{"id":1055393,"date":"2025-07-30T13:28:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1055393"},"modified":"2025-07-30T13:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:28:04","slug":"trumps-growth-mirage-higher-inflation-and-depressed-spending-as-real-sales-and-business-investments-plummet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-growth-mirage-higher-inflation-and-depressed-spending-as-real-sales-and-business-investments-plummet\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s \u201cGrowth Mirage\u201d: Higher Inflation and Depressed Spending As Real Sales and Business Investments Plummet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response to the first Q2 GDP estimate released today,<\/em> DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald Trump has driven up inflation and slowed growth. Trump\u2019s erratic trade war forced working families and small businesses to stockpile necessities, and now, consumers are cutting back, job opportunities are falling, and business investment is plummeting. The bottom line: When economists peek under the hood, Trump\u2019s economy is in tatters and the American people are getting hit the hardest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGROWTH MIRAGE\u201d<\/strong><\/a>: After Americans stockpiled on necessities to brace for Trump\u2019s erratic trade war, the economy is already breaking down \u2014 real sales sank to the lowest reading since 2022. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick Timiraos<\/a>: \u201cReal final sales to private domestic purchasers, a gauge of underlying demand, advanced 1.2%, a not-so-hot (but not terrible) figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is the lowest quarterly reading since 2022.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Long<\/a>: \u201cThe key drivers were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) A massive decline in imports after the April “Liberation Day” tariffs. -35.3% (!) for goods in Q2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Consumption up 1.4% (vs. just 0.5% in Q1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNotable: Business investment declined in Q2, underscoring how nervous firms are to do much hiring or spending in uncertain times.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Furman<\/a>: \u201cIn sum, in the first half of this year GDP was relatively weak (1.2%) and core inflation was relatively high (3.0%)<\/strong>. This is not a catastrophic recession or inflation but it is a cause for serious concern<\/strong>–and a real quandary for the Fed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NEW POLLING: Americans are feeling uneasy about their personal finances, with half of Americans stating they haven\u2019t been able to save as much as they\u2019d like.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigator Research<\/a>: \u201cAmericans remain sour on the economy with 63 percent rating the U.S. economy negatively \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA 53 percent majority feel behind where they thought they would be financially<\/strong>, with over a quarter saying they feel \u2018far\u2019 behind (28 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn identical majority (53 percent) express uneasiness with their personal financial situation over the next few months<\/strong>, with a quarter also saying they are \u2018very\u2019 uneasy (26 percent). Half of Americans say that in the last month they have been unable to save as much as they\u2019d like (50 percent) or that they have had to cut back on recreational activities (48 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmericans are feeling this pain most in the cost of groceries, with 79 percent saying costs are going up and 42 percent saying costs are going up \u2018a lot.\u2019<\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a result, 42 percent of Americans say that they have had to cut back on purchasing daily goods, such as groceries, in the last month<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. companies are already raising prices for consumers \u2014 Procter & Gamble is raising prices on 25% of its products.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press<\/a>: \u201cConsumer products giant Procter & Gamble offered an annual earnings outlook that was below analysts\u2019 projections and said it would raise prices on about a quarter of its products in the U.S. in part due to higher costs from President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe price increases, which will be implemented starting next month, will be in the mid-single digit percentages\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cP&G on Tuesday estimated that tariffs will increase its costs by about $1 billion before tax for fiscal 2026.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conference Board: <\/strong>Consumers\u2019 views on <\/strong>job opportunities reached their gloomiest level since March 2021, as Americans brace for continued trade chaos and high inflation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conference Board<\/a>: \u201c[Consumers\u2019] appraisal of current job availability weakened for the seventh consecutive month, reaching its lowest level since March 2021. Notably, 18.9% of consumers indicated that jobs were hard to get in July, up from 14.5% in January. \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumers\u2019 write-in responses showed that tariffs remained top of mind and were mostly associated with concerns that they would lead to higher prices.<\/strong> In addition, references to high prices and inflation rose in July\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the first Q2 GDP estimate released today, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:  \u201cDonald Trump has driven up inflation and slowed growth. Trump\u2019s erratic trade war forced working families and small businesses to stockpile necessities, and now, consumers are cutting back, job opportunities are falling, and business investment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s \u201cGrowth Mirage\u201d: Higher Inflation and Depressed Spending As Real Sales and Business Investments Plummet - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-growth-mirage-higher-inflation-and-depressed-spending-as-real-sales-and-business-investments-plummet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-30T17:28:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-growth-mirage-higher-inflation-and-depressed-spending-as-real-sales-and-business-investments-plummet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-growth-mirage-higher-inflation-and-depressed-spending-as-real-sales-and-business-investments-plummet\/\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s \u201cGrowth Mirage\u201d: Higher Inflation and Depressed Spending As Real Sales and Business Investments Plummet - 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