As the Washington Post has noted this morning of US economic data:
Friday's job numbers brought evidence suggesting that the gloomy types accurately saw weakness in the economy that the official numbers obscured. The latest release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a loss of 92,000 jobs in February, with downward revisions for the two months before that. Employers added just 181,000 jobs in 2025, around 70 percent fewer than BLS's initial estimate of 584,000, and the revised numbers are getting worse, not better. Hiring Lab, the economic research arm of the jobs site Indeed, has concluded that “the labor market has averaged essentially zero net job creation over the past six months.”
They added:
Keep in mind, in August, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis calculated that the U.S. economy needs to add between 32,000 and 82,000 jobs per month to keep the unemployment rate stable.
Why does this matter? There are three reasons.
First of all, Trump is not delivering an economic miracle for the USA. In fact, he is delivering an economy that is much weaker than the one Biden delivered after Covid. The facts speak for themselves. If anything, the USA is now in an effective decline. So much for tariffs. So much for a booming stock market. The person on Main Street, rather than on Wall Street, is not feeling the effect.
Second, this is going to get worse. Trump has started a war he does not know how to end, and the cost will be very high. That cost will divert resources from investment in the US infrastructure and support for US social care and education programmes. Let's not pretend there are no consequences of this, because there clearly are.
Third, the reason why a failing president is desperate for a war is now very apparent. Anything that will distract from his failing domestic agenda, or provide a reason for cancelling elections, is what Trump is looking for now.
The one thing that we can be sure of is that hope is right out of stock in the USA at present. Trump is seeking to destroy any reason for it, and in this task alone, he is succeeding. Fascism, corruption, and the resulting destruction do not pay. The sad fact is that this is a lesson that the world seemingly needs to learn again and again because it never remembers.
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On the other hand, arms manufacturers and their investors have a twinkle in their eye. Energy companies are doing OK. And investors are getting themselves ready to buy plenty of US Treasury Bonds to finance an extended conflict. All of that might be sufficient to keep Trump on track and motivated and clinging to power. Money rules.