A new survey has found that Americans are being squeezed by higher prices as they head into the holiday season, forcing them to cut back on gifts and delay purchases because of Donald Trump’s faltering economy.
The Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that a vast majority of U.S. adults have noticed increased prices for groceries, electricity, and holiday gifts in recent months. Roughly half say it is harder to afford presents, and similar numbers say they’re postponing big purchases or trimming nonessential spending more than usual.
Those bleak findings come as Trump has been downplaying concerns about the state of the economy, while simultaneously urging families to scale back on Christmas presents for their children. At a Pennsylvania event on Tuesday, he told supporters, “You can give up certain products,” citing “pencils” as an example before turning to children’s toys: “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter.
My first-two-weeks-of-January paycheck hits next week, early because the university shuts down totally during the break. So technically I can afford some meager gifts, and to be current on my mortgage and utilities, but next month half my income will be gone already.
And I know a garnishment judgment for a bill I just cannot pay will hit soon, so that’s 25% of my pay gone.
Basically I’m OK now but 2026 is already shaping up to be a flaming financial disaster.
Trying not to think about the fact that Christmas is somehow 10 days away, my bare minimum student loan payment is 5 days away, but I don’t get paid again for another 15 days. Then rent is due the day after that, and it’s most of my paycheck, which pretty much immediately puts me back to where I am now, and groceries are somehow more and more expensive every time, and I get to ring in 2026 knowing best case scenario for the new year is that this neverending cycle continues once I get paid again at the end of January and repeat the same thing until 2027.
But I also know how privileged we are just to have a few small things under the tree for my kid, not to mention having a roof over our heads, and not having to worry about Nazis trying to kidnap my family members and split us apart every time we risk stepping outside, or being murdered in drone strikes that suddenly rain down from above from out of nowhere for absolutely no fucking reason.
Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus! Are we great again?
Soon there will be a critical mass of people who have nothing left to lose
Soon there will be a critical mass of people who have nothing left to lose
I hope they realize that, while Trump is the figurehead, he isn’t the only one who has intentionally put them in that position.
“You can’t build a revolution with no education. Jomo Kenyatta did this in Africa, and because the people were not educated, he became as much an oppressor as the people he overthrew.”
Trump has a lot to do with it, but it’s not just him.
This is the result of the working class not getting a fair return on its labor for decades. It’s only going to get worse until they fight back.
but it’s not just him.
It’s also the oligarchs who support him as well as the various puppeteers who control him.
There won’t be enough substantial resistance. Things WILL continue to get worse.
I just hope he keeps gaslighting everyone and telling them how great everything is while he literally loots and destroys the country. Atleast we have some economic prosperity to look forward to once he is gone, and his policies reversed.
Unless you’re in East America.
Calm down people, just buy less pencils and we’ll all be fine
No need to be sarcastic about it. Nobody thinks buying fewer pencils is going to have a significant impact on your household budget. You also need to stop buying all those dolls, mocha-matcha holiday spice non-dairy iced triple espresso coffees, avocados including avocado-based food items, college educations, health care, iphones, child care, refrigerators, computer memory, and beef. Also, the point of Christmas isn’t gifts, so you should also be buying fewer of those. The right to Christmas gifts isn’t in the constitution anyway.
Hey also could you please have more kids, we need you to be having more kids
As a gay couple, my partner and I are doing our best to make that happen. Fingers crossed!
I thought affordability was a democrat hoax!?
Sixty-eight percent of adults described the U.S. economy as “poor” in the latest poll
It’s a shame that 68 didn’t vote accordingly. FAFO
How were they to know everything would turn to shit under a failed reality TV star, compromised russian stooge, SIX times bankrupt, unregistered paedo and convicted rapist who exhibited continued failing mental health with dementia traits and delusions of tyrannically despotism?
It’s not as if he was already voted in a few years before and fucked everything up that time…I’m sure more people would’ve shown up to the polls if they didn’t have to choose between shit and slightly-less-shit.
People really don’t like acknowledging that the dems had a role to play in their own failure. It’s so disheartening.
“Aw man, my choices are slightly-less-shit and shit? I better not choose at all and then complain very loudly if I get shit instead of slightly-less-shit. At least I didn’t make a choice though out of protest about Israel support. Surely both sides are the same.”
Kamala: Both sides should cease fire.
Trump: Israel should kill off the rest of the Palestinians. Also here’s $80B to Argentina for some fucking reason.FAFO
Yes, it’s a shame innocent people have to suffer so that the moderate white doesn’t have to pay more in taxes.
It is a shame. The suffering worsens in Gaza, by a lot.
“Both sides should cease fire” is the start of any sort of recovery in Gaza and prevent furthering suffering. If people just showed up to the polls and voted, Gaza would likely be better off. Good thing those people protested though, it did so much good for Gaza /s
If people just showed up to the polls and voted
More people would’ve shown up if they didn’t have to choose between a shit sandwich and a giant douche.
I’m blaming the useful idiots giving those options, but you keep doing you. I’m sure things will change eventually if you just keep doing the same thing expecting different results.
The world isnt a fairy tale. Sometimes a piece of shit and douche are your only options. Things have changed if you havent noticed and uou will continue to live with those changes whether you participate or not. Yoy may not care today but when your door is kicked in you will.
*self-proclaimed billionaire Trump
Oh, he’s grifted enough from his marks in the last decade that I easily believe he’s a billionaire now. Crypto and stuff especially.
I work seasonal in retail and it’s a pretty mixed bag this Christmas. The haves and have nots are easy to spot. I agree about half my customers are hurting.
I don’t think there’s really any chance, but I’ve reached the point where I want things to get so bad that we actually elect enough progressive politicians to actually fix what’s wrong.
I truly believe in democracy, even though it has been fucking up lately. I think having a bloodless revolution every 2-4 years via elections is infinitely superior to having to actually build guillotines. At the same time I also think there’s a point where interfering with the process for bloodless revolutions makes bloody revolutions inevitable.
The current administration is both homicidally incompetent, and completely out of touch, so there’s a chance that the pressure will keep increasing until a fault forms and the ensuing catastrophe shakes the electorate out of their current stupidity enough to elect progressive people who will actually run the country for the people.
The alternative is the slow sleepwalk into slavery that we’ve been doing for decades.
The effort to gerrymander the shit out of everything is actually a positive sign: it shows that even the sociopaths running things understand that elections still matter. If elections still matter, the people are still in control.
Unfortunately, most of the people are mouth-breathing morons.
They can just tell their kids that Santa wasn’t allowed to enter the Untied States
I want to see Santa’s social media history over the last 5 years.
He got to all the wealthy houses before ICE grabbed him.
Conveniently
All adults in our family agreed to not buy gifts. Just for kids. I’d rather save and not contribute to this already-shitty economy.
Good.
We live in a scam society and the only winning move is not to play.
Same here with my family
But still wont group up and do anything to improve the situation.
Ever tried to rally a group of individualistic cowards? I’d rather herd kittens off curtains. The cold war never ended, and I’m exhausted by watching literally everyone around me take the bait.
I swear these comments are ruzzian troll bot farm propaganda. The system worked for hundreds of years and once we hit max pain, it’ll work again. We just have an adultescence problem to sort through first.
Hey maybe try and save your country?
Ruzzian trolls not farm propaganda!
This is why America is fucked.
A+++++++
Please stick to facts. It is only A+++++
