 |
|
|
|||||
President Donald Trump will road-test his claims that he’s tackling Americans’ affordability woes at a Tuesday rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvaniashifting an argument made in Oval Office appearances and social media posts to a campaign-style event. The trip comes as polling consistently shows that public trust in Trump’s economic leadership has faltered. Following dismal results for Republicans in last month’s off-cycle elections, the White House has sought to convince voters that the economy will emerge stronger next year and that any anxieties over inflation have nothing to do with Trump. The president has consistently blamed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for inflation even as his own aggressive implementation of policies has pushed up prices that had been settling down after spiking in 2022 to a four-decade high. Inflation began to accelerate after Trump announced his sweeping Liberation Day tariffs in April. Companies warned that the import taxes could be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced hiring, yet Trump continues to insist that inflation has faded. Were bringing prices way down,” Trump said at the White House on Monday. You can call it affordability or anything you wantbut the Democrats caused the affordability problem, and were the ones that are fixing it. The president’s reception in the county hosting his Tuesday rally could give a signal of just how much voters trust his claims. Monroe County flipped to Trump in the 2024 election after having backed Biden in 2020, helping the Republican to win the swing state of Pennsylvania and return to the White House after a four-year hiatus. As home to the Pocono Mountains, the county has largely relied on tourism for skiing, hiking, hunting, and other activities as a source of jobs. Its proximity to New York Cityunder two hours by carhas also attracted people seeking more affordable housing. It’s also an area that could help decide control of the House in next year’s midterm elections. Trump is holding his rally in a congressional district held by freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who is a top target of Democrats and won his 2024 race by about 1.5 percentage points, among the nations closest. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, a Democrat, is running for the nomination to challenge him. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said on the online conservative talk show The Mom View that Trump would be on the campaign trail next year to engage supporters who otherwise might sit out a congressional race. Wiles, who helped manage Trump’s 2024 campaign, said most administrations try to localize midterm elections and keep the president out of the race, but she intends to do the opposite of that. Were actually going to turn that on its head,” Wiles said, “and put him on the ballot because so many of those low-propensity voters are Trump voters. Wiles added, So I havent quite broken it to him yet, but hes going to campaign like its 2024 again. Trump has said he’s giving consumers relief by relaxing fuel efficiency standards for autos and signing agreements to reduce list prices on prescription drugs. Trump has also advocated for cuts to the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest ratewhich influences the supply of money in the U.S. economy. He argues that would reduce the cost of mortgages and auto loans, although critics warn that cuts of the scale sought by Trump could instead worsen inflation. The U.S. economy has shown signs of resilience with the stock market up this year and overall growth looking solid for the third quarter. But many Americans see the prices of housing, groceries, education, electricity, and other basic needs as swallowing up their incomes, a dynamic that the Trump administration has said it expects to fade next year with more investments in artificial intelligence and manufacturing. Since the elections in November when Democrats won key races with a focus on kitchen table issues, Trump has often dismissed the concerns about prices as a hoax and a con job to suggest that he bears no responsibility for inflation, even though he campaigned on his ability to quickly bring down prices. Just 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to a November survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. By Josh Boak and Marc Levy, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has created a new $1 billion grant program to make U.S. airports more family- and health-friendly. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched the Make Travel Family Friendly Again campaign alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, December 8, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “I am talking about ushering in the golden age of transportation,” Duffy said, adding they are hiring more air traffic controllers, and asking retiring air traffic controllers to stay on the job. However, the Transportation Secretary said the funding is dedicated to “making the experience better in airports and its pretty wide open on what airports want to ask for” but could include additional nursing pods for breastfeeding mothers, workout areas, and family lanes for security checkpoints. Duffy said he has also reached out to the CEOs at a “majority of airlines” to see what they can do. Making the airport experience better, by making the experience healthier “I fly typically, over the past 30 years, on average 250 days a year, and I can tell you, this is where healthy diets go to die,” Kennedy said. Kennedy added that one of the things Secretary Duffy is encouraging airports to do on the health front, is open up new options like Farmer’s Fridge, a healthy food vending machinewhose CEO joined Kennedy at the podium. He also encouraged airports to apply for grants to create playground for kids, to decrease screen time.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Federal Reserve faces an unusually contentious meeting this week that will test Chair Jerome Powell‘s ability to corral the necessary support from fellow policymakers for a third straight interest rate cut. The Fed’s 19-member rate-setting committee is sharply divided over whether to lower borrowing costs again. The divisions have been exacerbated by the convoluted nature of the economy: Inflation remains elevated, which would typically lead the Fed to keep its key rate unchanged, while hiring is weak and the unemployment rate has risen, which often leads to rate cuts. Some economists expect three Fed officials could vote against the quarter-point cut that Powell is likely to support at the Dec. 9-10 meeting, which would be the most dissenting votes in six years. Just 12 of the 19 members vote on rate decisions. Several of the non-voting officials have also said they oppose another rate cut. It’s just a really tricky time. Perfectly sensible people can reach different answers, said William English, an economist at the Yale School of Management and a former top Fed staff member. And the committee kind of likes to work by consensus, but this is a situation where that consensus is hard to reach. The debate, which has also been fueled by a lack of official federal data on employment and inflation during the government shutdown, could be a preview of where the Fed is headed after Powell’s term as chair ends in May. His successor will be appointed by President Donald Trump and is widely expected to be Kevin Hassett, the top White House economic adviser. Hassett may push for faster cuts than other officials would be willing to support. English said the potential for greater disagreement could be seen as a sign of healthy debate between different views. The Feds tradition of reaching unanimous or nearly-unanimous decisions has often been criticized as evidence of groupthink. Yet some Fed officials warn that there are downsides to sharp splits. If the committee votes end up as 8-4 or even 7-5, then financial markets could lose confidence in where the central bank is headed next. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, for example, has said that in the case of a 7-5 vote, if just one official changed their view, it could bring about a significant shift in Fed policy. For now, however, most economists expect what’s called a hawkish cut the Fed will reduce rates, while also signaling that it may stand pat for some time to assess the economy’s health. (“Hawks” refer to officials who generally support higher rates to combat inflation, while doves more often support lower rates to boost hiring). The president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, Jeffrey Schmid, is expected to dissent for a second straight meeting in favor of keeping rates unchanged. He may be joined by St. Louis Fed president Alberto Musalem. Fed governor Stephen Miran, who was hurriedly appointed to the Fed’s board by Trump in September, will likely dissent for a third straight meeting in favor of a larger, half-point reduction in the Fed’s key rate. After the Fed’s last meeting Oct. 28-29, several policymakers said they would prefer to keep rates unchanged at the December meeting, leading Wall Street investors to briefly downgrade the odds of a third rate cut to less than 30%. But then John Williams, president of the New York Fed, said that this year’s uptick in inflation appears to be a temporary blip driven by Trump’s tariffs that would likely fade by the middle of 2026. As a result, I still see room for a further adjustment in the Fed’s short-term rate, Williams said. As president of the New York Fed and vice chair of the rate-setting committee, Williams gets to vote on every interest rate decision and is close to Powell. Analysts said it was unlikely Williams would have made such a statement without Powell’s support. Investors rapidly lifted the odds of a cut, which now are at 89%, according to CME Fedwatch. You’re seeing the power of the chair, said Nathan Sheets, chief global economist at Citi and also a former top Fed staffer. Members of the committee, my instinct is, are wanting to underscore their support for Powell. Powell has come under relentless attack from Trump, who just last month said he would love to fire his ass and called Powell this clown. The Fed is required by Congress to seek low inflation and maximum employment, two goals that are potentially in conflict. For now, Powell and many other Fed officials are more concerned about hiring and unemployment rather than inflation. While the official government jobs reports have been delayed, in September the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, the third straight increase and the highest in four years. Payroll provider ADP, meanwhile, reported that in November, its data showed companies shed 32,000 jobs. And many large firms have announced sweeping layoffs. Worries that the job market could get worse are a key reason a rate cut in December is likelybut not necessarily beyond that. Fed officials will have up to three months of backlogged jobs and inflation data to consider when they meet in late January. Those figures could show inflation remains stubbornly high or that hiring has rebounded, which would suggest further cuts aren’t needed. What they may end up agreeing to do is cut rates now, but give some guidance … that signals that theyre on pause for a while after that, Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said. Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||