Today’s new Consumer Price Index report shows that inflation once again beat market expectations in September, holding steady as wages continued to rise faster than prices, marking another milestone in President Donald Trump’s “new Golden Age” for the American economy.
But there’s a looming problem: the ongoing Democrat-led government shutdown could throw a wrench into that progress. According to the White House, surveyors with the Bureau of Labor Statistics are unable to conduct their normal field operations, which means there may not be an inflation report next month for the first time in US history. That gap in data could leave markets and policymakers flying blind, creating the potential for unnecessary economic turmoil.
Under President Trump, the US economy is growing at fastest pace in nearly 2 years and inflation has averaged just 2.5%, roughly half of what it was under Joe Biden’s term, when inflation averaged 5%. Real private-sector wages are up $1,151, a 1.8% increase since Trump took office, after falling nearly $3,000 under Biden.
Gas prices have also seen a sharp turnaround. Since Trump returned to the White House, gasoline prices are on track for an annualized drop of 7.5%, reversing the 7.7% yearly increases that became the norm under Biden. Prices at the pump are now approaching their lowest levels in more than four years.
Housing costs are stabilizing as well, with the 12-month change in shelter prices at its lowest point in four years. Meanwhile, prices are down across a range of consumer goods — from used cars and trucks to motor vehicle insurance, communication services, nonprescription drugs, butter, and even eggs, which are down 23.7% since Trump took office.
Bloomberg’s Chris Anstey summed it up this way: “These readings will also bolster the Trump administration’s argument that inflation is under control and tariffs aren’t triggering a cost-of-living surge.”
If the shutdown persists, however, that positive momentum could face its first serious test -not from economic fundamentals, but from political dysfunction.
2 thoughts on “Inflation holds steady as Trump’s economy surges, but Democrat shutdown casts shadow”
This is good news and there has been some good work done. But Trump has to turn his attention hard to domestic concerns. The economy is a shaky house of cards. So many live paycheck to paycheck. Young people do not think a house – to say nothing or marriage and children – is something they will have. Our currency is so devalued and we have not yet begun to produce with scale to create broad based wealth. The debt is now 38 trillion and the deficit is near 2 trillion a year. Our economy still primarily runs on finance capital and real estate. Neither creates prosperity. We must extract resources and manufacture.
“Beat market expectations” has nothing to do with MY expectations. Have you been to the grocery store lately? People vote their pocketbooks, and this issue is going to kill the GOP in 2026 and 2028. Trump is too busy tariffing our allies, blowing up boats in Venezuela (Venezuela??), and building himself a golden edifice on the rubble of the White House to pay any attention to something as prosaic as inflation. After all, he and his Billionaire cohort couldn’t care less about it, as they could easily fund their lifestyles for centuries at any price. And to make matters worse, he has snookered many of those who need cost-of-living relief the worst into believing that he toils night and day in their interest, and that he is their one-and-only salvation. Sick at best, criminal at worst.