When President-elect Donald Trump takes over for Joe Biden next month, he will be inheriting an economy teetering on the brink of disaster. But as hazardous as the situation is, Trump may be the man best suited to defuse the ticking economic time bomb Biden is leaving behind.
While the economic situation under Biden remains far worse than the boom times of the Trump years, things have improved marginally from the worst of the inflation crisis in 2021 and 2022. Prices are still more than 20 percent higher than when Biden took office, but the monthly inflation rate has eased from the astronomical 9.1 percent seen two years ago. The stock market has also had relatively robust returns, and job numbers overall have been strong this year – although there remains ample reason to doubt the government’s official narrative on that front.
However, there are concerning signs that the slow improvement over the past few months may be short-lived. The Consumer Price Index, the measure used to gauge inflation, was 2.7 percent in November, slightly above the 2.6 percent rise in October, and could be set to get worse in the months ahead.
Government spending – the major driver of inflation – has also only continued to accelerate under Biden. Even if Trump cuts spending shortly after taking office, the dollars flowing out of the Treasury right now could have a residual effect on inflation months from now.
Inflation aside, Trump will have a number of other urgent economic fires to put out when he takes office. According to the Department of Labor, 242,000 people filed for unemployment in the first week of December, up from 225,000 the previous week. At a time when claims should be dropping significantly due to a holiday hiring surge, this rise is concerning.
Trump will also be facing a spiraling debt crisis thanks to record peacetime spending under Joe Biden. The country is expected to run a staggering $1.8 trillion deficit this year, and Biden will have added more than $7 trillion to the national debt – which now stands at over $36 trillion – by the time he leaves office. The House Budget Committee predicts that interest payments on that debt alone will total $12.9 trillion over the next decade.
As economists from both sides of the aisle warned during a recent hearing in the House, if the government fails to curb rising debts and deficits, it could shake investor confidence in the government’s ability to service its debt – likely spiraling into a full-blown financial crisis.
Americans are also facing a debt crisis on the individual level. In part due to Biden’s inflation eating into paychecks and budgets, the total amount of credit card debt held by Americans has now surpassed $1.14 trillion. Serious payment delinquencies are on the rise, and about 20 percent of credit card users are maxed out.
In July, the Bureau of Economic Analysis also revealed that the personal savings rate had fallen to its lowest level since November 2022. During Trump’s pre-COVID economy, Americans saved an average of 7.4 percent of their income. Under Biden, those rates have slipped by over half, decreasing to 3.4 percent.
All of these factors point to an economy heading toward dire straits – and the American people clearly understood those stakes in November’s election. Exit polls showed that the economy was by far the top concern for voters and that they trusted Trump more than Harris on the issue.
There are, accordingly, high expectations for the president-elect when it comes to righting the economic ship. However, Trump appears to have understood the magnitude of the task from early in his campaign and has already set plans in motion to bring inflation and the debt crisis under control.
Perhaps his most innovative move was establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The new agency is tasked with eliminating wasteful spending government-wide – with a promise to conclude its work by July 4, 2026. Musk has said he believes DOGE could make recommendations that would cut spending by as much as $2 trillion.
Trump has also made clear that he believes creating an “American energy revolution” will be key to bringing down prices, ending the inflation crisis, and accelerating economic growth. As Trump said in an interview with financial expert Dave Ramsey, “If you get the energy down, other things will follow…I believe I’ll be able to get energy down to 50 percent of what it is now in less than a year.”
Trump’s stated goal is to ensure the United States has “the number one lowest cost of energy of any industrial country anywhere on Earth,” achieved through ending the Biden administration’s delays on drilling permits and leases and boosting oil and gas production.
Perhaps no president in history inherited as difficult an economic situation as the one Trump will inherit on January 20. But all indications suggest Trump is nonetheless the best hope for turning a disaster into a triumph.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
Expect the first year or two of the next four years to be dedicated to undoing all the cumulative damage of the last four years. After all, there is a LOT of damage to clean up after four years of intentional destruction at the hands of the Democrats.
Yes, it can all be cleaned up, but it certainly won’t be done overnight. I don’t think anyone who’s reasonable expects all the damage inflicted on this country over the last four years will just magically go away on Day One. Most people have reasonable expectations when it comes to repairing major damage to our nation.
Everyone thinks that President DJT has 4 years he has 6 months to 2 years. The upcoming midterms could change the House and Senate. How many people are going to change their minds when the deportation starts and the MSM airs 24 hours a day about families be broken up. Stay diligent.
If employers have to hire American workers instead of illegals, $100s billions can be saved on Medicaid and Food stamps.
Kamala has lots of time on her hands now that the election is over, so why isn’t she implementing all those “joyously, aspirational” plans she campaigned on? Answer: because she never planned to! This is why our borders are open, we’re not energy independent, the cost-of-living is too high, and housing unaffordable. Biden cares more about pardoning thieves and child molesters than the American people? Will Trump change things? Yes! Because he’s about America First…
I just hope the majority of Americans realize that this cannot happen overnight. If something happens soon after Trump takes office, the Dems will claim it was Biden’s doing. The DOGE folks, along with EVERY single member of Congress is gonna have some splainin to do. They are ALL responsible for some of this mess our economy is in. They need to not approve ANY bills with crap in it, so, yes, they will have to actually show up and work for us for a change. And as soon as ANY RINO’s step out of line we need to put pressure on them and the moderate democrats (some who actually seem to want to try to help Trump straighten this mess out) by calling/emailing/writing/posting on social media, whatever it takes to get them working for We the People!
The Biden mess is the biggest disaster this country has seen in a long time.
yes but it is going to take alot longer plus he is going to need all his picks right away no nonsense from rinos
Yes, it will take a few years to fix the economic mess we’re in, but it can be done. I’m optimistic enough to believe that the GOP can increase its majority in 2026, but the right people have to seek office and stay on the economic message. They can’t stop rowing the boat.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed but MSM is already coming out with statements that Trump is now saying he won’t be able to get food prices down quickly. Same with gas. It’s going to be ugly with the MSM, but they are too stupid to realize they have already ruined their reputation and these next two years may be the end of them completely. We can hope.
I think he probably can. The bigger question is why would anybody vote Democrat when their goal is a total Destruction of this country. That is what they want! And there are still people in this country that will vote for them. It’s like sitting on a branch in a tree while you are sawing the branch off. The Democrat Party is the epitome of evil. They are willing to burn this nation to the ground just so they can rule over the ashes
Tremendous damage has been done. Praying the American people are patient and understanding as this is going to take time to heal this damage.
Crooked joe can’t leave soon enough! The damage he is leaving will take years to repair. He and his crime family will be able to walk and enjoy freedom. Freedom that he has denied for thousands of Americans. Government spending – the major driver of inflation – has also only continued to accelerate under Biden. It was his and kackels plan the whole time. I believe bin obama had and is causing alot of the damage also. Is it his idea that America needs punished because of the his bad ideas??
Dem-on-s are making life as difficult as possible for Trump. They figure if he fails they can get back in.
Biden just said that “he was passing on the strongest economy in the world” to Trump?! What a diluted world it is that this criminal lives in! EVERYTHING this man has done since the election is designed to sabotage and foul Trump up at every level including providing and authorizing the use of US supplied long range missiles deep into Russia!
Investigate, investigate, and then investigate some more, this enemy of the state upon leaving office!
It is, at the same time, infuriating, sad and mystifying that the “democrats” so frequently reach for THEIR candidate at election time, without regard to how much economic damage that candidate will do. Much of it, no-doubt, is attributable to the dishonesty of the liberal press… but there are many “democrats” who DO have viable brain matter… yet, they reach for the most incompetent, dishonest and economy-destroying “candidate” on the map – in the same, instinctive way that a toddler reaches for a binky. It is unbelievable that ANYONE would vote for the senile Biden, who “campaigned” in his basement, and was never the steward of anything. I do tip my hat to the democrats who voted for Trump recently, and I hope more of you step up in the future. We need rational, strong leaders who will look after the true interests of our country and its’ citizens.
It took decades for the U.S. to become the bankrupt, massive welfare state it is today.No one,not even Trump,can fix it quickly.Any attempt to fix the country quickly would cause too much upset and possibly a depression.Few Americans have the patience to wait for a decades long solution.
You know if the House GOP and Senate GOP aren’t on board with pushing through what Trump ran on to achieve we will be in a similar 2017 majority crap_ole. Mid terms come around pretty quickly.
To me what the obama,soros,biden cult is doing is flaunting the will of the people that voted for President Trump.What the democrats are doing is not about Trump,it’s about conservatives and their contempt for the “deep sewer”,who’s goal is to neuter AMERICA.All we can do is hope that people remember the”bull exhaust”the democ rats are pulling and vote them out,WAY OUT.
Joe Bidumb pardoned Hunter but not himself, he should be jailed for treason, for what he has done to America. How many saw the video on TV of the massive piles of steel, purchased with taxpayer’s money and stacked to be used for the border wall, that Bidumb should have finished. Instead Bidumb sold all that steel as scrap. So the American taxpayer will have to pay to purchase it all again, to complete building the Border Wall! This was just more of Bidumb’s childish political vendettas against Trump! Dimocraps work against America! Thank God Trump is a Patriot who works for America.
The real question isn’t what can President Trump do; it’s how successful can the Democrats be in keeping him and the Republicans from significantly improving many aspects of the Country’s condition from the mess that Biden and the Democrats have created in four years.
Has to or more burden on US
Biden under Obama has ruined this country into financial bankruptcy and he is still at it putting orders into place that cannot be reversed by Trump. And then when the country falls financially they can blame Trump. The 4 years of economic failures under Biden were and are blamed on Trump. If someone kept count these past 4 years how many times Trumps name was used to blame him for the failures of Biden and the democrats, you would think Trump was in the White House. And they are continuing there inept governing till January 20th. And as soon as Trump is sworn in their opposition will start anew. The things they are passing now can’t be reversed by Trump. The dictators have ruled and Trump gets the blame. Europe is doing the same thing. Right now they are rushing to put a peace deal together between Ukraine and Russia. They know Trump will do it. They don’t want him to have the glory. They will sell the Ukraine down the river just so they can upstage Trump. The democrats are not for America but for the WEF and their New World Order. Where millions of people will be eliminated. Where the elites in Davos will rule the world. Those peons that are still alive will become zombies in their web of lies and deceit. Take the case of the young man charged with the subway killing of a demented passenger by restraining him. The DA couldn’t wait for the autopsy report charged him with manslaughter while there were no signs on the body that he was strangled. The drugs in his system is what killed him. But the New York DA has nothing with the people of the White race who step in to prevent a massacre in a subway car. They should have given the man free rein in that car that day. Kill many people that would have been okay. The democrats want to bring this country from a republic to a communist regime. Bringing in millions upon millions of aliens. Many who are criminals. The jails all over the world are empty for they all have been flown into our country to kill off those that dare oppose the democrats. The whole world is spinning out of control. Another world war is coming? China is appointed to be the next world power? Why did the flu virus otherwise come from China to destroy the world. Only the strain wasn’t strong enough. Didn’t kill too many yet. That is why a war was started in the Ukraine and the Middle East. Not wars to win just to kill people day after day. Klaus Schwab and his minions all over the world keep telling the people: “you will own nothing, but, you will be happy “They thought they had America in their grip but dang the people saw through their facade and voted to save America. The next 4 years the people together with Trump will have to be ever vigilant. Unite and speak up when they see or hear about the plans of those on the left. They are out to destroy America. Don’t allow it.
Shut the border first. This will allow business to stabilize. Reduce all Government spending is the second. With these two items, inflation will drop and business will become stable. A stable business climate has to be accomplished first.
Excerpt of Barack Hussein Obama’s first presidential campaign speech; “I will fundamentally change America.” Anyone who believes the addlepated Biden has been running the once White House best rethink it. Hussein has been photographed numerous times at the White House no doubt “guiding” Biden. And Biden is busily spewing out what’s left of a depleted money base to no doubt complete the bankruptcy this nation. All under the direction of Hussein who has been proven twice not to be a citizen…I’m hoping that when the dust settles that Hussein and Biden both along with his dirt bag “son” are put in Federal prison for life…add Nancy Pelosi and Killary Klinton. The Jan. 6th. lie should also be investigated along with Pelosi and Clinton who, in the original stories, were the one’s who perpetrated this monstrosity. Also the two who pushed asinine law suits against Trump in his first presidency…all now dismissed as the lies they are. The full video of the Jan. 6th lie was shown in it’s entirety online.
Treason is to kind a word to describe the “Biden” and “Hussein” deliberate attacks on this nation’s sovereignty. High Treason is a life sentence or the death penalty. Considering the 2nd. erasure of our southern border deliberately allowing the most violent and evil monsters to spread through this nation even High Treason isn’t enough to charge Biden and Hussien with…the death penalty should be mandatory. How many American citizens have been murdered by monsters allowed to roam free…I hope Trump will squash these poisonous bugs. As stated before, underestimating Trump by the left is a fool’s errand.
Biden [actually his handlers] has totally screwed up our country. If trump gets all of his team in place, we can hopefully gets things straightened out. Keep pressure on all the RINOs!!!
Nothing matters other than the national debt, $36.2 Trillion, $40 Trillion in 40 days. Inflation now but soon the almighty fiat dollar isn’t going to be worth the paper it’s printed on.
Economic disaster? I don’t think you know what those words mean. Stock market is at RECORD highs! Lowest unemployment in g7, lowest inflation in G7, highest economic growth in G7. I mean, which economy would you like to have? Right now the US economy is the envy of the entire world.
It will take time to undo what Dummy and his VP have done for the last 4 years and he is doing more since acting like a president and his running mate time for them to hit the road and Biden does all he can to screw President Trump over before he leaves office. I have never seen a person like Biden so hateful he was caught selling the border wall that was to continue the wall Biden was selling it pennies on the dollar there is more.
Look at the historical data & national debt has gone up +$1Trillion per year for 14 straight years & that is thru ters of Obama, Trump, and Biden so the problem is getting worse by both parties. Quit pointing fingers & roll up your shirtsleeves and go to work to make the Middle Class great again as that is what has made this great nation so prosperous.
There is a Basic Debt Fault with the Feral Reserve Bankster system that cannot be overcome with just more Fiat “Money”.
A Money that has Confidence, ALSO has No Inflation or Deflation.
He defused Obama’s 8-year economic bomb but defusing this 4-year bomb will be a lot more difficult with Cheney, Romney and all the Democrats ass kissing and supporting Rhino Republicans continuing to fight him.
I’ve stated from day one [ nominate a senile person for president, if elected you will get senile results] Was I wrong? It’s a shame the democrats couldn’t figure that one out.
See: The Debt Crisis Problem Podcast at: Tunabudget.com. Add your own Debt Crisis Memo too!
Lawyers should be able to answer this question.