NOT A+++++
Adam Lynch
December 20, 2025
Idalia Bisbal moved to Allentown, Pa., to escape high prices in his retirement, but he said President Donlad Trump’s economy is hounding him with inflation and big price tags on his fixed income.
“It's worse than ever,” Bisbal told reporters. “The prices are high. Everything is going up. You can't afford food because you can't afford rent. Utilities are too high. Gas is too expensive. Everything is too expensive.”
Vice President JD Vance had recently finished a rally nearby for the administration’s second visit to Pennsylvania in a week. But, Like Trump at an earlier visit, rather than outline plans to lower inflation, Vance blamed high costs on the Biden administration, which has not been in office for more than 11 months.
The Associated Press reports the Trump administration appears wary that the public is not reacting well to the impact Trump’s policies are having on the economy.
“Only 31 percent of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, down from 40 percent in March, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Yet Trump calls affordability concerns a “ hoax.”
Allentown’s 125,000 people are Pennsylvania's third-largest metro area, but interviews this week with local residents and leaders reveal prices are too high on gas, heating oil, grocery stores, health care and housing.
“Those worries are a vulnerability for Republicans in competitive congressional districts like the one that includes Allentown, which could decide control of the U.S. House in next year’s midterms,” reports Associated Press.
Pennsylvania is a “must-win state” in presidential politics, according to AP. Trump and Kamala Harris both made several visits to Allentown, with the then-vice president visiting the city on the eve of the election.
“Trump’s win last year helped lift other Republicans, like U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, to victory. Mackenzie, who unseated a three-term Democrat, is now one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress,” AP reports. “To win again, he must turn out the Republicans who voted in 2024 — many of whom were likely more energized by Trump’s candidacy — while appealing to independents.”
But today, the AP reports few Allentown residents share “Trump's unbridled boosterism about the economy,” despite Trump giving it an A+++++.
“In the rich man’s world. In our world, trust me, it’s not an ‘A.’ To me, it’s an ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’” said Bisbal.
Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Tony Iannelli told AP that Trump's grade was a “stretch,” saying “we have a strong economy but I think it's not yet gone to the next stage of what I would call robust.”
Read the Associated Report at this link.
Adam Lynch
December 20, 2025
ALTERNET
Idalia Bisbal moved to Allentown, Pa., to escape high prices in his retirement, but he said President Donlad Trump’s economy is hounding him with inflation and big price tags on his fixed income.
“It's worse than ever,” Bisbal told reporters. “The prices are high. Everything is going up. You can't afford food because you can't afford rent. Utilities are too high. Gas is too expensive. Everything is too expensive.”
Vice President JD Vance had recently finished a rally nearby for the administration’s second visit to Pennsylvania in a week. But, Like Trump at an earlier visit, rather than outline plans to lower inflation, Vance blamed high costs on the Biden administration, which has not been in office for more than 11 months.
The Associated Press reports the Trump administration appears wary that the public is not reacting well to the impact Trump’s policies are having on the economy.
“Only 31 percent of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, down from 40 percent in March, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Yet Trump calls affordability concerns a “ hoax.”
Allentown’s 125,000 people are Pennsylvania's third-largest metro area, but interviews this week with local residents and leaders reveal prices are too high on gas, heating oil, grocery stores, health care and housing.
“Those worries are a vulnerability for Republicans in competitive congressional districts like the one that includes Allentown, which could decide control of the U.S. House in next year’s midterms,” reports Associated Press.
Pennsylvania is a “must-win state” in presidential politics, according to AP. Trump and Kamala Harris both made several visits to Allentown, with the then-vice president visiting the city on the eve of the election.
“Trump’s win last year helped lift other Republicans, like U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, to victory. Mackenzie, who unseated a three-term Democrat, is now one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress,” AP reports. “To win again, he must turn out the Republicans who voted in 2024 — many of whom were likely more energized by Trump’s candidacy — while appealing to independents.”
But today, the AP reports few Allentown residents share “Trump's unbridled boosterism about the economy,” despite Trump giving it an A+++++.
“In the rich man’s world. In our world, trust me, it’s not an ‘A.’ To me, it’s an ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’ ‘F,’” said Bisbal.
Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Tony Iannelli told AP that Trump's grade was a “stretch,” saying “we have a strong economy but I think it's not yet gone to the next stage of what I would call robust.”
Read the Associated Report at this link.
Tanking Economy and Higher Prices Put Trump on ‘Naughty List’ This Holiday Season, Group Says
“Families are heading into the holidays facing snowballing costs on everything from toys and groceries to health care and utilities, yet Trump continues to call affordability a hoax.”
Holiday crowds begin to gather in a shopping district at Rockefeller Center on the afternoon before Thanksgiving on November 26, 2025, in New York City.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Dec 19, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
President Donald Trump delivered a speech on Wednesday in which he tried to convince US voters that the economy under his watch was the envy of the world.
However, newly released data shows that Americans are not buying it.
In Trump Economy, Holiday Spending Plans Plummet and Layoffs Hit Highest Level Since Covid Pandemic
Farmers Say Trump Tariffs Crushing Operations, Forcing Higher Prices Ahead of Holiday Season
The latest data from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers showed consumer sentiment of current economic conditions dropped yet again in December to a rating of 50.4, which represents a 33% drop from the 74.0 consumer sentiment rating one year ago.
The Groundwork Collaborative released a report on Friday that slammed the president’s economic stewardship and said that “it is no surprise that a record number of Americans put Trump’s economic performance on the naughty list this holiday season.”
The group then explained why Americans have good reason to be pessimistic.
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One of the most glaring problems with Trump’s economy at the moment, the group contended, is the labor market, which has reported net negative job growth over the last two months.
What’s more, Groundwork Collaborative noted that “the number of people working part time for economic reasons rose to 5.5 million in November, an increase of about 909,000 since September, as Americans are unable to find full-time employment.”
The group also hit Trump for his tariffs on imported goods, which have already cost the average American family an estimated $1,200 so far and are projected to cost them $2,100 next year, assuming the tariffs remain at their current levels.
Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, said that current economic conditions were the opposite of what Trump promised during the 2024 presidential campaign, when he vowed to lower prices starting on his first day in office.
“Families are heading into the holidays facing snowballing costs on everything from toys and groceries to health care and utilities, yet Trump continues to call affordability a hoax,” said Jacquez. “As working families yearn for the ghost of economies past, let’s hope the Scrooge in the White House makes a resolution to stop gaslighting Americans and get serious about bringing costs down in the new year.”
Groundwork Collaborative’s analysis came one day after the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a report on Thursday that outlined how Trump and his Republican allies have worked to make life less affordable for US voters over the last year.
Beyond the aforementioned tariffs cited by Groundwork Collaborative, CBPP cited the major cuts that Trump and the GOP made to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that they passed into law earlier this year.
CBPP also flagged Trump and the GOP’s cuts to renewable energy projects that the group argued are raising the cost of electricity at a time when electric grids are coming under heavy strain from the energy demands of artificial intelligence data centers. Making this crisis potentially even worse, the think tank noted that Trump has proposed entirely eliminating the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Taken together, CBPP suggested that GOP policies have been taking a hatchet to the budgets of US households in the bottom half of the income distribution scale.
“Households with incomes in the bottom half of the distribution... spend almost 90% of their incomes on basic items: utilities, groceries, health care, transportation, and shelter,” wrote CBPP. “And to help afford those basics, many need assistance, such as Medicaid, SNAP, or LIHEAP, that the Administration has put on the chopping block.”
“Families are heading into the holidays facing snowballing costs on everything from toys and groceries to health care and utilities, yet Trump continues to call affordability a hoax.”
Holiday crowds begin to gather in a shopping district at Rockefeller Center on the afternoon before Thanksgiving on November 26, 2025, in New York City.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Dec 19, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
President Donald Trump delivered a speech on Wednesday in which he tried to convince US voters that the economy under his watch was the envy of the world.
However, newly released data shows that Americans are not buying it.
In Trump Economy, Holiday Spending Plans Plummet and Layoffs Hit Highest Level Since Covid Pandemic
Farmers Say Trump Tariffs Crushing Operations, Forcing Higher Prices Ahead of Holiday Season
The latest data from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers showed consumer sentiment of current economic conditions dropped yet again in December to a rating of 50.4, which represents a 33% drop from the 74.0 consumer sentiment rating one year ago.
The Groundwork Collaborative released a report on Friday that slammed the president’s economic stewardship and said that “it is no surprise that a record number of Americans put Trump’s economic performance on the naughty list this holiday season.”
The group then explained why Americans have good reason to be pessimistic.
Our people-powered journalism cannot survive without you
Your support allows Common Dreams to continue covering the stories and amplifying the voices that the corporate media never will. Make a tax-deductible year-end gift to ensure we can sustain the reporting needed to meet the challenges of 2026.
One of the most glaring problems with Trump’s economy at the moment, the group contended, is the labor market, which has reported net negative job growth over the last two months.
What’s more, Groundwork Collaborative noted that “the number of people working part time for economic reasons rose to 5.5 million in November, an increase of about 909,000 since September, as Americans are unable to find full-time employment.”
The group also hit Trump for his tariffs on imported goods, which have already cost the average American family an estimated $1,200 so far and are projected to cost them $2,100 next year, assuming the tariffs remain at their current levels.
Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, said that current economic conditions were the opposite of what Trump promised during the 2024 presidential campaign, when he vowed to lower prices starting on his first day in office.
“Families are heading into the holidays facing snowballing costs on everything from toys and groceries to health care and utilities, yet Trump continues to call affordability a hoax,” said Jacquez. “As working families yearn for the ghost of economies past, let’s hope the Scrooge in the White House makes a resolution to stop gaslighting Americans and get serious about bringing costs down in the new year.”
Groundwork Collaborative’s analysis came one day after the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a report on Thursday that outlined how Trump and his Republican allies have worked to make life less affordable for US voters over the last year.
Beyond the aforementioned tariffs cited by Groundwork Collaborative, CBPP cited the major cuts that Trump and the GOP made to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that they passed into law earlier this year.
CBPP also flagged Trump and the GOP’s cuts to renewable energy projects that the group argued are raising the cost of electricity at a time when electric grids are coming under heavy strain from the energy demands of artificial intelligence data centers. Making this crisis potentially even worse, the think tank noted that Trump has proposed entirely eliminating the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Taken together, CBPP suggested that GOP policies have been taking a hatchet to the budgets of US households in the bottom half of the income distribution scale.
“Households with incomes in the bottom half of the distribution... spend almost 90% of their incomes on basic items: utilities, groceries, health care, transportation, and shelter,” wrote CBPP. “And to help afford those basics, many need assistance, such as Medicaid, SNAP, or LIHEAP, that the Administration has put on the chopping block.”
Trump Reveals Biden Lurks in White House, Raising Grocery Prices
Officials concluded he had to be hiding somewhere in the East Wing, hence the desperate effort to root him out with bulldozers.
Framed portraits of US President Donald Trump flank an image of former US President Joe Biden’s signature and an autopen along “The Presidential Walk of Fame” on the wall of the colonnade outside of the Oval Office as Trump meets with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on September 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Mitchell Zimmerman
Dec 20, 2025
Officials concluded he had to be hiding somewhere in the East Wing, hence the desperate effort to root him out with bulldozers.
Framed portraits of US President Donald Trump flank an image of former US President Joe Biden’s signature and an autopen along “The Presidential Walk of Fame” on the wall of the colonnade outside of the Oval Office as Trump meets with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on September 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Mitchell Zimmerman
Dec 20, 2025
Common Dreams
At the end of his address to the nation on the economy, while fact-checkers were taking a break to avoid carpal-tunnel syndrome, President Donald Trump revealed the real cause of the nation’s economic problems: Joe Biden never actually left the White House, and as the enemy within, has stealthily made the decisions that have caused prices to rise during Trump’s first year back in office.
“Biden is a master of disguises,” Trump explained. “Some days he pretended to be Steve Miller, countermanding my orders to deport only the worst of the worse and directing Kristi Noem to deport every farmworker she could find in order to raise the prices of groceries. Then he was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, urging the Fed to lower interest rates in order to overheat the economy.”
Trump Grades Economy ‘A+++++’ as Americans Skip Medical Care and Struggle to Afford Essentials
Trump Economic Approval Hits All-Time Low as White House Official Insists ‘Nothing Bad Is Happening’
“Then he was Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, an old fossil fuel guy, undermining renewable energy in order to cause electricity shortages to raise energy prices.”
“One day he even snuck into the oval office while I was taking a much needed nap. He removed the sharpie from my hand and used it to increase tariffs on everything Americans buy from overseas, raising prices since Americans pay the tariffs on imports. He even raised coffee and banana tariffs.”
In a giant security failure, the Secret Service had failed to check whether Biden was actually on the departing helicopter when he supposedly left the White House last January. And FBI head Kash Patel admitted he still could not locate former and now-de-facto-acting President Biden. But officials concluded he had to be hiding somewhere in the East Wing, hence the desperate effort to root him out with bulldozers.
“We had to destroy the White House in order to save it,” observed President Trump during a waking moment. “Just wait until next year. Prices on everything are going to come down, and they’ll go down fast, starting on day 366.”
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Mitchell Zimmerman
Mitchell Zimmerman is an attorney, longtime social activist, and author of the anti-racism thriller "Mississippi Reckoning" (2019).
Full Bio >
At the end of his address to the nation on the economy, while fact-checkers were taking a break to avoid carpal-tunnel syndrome, President Donald Trump revealed the real cause of the nation’s economic problems: Joe Biden never actually left the White House, and as the enemy within, has stealthily made the decisions that have caused prices to rise during Trump’s first year back in office.
“Biden is a master of disguises,” Trump explained. “Some days he pretended to be Steve Miller, countermanding my orders to deport only the worst of the worse and directing Kristi Noem to deport every farmworker she could find in order to raise the prices of groceries. Then he was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, urging the Fed to lower interest rates in order to overheat the economy.”
Trump Grades Economy ‘A+++++’ as Americans Skip Medical Care and Struggle to Afford Essentials
Trump Economic Approval Hits All-Time Low as White House Official Insists ‘Nothing Bad Is Happening’
“Then he was Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, an old fossil fuel guy, undermining renewable energy in order to cause electricity shortages to raise energy prices.”
“One day he even snuck into the oval office while I was taking a much needed nap. He removed the sharpie from my hand and used it to increase tariffs on everything Americans buy from overseas, raising prices since Americans pay the tariffs on imports. He even raised coffee and banana tariffs.”
In a giant security failure, the Secret Service had failed to check whether Biden was actually on the departing helicopter when he supposedly left the White House last January. And FBI head Kash Patel admitted he still could not locate former and now-de-facto-acting President Biden. But officials concluded he had to be hiding somewhere in the East Wing, hence the desperate effort to root him out with bulldozers.
“We had to destroy the White House in order to save it,” observed President Trump during a waking moment. “Just wait until next year. Prices on everything are going to come down, and they’ll go down fast, starting on day 366.”
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Mitchell Zimmerman
Mitchell Zimmerman is an attorney, longtime social activist, and author of the anti-racism thriller "Mississippi Reckoning" (2019).
Full Bio >
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