we were prior to his inauguration for a second time, and the high oil prices brought on by his war has enriched Vladimir Putin’s regime.

The war with Iran has cost the United States an estimated $90 billion, and that’s a conservative estimate. It has caused widespread suffering throughout the Middle East. 

It has put Israel in a more precarious situation than it was before — and much of that is due to Benjamin Netanyahu, who is not a party to, and has not approved, the agreement.

This doesn’t look like a victory. Compared to where the United States and the Middle East were on February 28, when Trump began this war, it’s a terrible failure.

This is how King Donald keeps his promises

The triple toll of Trump’s terrible tariffs

Ultimately, American workers and consumers suffer three different ways.

Tom Schaller

Following the Supreme Court’s February ruling that Donald Trump’s tariff policy violated Congress’s tax authority, the administration must now refund the $159 billion it collected from its unconstitutional tariffs.

But unfortunately for American workers and consumers, winding down this fiscal fiasco results in a lose-lose-lose situation:

• First, most Americans will never be reimbursed for what were effectively temporary sales taxes they paid for various imports, nor will they receive the public benefit of having those sums spent on government programs or projects.
• Second, because it is logistically easier to reimburse the American companies that directly paid the tariffs, some corporations may enjoy windfall refund profits — presuming, that is, those companies did not go bankrupt.
• Finally, the surviving businesses and the employees who still work for them — hundreds of thousands of workers were laid off because of the tariffs — will for the foreseeable future continue to suffer because foreign countries, companies, and citizens quite rationally retaliated against Trump’s policies.

Let’s work through the three-fold ruin wrought by Trump’s catastrophic policy.

How much is Trump's war on Iran costing you?

3 Months of Trump’s Disastrous Iran War Has Cost US Consumers $60 Billion in Extra Energy Costs​

Julia Conley for Common Dreams

Americans have made clear since Donald Trump joined Israel in beginning an unprovoked war on Iran that they view the conflict-of-choice as damaging to their financial well-being—and that they blame the president for the higher cost of fuel since the war started in February.

On May 29, Moody’s Analytics put an exact number on the heightened financial anxiety families across the country have been feeling over the past three months as Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent fuel prices soaring: $447.19.

That’s how much the average US household has had to additionally spend on fuel-related expenses since Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu launched their attack on February 28, Moody’s told CNBC.

Altogether, Americans have spent a total of nearly $60 billion on gas, airline fares, and other related costs as the strait, a key shipping route for oil, has remained effectively closed.

According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular gas stands at $4.39—up close to 50% since early March. Diesel now costs $5.52 per gallon, forcing consumers to pay $20 billion more in additional expenses on groceries and other goods.

It’s not just high gas prices – inflation is now spreading through the US economy

Trump's war-driven energy cost hikes affect the whole economy

D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University and Brandy Hadley, Appalachian State University

Americans don’t need a press release to know that inflation is rising. Gasoline is above $4 per gallon amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the release of key price data on May 28, 2026, underscores why policymakers are worried these pressures could spread into the broader economy.

The report offered a mixed but still uncomfortable picture. The month-to-month rise was softer than expected, but the change year over year still points to concern: a 3.8% jump from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2021, and a less volatile index that excludes food and energy up 3.3%.

This increase suggests inflation isn’t limited to gasoline. Housing, utilities and recreational spending are also keeping underlying inflation elevated, even as other data shows a slowing economy and weaker income growth.

As finance and applied investments professors who study how businesses make decisions amid uncertainty, we have been watching this tension build. In our 2026 economic outlook, we warned that recession fears could persist alongside rising prices. Fresh inflation data now suggests the challenge may be deeper and longer lasting than many expected.

Are all prices rising?

The fresh inflation data comes from the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, or headline PCE, which is maintained and released by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Headline PCE had already been getting hotter, rising to 3.5% year on year in March 2026, up from 2.8% in February. But an even more important metric for the Federal Reserve is core PCE, which excludes the more volatile categories of food and energy. Core PCE matters because it gives policymakers a clearer read on underlying inflation pressures and is generally considered a better predictor of where inflation is headed, the Fed’s chief concern. That has been rising this year as well.

The key question isn’t simply whether gas prices are rising, but whether those higher energy costs are spreading into the rest of the economy.

Trump Aide Claims Americans ‘Spending More Money on Everything’ Shows They’re ‘Optimistic’ About Economy

Multiple consumer surveys have shown that Americans have never been more pessimistic

Brad Reed for Common Dreams

For the second time in a month, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Tuesday claimed that Americans spending more money on gasoline and other goods is a sign of strength for the US economy—rather than evidence of the Trump administration’s inflationary policy decisions.

During an interview with Fox Business, Hassett tried to counter recent data showing US consumer sentiment hitting all-time lows during Donald Trump’s second term.

“The thing that I’ve seen when I look at credit card data,” Hassett said, “is that while people have been spending more money at gas stations, they’ve been spending more money on everything else, which means that they’re still very, very optimistic about the state of the economy, and they should be.”

In fact, multiple consumer surveys have shown that Americans have never been more pessimistic about the state of the economy.

Last week, the University of Michigan’s latest Surveys of Consumers showed consumer sentiment hitting the lowest level ever, driven primarily by concerns about the cost of living.

Gallup last week published new data showing that Americans’ economic confidence has fallen to its lowest level since October 2022, with just 16% of Americans rating the economy as excellent or good, and nearly half describing it as poor.

Introducing TRUMPGroceries

Corruptonomics

A memo to Democratic candidates on connecting Trump’s lousy economy to his corrupt regime.

Robert Reich

Friends,

Here’s a memo to Democrats as they begin campaigning in earnest for control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections. (Please send to any candidates you care about.)

***

TO: Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterm elections

RE: Connect Trump’s lousy economy to his corrupt regime.

The purpose of this memo is to help you shape your midterm message around the crisis of affordability and Trump Republican corruption. I urge you to present these two issues as aspects of the same underlying problem: The economy is lousy for most Americans because Trump Republicans are enabling super-rich oligarchs to siphon off most of its gains while exerting increasing control over it. Their — and Trump’s — self-dealing is undermining trust and confidence in the U.S. economic system.

1. Republicans in the House and Senate have put oligarchs in charge of America.

House and Senate Republicans have allowed Trump’s war and his tariffs to drive up prices and Trump’s corruption to undermine faith in the economy. They’ve allowed Trump to gild his White House in gold leaf, plan a giant Arc de Trump, throw lavish parties, and build a Billionaire’s Ballroom — at a time when most Americans can’t afford gas or groceries.

They raided Medicaid to pay for Trump’s giant tax cut, whose benefits are going mostly to the rich. Legislative efforts advanced by House Republicans and signed into law have targeted up to $2 trillion in federal health care cuts, forcing millions of Americans off Medicaid rolls to pay for these tax reductions.

They refused to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. This is causing average premiums to more than double and has already pushed 1.2 million people off coverage because they can’t afford it. Coverage losses are mounting as many who initially selected a plan or who were automatically reenrolled have to drop coverage.

Big Tech oligarchs — centi-billionaires Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Ellison, and other robber barons — paid for Trump’s 2024 election, his inauguration, and his ballroom and are major donors to Senate and House Republicans. They’ve shown up at Trump’s inauguration, White House dinners, and official visits to China.

In return, these oligarchs have been allowed to monopolize and drive up the prices we pay and silence Trump critics. Bezos’s Amazon, for example, won’t allow any seller on the site to post lower prices on any other site, and Bezos won’t allow his Washington Post editorial page to criticize Trump. Larry and David Ellison have bought CBS and sanitized “60 Minutes” of Trump criticism and effectively canceled Stephen Colbert. After buying X (formerly Twitter), Musk turned it into a pro-Trump voice box.

The AI oligarchs have bribed Trump and congressional Republicans to allow unfettered and unregulated growth of AI and its data centers, threatening millions of jobs and posing potential dangers to human life itself.

The crypto oligarchs have bribed Trump and congressional Republicans to allow them to create the world’s largest Ponzi scheme — which is enriching Trump and his family while providing a means for criminals to hide insider trades, child trafficking, and drug deals.

The Big Oil and aerospace oligarchs have bribed congressional Republicans to allow Trump to go to war in Iran, resulting in massive profits for Big Oil — while the rest of us pay $1.50 more per gallon of gas — and giant profits for giant military contractors.

This war spending has also contributed to higher inflation, which the rest of us pay for in higher mortgage rates and higher rates on car loans and education loans. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has surged to over 6.6 percent, reaching its highest level in nearly nine months, driven by rising Treasury yields, higher oil prices, and broader economic inflation concerns stemming from the war in Iran. The major beneficiaries of these higher rates — who pocket the higher payments we have to make — are the biggest banks and super-rich who make the loans.

Oligarchs have also bribed Trump and congressional Republicans to (1) get no-bid contracts, (2) deregulate Wall Street, (3) roll back environmental safeguards and worker safety, and (4) get massive subsidies for their corporations — all of which have made them even richer while making life for the rest of us more dangerous and more costly.