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Category: Economy
February 21, 2025
William Upton
Economy
Politics

Senate Moves $340 Billion Budget Plan Despite Trump & House Opposition.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate advanced the first part of their two-pronged budget plan early Friday morning after 10 hours of votes on amendments. The legislation, with a price tag of $340 billion to fund President Donald J. Trump‘s agenda, does not include an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which the Senate intends to take up as a separate bill. This two-bill approach has been a sticking point for President Trump, who has said he prefers the House of Representatives’ plan to pass the budget and the tax cuts extension in one large budget reconciliation bill.

Notably, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote against the measure, which passed on a near-partisan vote, 52-48. The Senate budget plan will likely face opposition in the House of Representatives, which plans to introduce its own budget resolution next week.

“This budget resolution is a complete game changer when it comes to securing our border and making our military more lethal. It will allow President Trump to fulfill the promises he made to the American people—a very big deal,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in a statement released just after 5 AM on Friday.

While Trump has vocally backed the House’s single-bill budget plan, the President does appear to be open to the Senate’s two-bill approach, praising Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) in a post on Truth Social shortly before the grueling Thursday night and Friday morning vote series began. “Thank you to Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, for working so hard on funding the Trump Border Agenda,” Trump wrote, adding: “Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!”

Image via GPA Photo Archive.

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Republicans in the U.S. Senate advanced the first part of their two-pronged budget plan early Friday morning after 10 hours of votes on amendments. The legislation, with a price tag of $340 billion to fund President Donald J. Trump's agenda, does not include an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which the Senate intends to take up as a separate bill. This two-bill approach has been a sticking point for President Trump, who has said he prefers the House of Representatives' plan to pass the budget and the tax cuts extension in one large budget reconciliation bill. show more
February 21, 2025
Wake Up Right
Economy

Democrats, Media Suddenly Notice Inflation.

Democrats and the mainstream media are suddenly obsessed with the price of eggs after spending the last four years essentially denying the existence of inflation at all under Joe Biden.

What changed? The man in the White House.

Back up: When Biden took office in January 2021, the average cost of a dozen eggs was $1.46. By the time he left last month, the price had surged to over $4.50—a more than 200 percent increase.

  • Perspective: Throughout Trump’s first term, the price was stable at around $1.75 per dozen.

The details: According to Google Trends, there was a 0 percent interest score in news stories about “egg prices” in the final year of Biden’s residency. But once Trump was sworn in, the interest score spiked, peaking at 100 percent between January 26 and February 1st, driven by:

  • 📰 The media: CNN has written dozens of articles on egg prices since Trump was sworn in, including one with the headline: “Trump pledged to bring down food prices on Day One. Instead, eggs are getting more expensive”
  • 🤡 Democrat politicians: Sen. Chuck Schumer chastised: “The President owes the American people some answers: what is he going to do about the price of eggs exacerbated by bird flu?”

What caused this egg crisis? A mix of avian flu outbreaks, Biden’s mass killing of hens, and rising production costs.

  • 🦠 Avian flu outbreak: Since 2022, there have been several waves of the highly contagious Avian Influenza [bird flu].
  • 🐔 Culling hens: Since 2022, over 150 million birds have been culled in an attempt to contain the contagious virus. For perspective, today, there are a total of 369 million egg-layers in the U.S.
  • 🚚 Inflation under Biden has driven the prices of grain and transportation costs—also contributing to higher egg prices.

Trump’s plan: Currently, the Department of Agriculture compensates poultry farmers for culling entire flocks exposed to bird flu, but it does not pay for birds that die from the disease. This incentivizes the mass slaughter of our bird supply.

  • The Trump administration is currently looking at ways to revolutionize the agriculture industry’s response to these diseases by focusing on tighter biosecurity and medication.
  • Kevin Hassett, who leads Trump’s National Economic Council, told CBS News that the administration is “working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world.”

Big picture: Egg prices will likely continue to rise while poultry farmers rebuild their bird populations. And Democrats will continue to lay the blame on Trump. But this is a problem he inherited, not one he created.

Real talk from G: I think this is a strategic mistake by Democrats. Egg prices are a volatile item to hitch their wagons to. The price quickly fluctuates up or down [In January 2023, prices hit $4.80 before falling to just $2.04 a few months later], meaning Trump can and likely will get them back down in the $2-3 dollar range. They’re setting him up for a big win.

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Image by Pietro Izzo.

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Democrats and the mainstream media are suddenly obsessed with the price of eggs after spending the last four years essentially denying the existence of inflation at all under Joe Biden. show more
February 18, 2025
Jack Montgomery
Economy
World

Germany’s Next Chancellor Warns of European Financial Crisis.

Friedrich Merz, poised to become Germany’s next chancellor (prime minister), warns he is “very worried” the European Union (EU) is barreling toward another financial crisis, blaming excessive debt. “We can’t play fast and loose with public finances like some others do—and even those others are starting to alarm me,” said the nominally conservative politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) formerly led by Angela Merkel.

Six EU nations—France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal—carry debt loads exceeding their annual economic output. “A financial crisis is coming, no question,” Merz told POLITICO. “It’ll hit as a sovereign debt crisis. We can’t pinpoint the when or the where, but it’s on its way.”

Germany is just five days from a general election. Merz’s party is expected to win first place comfortably, with the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in second, ahead of the governing Social Democrats and their current and former coalition partners in the Green and Free Democratic parties. However, Merz is far more likely to seek a so-called “grand coalition” with leftist parties than a stronger center-right coalition with the AfD, which is largely shut out of positions of influence by establishment consensus.

Merz’s warnings on a European debt crisis come as the U.S. presses the EU to shoulder more of its defense costs. Germany faces a steep climb to meet its NATO spending obligation of 2 percent GDP defense spending post-2027. Berlin pumped €100 billion into a special fund to revamp its military after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but most of that cash is already spoken for—leaving a €30 billion annual gap.

“We need to sort out our priorities—first, how much room do we have to cut costs?” Merz mused, stressing, “Economic growth is the answer to everything. That’s my top focus before we dive into anything else.” Neither the Social Democrats nor the Greens agree, arguing Germany must instead loosen borrowing limits.

Migration splits the CDU and the left, too. Despite his party’s history of encouraging mass migration under Merkel, Merz promised to close Germany’s borders on day one. “We must slash the number of people flooding in, and fast,” Merz said, adding, “Other countries prove it’s doable, why not Germany?”—a possible reference to U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

Image by Steffen Prößdorf.

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Friedrich Merz, poised to become Germany’s next chancellor (prime minister), warns he is “very worried” the European Union (EU) is barreling toward another financial crisis, blaming excessive debt. “We can’t play fast and loose with public finances like some others do—and even those others are starting to alarm me,” said the nominally conservative politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) formerly led by Angela Merkel. show more
February 18, 2025
Economy

Unemployment SKYROCKETS in D.C. as Bureaucrats Are Booted by DOGE.

Since the start of the year, nearly 4,000 individuals have sought unemployment insurance in Washington, D.C.—a significant increase from prior weeks, based on data from the Labor Department. This comes amidst efforts by President Donald J. Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk to reduce the federal workforce.

Unadjusted for seasonality, D.C. has reported approximately 7,000 jobless claims in the first six weeks of the year, marking a 55 percent growth compared to the previous six-week span.

Claims hit 1,780 for the last reported week, increasing 36 percent from the week before and over four times the claims from a similar period in 2024. However, national jobless claim levels have remained stable, with the four-week average maintaining at 216,000 and showing a downward trend overall.

Contributing factors include the Trump administration’s directive to terminate numerous federal employees, with guidance from DOGE. Layoffs coupled with a large-scale buyout program for early retirements have played a role. Over 75,000 workers have accepted these offers.

Washington, D.C.’s unemployment rate was 5.5 percent as of December 2024—when Joe Biden was still in office—putting it among the nation’s highest, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In contrast, the broader metropolitan area had a lower rate of 2.7 percent. Nationwide, unemployment was 4.1 percent in December, declining slightly in January.

The D.C. housing market is also being affected and corrected after years of unsustainable growth. Thousand of properties have sprung up for sale or rental in the past few weeks, with prices reflecting people desperate to sell.

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Since the start of the year, nearly 4,000 individuals have sought unemployment insurance in Washington, D.C.—a significant increase from prior weeks, based on data from the Labor Department. This comes amidst efforts by President Donald J. Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk to reduce the federal workforce. show more
February 13, 2025
William Upton
Economy
World

BREAKING: President Trump Will Impose Reciprocal Tariffs on Countries Taxing U.S. Exports.

President Donald J. Trump is issuing an order to impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign nations that have already instituted their own tariffs on American exports. The proposed tariffs aim to end unfair trade practices that tilt international markets against American companies and products, an issue that President Trump has repeatedly emphasized for decades and argues has undermined both the national interest and the United States economy.

“On trade, I have decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff—meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less,” Trump said during a Thursday press conference at the White House. He continued: “In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff and we charge them the exact same tax or tariff. In almost all cases, they’re charging us vastly more than we change them. But those days are over.”


Notably, Trump says he intends to impose tariffs on countries that have enacted a Value Added Tax (VAT). The European Union’s member states, which use a stringent VAT system, would be the most prominently impacted countries.

Once enacted, the tariffs will target a wide range of goods—though automobiles, manufacturing, and raw industrial materials are among the most prominent products targeted. Already, President Trump has instituted a new 10 percent tariff on goods from China and initiated—but paused—tariffs of 25 percent on goods imported from Mexico and Canada; the latter tariffs are intended to push Canada and Mexico to crack down on drug trafficking across their borders with the U.S.

Critics of President Trump’s tariff plans claim their imposition will increase prices for American consumers. However, The National Pulse has previously detailed that this claim is—for the most part—untrue. Tariffs are paid by the importing company on the cost of the product or good at the point of production. This means a 25 percent tariff—for instance—is on the price at the point of production and not on the sale price consumers see.

Additionally, reciprocal tariffs are intended to level the playing field in international trade by matching import taxes foreign nations have already imposed on U.S. exports.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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President Donald J. Trump is issuing an order to impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign nations that have already instituted their own tariffs on American exports. The proposed tariffs aim to end unfair trade practices that tilt international markets against American companies and products, an issue that President Trump has repeatedly emphasized for decades and argues has undermined both the national interest and the United States economy. show more
February 12, 2025
Economy

Inflation Surged During Biden’s Last Month in Office.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Wednesday that U.S. inflation increased to three percent year-over-year in January, during the final month of former President Joe Biden‘s term in office. Month-to-month inflation is up from 2.9 percent in December. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5 percent from December, marking the most rapid monthly rise since August 2023.

The inflation data likely means the Federal Reserve will continue its pause on any additional interest rate cuts after initially enacting a series of rate reductions late last year. Notably, the core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.4 percent from December and 3.3 percent on a year-over-year basis, surpassing economists’ forecasts. The monthly core price increase was the largest since April 2023.

This inflation data highlights the Federal Reserve’s ongoing struggle with price stability. While inflation rates have dropped considerably from their peak of over nine percent in 2022, recent attempts to control inflation show inconsistent progress.

Certain consumer sectors experienced notable price increases in January. Grocery costs went up 0.5 percent month-over-month and climbed 1.9 percent from the same period last year. A significant factor in this increase was a nationwide egg shortage attributed to an avian influenza outbreak, leading to a 15.2 percent surge in egg prices over the previous four weeks. Compared to last year, egg prices have jumped 53 percent—the most substantial monthly hike since June 2015—and accounted for a significant portion of the total rise in grocery prices since December.

Conversely, price declines in areas such as clothing and furniture offered some relief and indications that high prices could be abating.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Wednesday that U.S. inflation increased to three percent year-over-year in January, during the final month of former President Joe Biden's term in office. Month-to-month inflation is up from 2.9 percent in December. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5 percent from December, marking the most rapid monthly rise since August 2023. show more
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February 11, 2025
William Upton
Economy
Politics

Musk Details Plan to Slash the Federal Budget Deficit in Half by 2026 in Meeting with Trump.

Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has laid out details on plans to cut the federal deficit in half by 2026 in an Oval Office meeting with President Donald J. Trump. The technology billionaire emphasized that success in tackling the deficit will come down to “competence and caring” among Trump administration officials, especially those working at DOGE.

“[W]hat are the two ingredients that are really necessary in order to cut the budget deficit in half from two trillion to one trillion? And it’s really two things: competence and caring,” Musk said during the Oval Office event, where President Trump signed a new executive order directing DOGE to streamline the federal workforce. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO continued: “[I]f you add competence and caring, you’ll cut the budget deficit in half, and I fully expect to be scrutinized and get, you know, a daily proctology exam, basically… but, with the support of the President, we can we can cut the budget deficit in half from two trillion to one.”

According to Musk, a combination of cuts in federal government spending and an aggressive deregulation agenda will create two fronts aimed at slashing the deficit. The amount of the deficit that isn’t reduced through spending reduction will be wiped out by economic growth, Musk contends. “I think we can get the economic growth to be maybe three or four percent, maybe five percent. And that means, if you can get $1 trillion of economic growth and you can cut the budget deficit by a trillion between now and next year, there is no inflation.”

The DOGE chief notes if the federal government is borrowing less and the economy sees robust growth, the cost of goods and services for average Americans should drop significantly.

WATCH:

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Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has laid out details on plans to cut the federal deficit in half by 2026 in an Oval Office meeting with President Donald J. Trump. The technology billionaire emphasized that success in tackling the deficit will come down to "competence and caring" among Trump administration officials, especially those working at DOGE. show more
February 11, 2025
William Upton
Economy
World

Trump Reinstates Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, Closing Loopholes that Benefited China.

Late Monday night, President Donald J. Trump announced he has reinstated 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from a handful of countries previously exempt from the tariffs. According to the President, the move is necessary to close loopholes used by the People’s Republic of China to continue dumping their cheap steel on American markets.

“The countries of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the European Union, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom had received exemptions, which prevented the tariffs from being effective,” the Trump White House explains, adding: “By granting exemptions to certain countries, the United States inadvertently created loopholes that were exploited by China and others with excess steel and aluminum capacity, undermining the purpose of these exemptions.”

According to President Trump, the 25 percent steel and aluminum tariffs are derived from his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the White House to unilaterally adjust certain tariff rates in the name of national security. This authority was used by Trump in 2018 to institute a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The White House has indicated that the tariffs will remain in place until America’s domestic steel and aluminum industries “achieve[e] sustainable capacity utilization of at least 80 [percent].”

During Trump’s first term in office, domestic capacity utilization for steel reached 81 percent but fell under the Biden government to just 75.3 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, aluminum jumped from 40 percent to 61 percent under Trump, again falling to 55 percent in 2023.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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Late Monday night, President Donald J. Trump announced he has reinstated 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from a handful of countries previously exempt from the tariffs. According to the President, the move is necessary to close loopholes used by the People's Republic of China to continue dumping their cheap steel on American markets. show more
February 5, 2025
William Upton
Economy
World

Trump’s Tariffs Aren’t Just About Leverage on Fentanyl and Immigration.

The federal government’s budget deficit isn’t the only fiscal crisis President Donald J. Trump has begun to aggressively tackle in his first few weeks in the White House. Trump is also taking initial steps to end the United States’s long-standing international trade imbalance—an economic problem at the very core of the America First agenda. The recent moves to impose tariffs on China—and potentially Canada and Mexico—are giving some insight into how Trump intends to solve the trade dilemma.

In 2024, under former President Joe Biden’s Democrat-controlled White House, the United States trade deficit surged to almost $1.2 trillion—the highest on record. The trade deficit is the gap between what the United States sells in the form of exports and buys in the form of imports. While global consumerism is a powerful tool for the U.S. federal government to wield, the continued widening gap between American exports and imports suggests significant economic vulnerabilities.

Throughout the 2024 campaign and in the initial days in power, Trump has begun to roll out an aggressive plan to end the trade deficit and imbalances through tariffs, tax incentives, and slashing regulation to drive the restoration of jobs—especially in the manufacturing sector. Trump correctly points to the trade deficit as being indicative of greater problems in the American economy, stemming from a lack of action against currency manipulators, the overregulation of American businesses, and outdated trade agreements.

China—along with several other Asian nations—and the European Union (EU) are some of the primary drivers of the American trade deficit. In the case of China, the country’s communist regime uses a variety of tools, including currency manipulation, wage suppression, and heavy state subsidies, to attract foreign manufacturing and other production. This strategy has catapulted China to the top of the world’s exporter list. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been careful to keep foreign imports low, tilting global trade markets heavily in their favor.

Meanwhile, the EU—which also holds the advantage in a trade imbalance with the United States—maintains its advantage through high tariffs on American goods like steel and automobiles. Within the EU, Germany is one of the biggest drivers of the trade imbalance and a beneficiary of an outdated agreement with the United States, made in the aftermath of World War II, which allows them to tariff our steel and auto exports.

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The federal government's budget deficit isn't the only fiscal crisis President Donald J. Trump has begun to aggressively tackle in his first few weeks in the White House. Trump is also taking initial steps to end the United States's long-standing international trade imbalance—an economic problem at the very core of the America First agenda. The recent moves to impose tariffs on China—and potentially Canada and Mexico—are giving some insight into how Trump intends to solve the trade dilemma. show more
February 4, 2025
Economy
World

China Announces Retaliatory Measures in Response to Trump’s Tariffs.

The People’s Republic of China is imposing retaliatory trade measures and restrictions after U.S. President Donald J. Trump imposed a new 10 percent tariff on goods imported from the communist country. Beijing announced on Tuesday that it has instituted tariffs on the importation of American coal, crude oil, farming equipment, trucks, and sedans. The Chinese tariff on coal is set at 15 percent, and the tariff on crude oil is 10 percent.

Initially, Canada and Mexico were also set to have tariffs imposed on their exports to the United States. However, both countries made eleventh-hour overtures to increase their cooperation with American border security and anti-drug trafficking efforts, leading President Trump to pause the imposition of tariffs on both.

While China’s autocratic President Xi Jinping and Trump were expected to discuss the tariffs and measures China needs to take to curb the export of fentanyl precursors to Mexican drug cartels on Tuesday, the call was abruptly canceled after the Asian nation announced its retaliatory response. Additionally, China is moving to initiate an antitrust investigation into the technology giant Google—a move considered part of the Chinese retaliation.

International trade experts note that the Chinese response was more measured than their actions when Trump imposed trade tariffs on the communist country during his first term. China’s newest move only impacts about $14 billion in American goods, far less than the Chinese goods affected by Trump’s tariffs.

During the prior trade fight, China moved to meet the U.S.-imposed tariffs point for point and suffered economic blowback.

The tariffs imposed by President Trump during his first term accelerated the American economy’s decoupling from its reliance on Chinese imports.

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The People's Republic of China is imposing retaliatory trade measures and restrictions after U.S. President Donald J. Trump imposed a new 10 percent tariff on goods imported from the communist country. Beijing announced on Tuesday that it has instituted tariffs on the importation of American coal, crude oil, farming equipment, trucks, and sedans. The Chinese tariff on coal is set at 15 percent, and the tariff on crude oil is 10 percent. show more