-the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced the gross domestic product had grown at just a 1.4% annualized rate in the fourth quarter. That made 2025 the second-worst year for GDP growth since 2016.

The buffoon continues to spew nonsense.

Trump: “THE UNITED STATES TRADE DEFICIT HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 78% BECAUSE OF THE TARIFFS BEING CHARGED TO OTHER COMPANIES AND COUNTRIES,” the all-caps post began.

The next morning, though, the Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed the actual 2025 trade deficit in goods and services. It was nearly identical to the 2024 deficit, down just 0.2% — nowhere close to Trump’s professed “78%” in goods and services. It was nearly identical to the 2024 deficit, down just 0.2% — nowhere close to Trump’s professed “78%”.

And the trade deficit in goods, the items subject to Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, was up 2.1% compared to 2024. UP!

Trump the retard again: “our country was dead” a year ago under former President Joe Biden, but “now we have the hottest country”? The US economy grew at just 2.2% in 2025, new full-year figures showed — lower than in every year of the Biden administration and every year of the first Trump administration other than 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Cue Homer Simpson DOHHHH!

Trump told the World Economic Forum in late January that “fourth-quarter growth is projected to be 5.4%, far greater than anybody other than myself and a few others had predicted.” The figures released Friday show just how far from reality his “5.6%” claim was. The economy actually grew at annualized rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Your MAGA KING is an idiot.

2 hours ago, Priorexpat said:

Your MAGA KING is an idiot.

Even if he is lying about the numbers, how many countries showed numbers of 5.4% growth?

You even have Europeans on here bashing Trump while most EU countries are probably at less than 1%.

26 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Even if he is lying about the numbers, how many countries showed numbers of 5.4% growth?

You even have Europeans on here bashing Trump while most EU countries are probably at less than 1%.

You bring up him and his number's lies, beg the question for you then.

Today he was again stating drug prices were down as much as 400%

how is it maga think that it could be possible?

I can't understand some people.

Trump can always count on the maga base ignorance.

17 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

Today he was again stating drug prices were down as much as 400%

Well, sounds counter-intuitive, but Trump is usually (99% of the time) not the best person to get reliable information from.

Maybe he's a bs artist, maybe he's too busy juggling a million things to sit down and explain things in detail.

But it doesn't mean everything he's doing is bs ... I know, sounds crazy, right?

Here is an example. I just came across this article.

Trump was defending his tariffs by claiming it would bring back manufacturing jobs ... but that never made much sense to me as we are on the cusp of AI manufacturing ...

But this article makes more sense than what Trump was spewing.

Seems like he was not telling us the real story, but there is some method behind the madness.

It's just the way it is. He's never going to spoon-feed you exactly all the details ... you need to dig for information.

https://time.com/7276087/trump-tariffs-ai-automation-robots/

Announcing his tariffs last week, Trump said the move would help reopen shuttered car factories in Michigan and bring various other jobs back to the U.S.

But rather than enticing companies to create new jobs in the U.S., economists say, the new tariffs—bolstered by recent advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics—could instead increase incentives for companies to automate human labor entirely.

2025 jobs downgraded from 850,000 to 180,000, U6 Unemployment up, inflation up, national debt up, growth down, $175 billion to be returned from the tariff debacle.

Is this the golden age?

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Well, sounds counter-intuitive, but Trump is usually (99% of the time) not the best person to get reliable information from.

Maybe he's a bs artist, maybe he's too busy juggling a million things to sit down and explain things in detail.

But it doesn't mean everything he's doing is bs ... I know, sounds crazy, right?

Here is an example. I just came across this article.

Trump was defending his tariffs by claiming it would bring back manufacturing jobs ... but that never made much sense to me as we are on the cusp of AI manufacturing ...

But this article makes more sense than what Trump was spewing.

Seems like he was not telling us the real story, but there is some method behind the madness.

It's just the way it is. He's never going to spoon-feed you exactly all the details ... you need to dig for information.

https://time.com/7276087/trump-tariffs-ai-automation-robots/

Announcing his tariffs last week, Trump said the move would help reopen shuttered car factories in Michigan and bring various other jobs back to the U.S.

But rather than enticing companies to create new jobs in the U.S., economists say, the new tariffs—bolstered by recent advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics—could instead increase incentives for companies to automate human labor entirely.

Some attempt at answering why maga trust the lies or not!

Explains how thinking can get so out of hand, though.

While the macroeconomy in the US looks good the local economy is not. There are countless small businesses that are going under, I see main streets with multiple for lease signs in many big cities, malls are going out of business, strip centers are half full, consumer confidence is in the toilet, and only people making ridiculously high salaries are spending money on luxury goods right now. The public is running scared due to whipsaw tariff policies, and incredibly unstable leadership.

Is easy to pontificate and create alternate realities when you're living here in Thailand with significant savings and a nice pension which insulates you from having any concept of reality on the ground in America and the way the average consumer feels right now. 70% of the American population is struggling mightily, and worried about how they're going to make ends meet over the next 30 days.

The term is a portmanteau of the words "boom" and "recession." It highlights how the average American doesn't feel like they're reaping the benefits of an economy that is — on paper — humming along, according to creator Matt Stoller.

Many Americans feel terrible about their finances, with debt at all-time highs, and the majority of Americans incorrectly believe the country is in an economic slowdown.

"Traditionally, the economy is doing really well," said Stoller, an antimonopoly advocate and research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonpartisan thinktank. "But ordinary people are saying they're not."

On its surface, Stoller said the "boomcession" theory can help explain why data in recent years shows that U.S. GDP growth hasn't correlated with better consumer sentiment readings. That marks a significant break from the typical trend seen over the past six decades.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at consulting firm KPMG. "I've been doing this for 40 years. And that's a long time to never see anything like this."

While high prices have been a perennial issue since the pandemic's inflationary shock, consumers without financial safety nets have more recently focused their concern on the job market.

Economists have described the current labor backdrop as a "jobless boom" and "hiring recession." Fed Chair Jerome Powell has dubbed it a low hire, low fire environment.

"If you have the assets that are enjoying really high values, then you're feeling supported," said Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers. "But strong stock markets don't mean a lick to you if you don't own any stocks or real estate".

So-called labor share, or the percentage of economic output trickling down to workers in the form of compensation, tumbled to new lows last year. What's more, the gap between corporate profits and employee pay as a slice of GDP grew to its widest on record. Michigan's survey of sentiment fell near all-time lows last year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/18/boomcession-econonomy-gdp-recession-consumer-sentiment.html

1 hour ago, MIke B Bad said:

Is this the golden age?

No, not even close.

How much further, papa smurf? .... Is what you should be asking.

I still work and I'm dependent on a business in the US for income, and nearly every retailer that I know, including myself is finding the market rather anemic, and many of my associates are dropping by the wayside. Small business closures are at a record level right now, and entire commercial areas of some cities have dozens of properties available for lease, the value of commercial properties is dropping at unheard of levels, and just a few years ago there were very few closures. Things are changing, not in a positive way, and the American economy is declining.

The problem with that kind of macro data that many love to comment on, is that it just does not reflect the reality on the ground right now. Americans are suffering like they have rarely in the past, local economies are tanking, retail vacancies are skyrocketing, houses are going unsold due to an over inflated market, the job market is tough, and homelessness is soaring in addition to healthcare costs and inflation, despite the fake government numbers (that include magnesium ore, which most people do not consume).

If you want to pretend that that's a high quality of life go right ahead but you're not fooling anybody.

But at the center of the controversy is shelter inflation, which captures rents and owners' equivalent rent (OER). It accounts for roughly one-third of the CPI basket, and drove much of the apparent cooling.

https://share.google/XaSSFsdSRgqIHUjUK

Other changes have even more brazenly reduced CPI, such as the move to geometric weighting that reduces the weighting of goods rising in price (and increases the weighting of goods falling in price). If goods and services are deemed to have “increased in quality,” which can be very subjective, they are adjusted lower to offset the higher quality. Consumers often have no choice but to pay for additional “features,” and certainly feel the inflation, but it doesn’t show up in official CPI data.

Consumers care about how much they are paying for the goods and services they want and need. If goods increase in quality and price and consumers have no option but to pay for it, CPI should reflect that. If consumers are forced to switch to lower-cost alternatives, whether it be from steak to hamburger or from Macy’s to TJ Maxx, because their preferred choice has become more expensive, CPI data should reflect that. Goods rising in price should not have their weighting reduced simply because they are rising in price. The Consumer Price Index is not an accurate measure of the amount of inflation Americans experience, and purposely understates the real changes in price.

https://share.google/73u9eoCDUTAaH8LXv

On 1/16/2026 at 6:13 PM, save the frogs said:

Bad news for Trump haters ...

Third quarter numbers in the US were very good.

This guy is predicting an economic boom in 2026.

Hanson predicts we’ll “see an economic bonanza” in 2026 as “there's going to be more oil,”  “ new technologies,” and “all sorts of tax cuts” and “more deregulation than we've ever seen” in the Big Beautiful Bill ...

I want to wait for the outcome of the 2026 elections. As James Carvell so aptly stated, "It's the economy stupid!"
The economy IS NOT what so-call experts claim it to be, IT IS what American consumers perceive it to be. All of the fancy economic metrics published by various US government agencies and financial institutions don't mean diddly-squat.

I no longer can afford to live in the United States, that's just a fact. I could when I left in 2007. That was back when the house I sold for $145K is now worth over $500+K. I'd own that house outright now, but I'd still be hamstrung with outrageous property taxes. Can't afford to live there now. But I have two housed here now.
Is it "Trump's Fault." No, it's the entire government's fault - left and right, Dems and Republicans, who collectively allowed predatory financial institutions to harvest the wealth of the nation at the expense of the middle-class, small business, and the non-existence manufacturing base.

Talk to me after midnight on Nov 3rd 2026 and we can discuss how wonderful the US economy is doing.

5 minutes ago, connda said:

I no longer can afford to live in the United States, that's just a fact. I could when I left in 2007. That was back when the house I sold for $145K is now worth over $500+K. Can't afford to live there now. Is it "Trump's Fault."

The system is designed for you to stay forever, not to leave and come back.

People who stay, make smart decisions, get some kind of decent career and invested in real estate are well off now in their 50s and 60s.

But the system punishes people who move abroad because they don't want people leaving. It's one less consumer and taxpayer.

Has nothing to do with Trump.

All countries are set up like this.

If you leave, your only option is a lower cost of living country.

11 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

People who stay, make smart decisions, get some kind of decent career and invested in real estate are well off now in their 50s and 60s.

Finances are fickle as are the wings of fate.

Sinatra's That's Life pretty much sums it:
I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing
Each time I find myself flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race

Maybe in the next few years, you go broke and my own investments make me a millionaire. I could happen. Btw - I still wouldn't move back to the US. One more time: Finances are fickle as are the wings of fate. S*** happens, you adapt.

What I find hilarious are those people who are at the top of their investment cycle lecturing those who bottomed out^*** and readjusted they lifestyle, i.e., choosing an affordable expatriate life overseas. Maybe by 2030 I can lecture you (I wouldn't, I don't buy into that kind of narcissistic hubris).

***RIF'ed (age) out of high paying career, 2008 stock-market crash on top of the 2001-2002 crash, cheating, divorced wife "takes half." S*** happens, you adapt.

5 hours ago, connda said:

choosing an affordable expatriate life overseas.

Money is a lot of factors. Good luck or bad luck is often one factor. Not just hard work or being good at investing.

I like being quiet and low key here. Not that I was a big shot back home. But there's constant pressure .... here, I came to unwind and soothe my jangled nerves. So "affordable lifestyle" suits me fine. Nothing wrong with it.

And stop comparing yourself to others ... it's all a Grand Illusion.

A post with nothing other than a trolling meme has been removed:

13. Low-Value Posts - Posts that add no written contribution are not allowed.

    This includes emoji-only replies, very short comments, memes, GIFs, screenshots, or embedded social media posts without explanation or opinion.

13 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Even if he is lying about the numbers, how many countries showed numbers of 5.4% growth?

You even have Europeans on here bashing Trump while most EU countries are probably at less than 1%.

You missed the point, there was no 5.4% growth, it was 1.4%. He's not lying he's just the dumbest U.S. President ever elected.

Not so great actually.