Washington Post (January 31)
“The unemployment gap between workers with bachelor’s degrees and those with occupational associate’s degrees — such as plumbers, electricians and pipe fitters — flipped in 2025, leaving trade workers with a slight edge for six months out of the past year,” marking “the first time trade workers have had a leg up since the BLS started tracking this data in the 1990s.”
Tags: 2025, Associate’s degrees, Bachelor’s degrees, BLS, Data, Electricians, First time, Gap, Occupational, Pipe fitters, Plumbers, Trade workers, Unemployment
MarketWatch (December 22)
“The kitchen sink was thrown at the economy in 2025 — punishing tariffs, higher inflation, rising unemployment — but the U.S. might still be growing at an above-average speed in a sign of surprising pluck.” Can the momentum continue? AI may deliver continuing investment and efficiency gains. In addition, 2026 “should also benefit from lower interest rates, relaxed tariffs, fewer taxes and regulations, and more government spending in a midterm-election year.”
Tags: 2025, 2026, AI, Economy, Efficiency gains, Inflation, Interest rates, Investment, Momentum, Regulations, Tariffs, Taxes, U.S., Unemployment
Fortune (December 11)
“For all the volatility 2025 has endured, things have actually turned out relatively well: The S&P 500 is up by more than 17%, inflation hasn’t spiked despite an onslaught of tariffs, and the unemployment rate has stayed fairly steady. Analysts and investors are generally feeling positive about 2026 as a result.” This may be overlooking signs of weakness. “Beneath the relatively robust macroeconomic picture, cracks are beginning to show.”
Tags: 17%, 2025, 2026, Analysts, Endured, Inflation, Investors, Macroeconomic, Overlooking, Positive, S&P 500, Steady, Tariffs, Unemployment, Volatility, Weakness
MarketWatch (December 3)
“The stock market is at record highs. Unemployment is still extremely low at 4.4%. And incomes have been rising faster than prices for the past few years. So why do Americans say they are miserable? It’s no mystery, of course. The answer is relentless inflation” which at 3% annually, hovers ”well above the Fed’s 2% goal.”
Tags: 3%, Incomes, Miserable, Prices, Record highs, Relentless inflation, Rising, Stock market, Unemployment
Market Watch (April 4)
Trump’s tariffs are sparking the “worst week for stocks since 2020” and leading the VIX volatility index to a new high for the year. “U.S. stocks showed signs of ‘capitulation,’ or a move toward ‘panic selling,’ on Friday” as the “tariffs wreaked havoc in the stock market… stoking fears of a trade-war escalation that could lead to a recession.”
Tags: China, Destruction, Economic growth, Empower, Families, Global trading system, Higher inflation, Highest, Rules, Tariffs, Tax increase, Trump, U.S., Unemployment, Wealth
Wall Street Journal (April 3)
“The tariffs Trump announced would lift the average duty above the previous peak of 1930. It is by far the most disruptive component of an agenda that may be one of the most disruptive of any new president since the 1930s, one that includes slashing immigration, government spending, taxes and regulations.” The timing for all this is striking. “The economy he inherited was the envy of the world with growth of 2.8% last year, faster than almost every other major developed economy, an unemployment rate of just 4.1% and inflation of 2.8%. Stocks were at record highs.”
Tags: 1930, Disruptive, Duty, Economy, Government spending, Growth, Immigration, Inflation, Regulations, Stocks, Tariffs, Taxes, Timing, Trump, Unemployment
New York Times (March 31)
President Trump is poised to introduce what are at least “the nation’s highest tariffs since the 1940s.” Unfortunately, these will lead to “lower economic growth, higher inflation, higher unemployment, the destruction of wealth and a tax increase on American families.” In addition, they “will deal a blow to the rules underlying the global trading system and further empower China.”
Tags: Destruction, Economic growth, Empower, Families, Global trading system, Higher inflation, Highest, Rules, Tariffs, Tax increase, Trump, U.S., Unemployment, Wealth
Financial Times (February 7)
The Bank of England (BoE) “has halved its 2025 growth estimate and cut interest rates… as it contends with a stagnant UK economy and an increasingly uncertain international environment.” In November, the BoE expected annual economic growth of 1.5%. Now it expects growth of just 0.75%, with higher unemployment and rising inflation. The new forecasts “will stoke fears of stagflation” and the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to cut benchmark rates from 4.75% to 4.5%.
Tags: 2025, Benchmark, BOE, Economic growth, Environment, Forecasts, Halved, Inflation, Interest rates, MPC, Stagflation, Stagnant, UK, Uncertain, Unemployment
Barron’s (December 23)
Brazil ends 2024 in a paradox. The economy is strong with GDP expected to “reach 3% for the third year running. Unemployment is at a record low and the trade surplus at an all-time high.” Nevertheless, “markets are awful.” Investors appear to be “looking past the healthy present to a recurrence of Brazil’s chronic economic disease: excessive government spending that spurs runaway inflation and crowds out growth with debt payments.”
Tags: 2024, Brazil, Chronic, Debt payments, Economy, GDP, Government spending, Growth, Investors, Markets, Paradox, Recurrence, Runaway inflation, Trade surplus, Unemployment
Washington Post (October 10)
“By just about every measure, the U.S. economy is in good shape. Growth is strong. Unemployment is low. Inflation is back down. More important, many Americans are getting sizable pay raises, and middle-class wealth has surged to record levels.” And yet the lingering effects of inflation seem to have blinded many to the fact that “we are living through one of the best economic years of many people’s lifetimes.”
Tags: Best, Economy, Growth, Inflation, Lingering, Middle class, Pay raises, Record levels, Strong, Surged, U.S., Unemployment, Wealth
