But President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and economic policies, and his promised “mass deportations,” coupled with his efforts to slash the federal government workforce, could come with strong financial and even personal health costs to everyday Americans.
For the month of January, the unemployment rate dropped, from 4.1% to 4%.
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“Except for January 1970, the unemployment rate is lower today than it was in *every single month* of the 1970s, 80s and 90s,” wrote portfolio manager Eddy Elfenbein. Professor of Economics Justin Wolfers, a frequent cable news guest, responded: “This is an astonishing (and beautiful) fact, and we really ought to celebrate it. The labor market is in terrific shape, and continuing to improve. If the economy continues its momentum (a big if, to be sure), the unemployment rate isn’t far from returning to its fifty year low.”
But according to The New York Times, the “fresh numbers suggest that the labor market may be losing momentum heading into the second administration of President Trump, whose policy agenda — including sharp cuts to federal payrolls and large-scale deportations of unauthorized migrants — could affect both employment and the availability of workers.”
During his campaign, President Trump vowed he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” That has not happened, and there is little to suggest he has made any tangible progress.
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture now says the price of eggs will likely jump by 20 percent in 2025,” Politico reported this week. “An executive order Trump signed in January placed deregulation at the center of his cost-cutting strategy.”
The White House has suggested Trump’s energy policies will also lead to dramatic price drops for families.
“President Trump is already taking bold action to drive down costs with his executive actions to unleash American energy, and he is working diligently with Secretary Brooke Rollins to address the price of eggs,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Politico, the news outlet reported.
But the price of eggs is being directly impacted by a massive Bird Flu outbreak across the country, and it does not appear the Trump administration has taken steps to end it. Meanwhile, farmers have had to kill over 148 million birds, including chickens and ducks, to prevent the spread of the disease.
It could get worse.
“The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reported in an exclusive on Thursday. “The job cuts under consideration would affect the Department of Health and Human Services, which employs more than 80,000 people and includes the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in addition to the FDA and CDC.”
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“The agencies,” WSJ added, “are responsible for a range of functions, from approving new drugs to tracing bird-flu outbreaks and researching cancer. A loss of staff could affect the efforts depending on which workers are cut and whether they are concentrated in particular areas.”
Politico adds, “The White House has in recent days taken drastic steps to reorganize USAID and strip the embattled agency of its autonomy. USAID’s headquarters were closed Monday and Secretary of State Marco Rubio named its acting administrator. Trump doubled down on Tuesday, taking steps to put nearly all of the agency’s Washington-based staff on leave.”
“But shutting down an office that fights diseases worldwide will only mean prices stay high, Democrats argue.”
It appears the international health community is concerned.
“The US has the most cases of bird flu in humans globally,” the Financial Times reports. “Scientists have called for increased vaccination of farm workers and more efforts to stem the spread among farm animals as the H5N1 pathogen continues to infect cattle and chickens across the country.”
“It is arguably grossly irresponsible for the US authorities to allow such sustained high level of virus transmission in dairy cattle as this poses such a major threat to global human health,” Professor James Wood, an infectious diseases expert at the UK’s Cambridge University, told FT.
President Trump’s promise to lower the price of gas “on day one” has also not materialized.
“Amid the threat of tariffs, the national average for a gallon of gas ticked up two cents from last week to $3.13,” according to AAA on Thursday, which tracks gas prices.
In addition to Bird Flu and its impacts, there’s reason to believe food costs will continue to rise.
Bloomberg energy and commodities columnist Javier Blas reported Wednesday that “Wholesale Arabica coffee prices rise above $4 per lb in New York — an all-time high and more than double the level of a year ago.”
Blas says “just the threat” of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Colombia, the world’s third-largest coffee producer, “is enough to scare the market.”
And he’s predicting a “coffee inflation wave” for this year, and says retail coffee prices “are going to go up between 20% and 25% in the next few months.”
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