10 things Democrats should pledge to do about economy when they're back in power

Trump claimed last week on social media that "Our economy is BOOMING, and Costs are coming way down," and that "grocery prices are way down.

- Robert Reich

Rubbish.

How do I know he's lying? Official government statistics haven't been issued during the shutdown presumably to Trump's relief (the White House said Wednesday that the October jobs and Consumer Price Index reports may never come out).

But we can get good estimates of where the economy is now based on where it was heading before the shutdown and recent reports from private data firms.

First, I want to tell you what we know about Trump's truly bad economy. Then I'll suggest 10 things that Democrats should pledge to do about it.

1. Prices continue to rise as real wages fall

While the cost of living isn't going up as fast as it did in 2022, consumer prices are still up 27% since the onset of the pandemic. Wages haven't kept up.

Americans know this. In a recent Harris poll, 62% say the cost of everyday items has climbed over the last month, and nearly half say the increases have been difficult to afford.

Much of this is due to Trump's tariffs, which are import taxes paid by American corporations that are now passing many of the costs on to consumers. Even Trump knows this, which is why he's removing tariffs on coffee, bananas, beef, and other agricultural commodities. But his other tariffs will remain, boosting the costs of everything else.

As a result, wages when adjusted for inflation have been falling, government and private-sector data show. Since the start of the year, inflation has been rising faster than after-tax pay for lowerand middle-income households, according to the Bank of America Institute.

According to the JPMorganChase Institute, the rate of real income growth has slowed to levels last seen in the early 2010s, when the economy was still recovering from the financial crisis and the unemployment rate was roughly double what it is today.

2. Job growth has stalled