Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
As President Donald Trump tries to gaslight Americans into believing that he’s fixed the economy, a number of economic indicators are now flashing red as his idiotic trade and immigration policies are finally having the consequences economists warned about, Emily Singer noted at DailyKos.com (2/5).
On Feb. 5, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the number of job openings has fallen to a more than five-year low, confirming Americans’ fears that it is really difficult to find a job right now.
As of the end of December, there were 6.5 million job openings, a decline of 386,000 from the month prior.
“The U.S. ‘hiring recession’ shows no sign of ending,” Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long wrote in a post on X, adding that, “Firms aren’t even thinking about hiring (outside of healthcare and all-star AI talent).”
What’s more, layoffs in January were up 118% from the same point in 2025, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Feb. 5. Companies axed 108,435 workers in January, the highest number for any January since 2009, when the economy was cratering during the Great Recession.
Trump has been whining about polling showing that Americans believe the economy sucks and that he is to blame. In fact, he went as far as threatening to sue The New York Times when it released a poll showing Americans think he’s made the situation worse since he took office a year ago.
But the economic numbers show that Americans are right in their belief that the economy is on the brink. And no amount of lying from Trump can fix that.
