Blue Press Journal

Tag: working class voters Trump inflation

  • The Growing Divide: How the Labor Share Hit Historic Lows Essay

    The Trump Economy is not working for the American Middle Class

    by Winston Wendell

    October 21, 2026

    While the share of labor in national income is a crucial indicator of how well the American worker is doing, it appears that during the Trump administration, the workers’ share of the fruit of their labor fell to historic lows. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor share of business output, excluding farms, fluctuated between 56 and 58% during the Trump’s presidency years, which is the lowest it has been since records began.

    Two men outside storefront with “OUT OF BUSINESS,” “HELP WANTED,” and “CLOSED” signs

    Despite the increase in productivity, an indicator that the Trump administration was boasting of, the stock market as an indicator of how the American worker was doing was criticized by the New York Times . The paper revealed that the stock market was a “plummeting indicator of the worries of the average investor”. The Federal Reserve shows that the top 10% of Americans own about 89% of all the stocks, which means that the “market magic” was really just an indicator of how the wealthy and the super-wealthy were doing.

    The main reason for this trend was the tax cuts initiated by the Trump administration in 2017 and 2025. The Washington Post reported that instead of raising wages, as was promised, the corporations used the extra cash to buy back their own shares, which drove up the prices on the stock market.

    The Economic Policy Institute reports that the Trump administration, wages are growing slower than usual, and the decoupling of wages and productivity has reached a historic high. This has happened despite the fact that wages are supposed to be “the most important source of compensation for American workers”. It appears that the economic indicators are all skewed to favor the owners of capital over the laborers.

    Sources:

    Bureau of Labor Statistics – Labor Share Trends

    The New York Times: The Stock Market is Not the Economy

    The Washington Post: Corporate Tax Cuts and Buybacks

    Economic Policy Institute – Wage and Productivity Gap

    Federal Reserve: Wealth Distribution Data

  • Trump’s Iran Gamble Backfires as Approval Craters to Historic Lows

    Illustration of Donald Trump pointing to an explosion in Iran with text TRUMP IRAN CRISIS.

    Blue Press Journal – President Donald Trump’s political Teflon may finally be peeling off. After surviving impeachments, criminal indictments, and market-rattling tariff wars, his unauthorized military campaign against Iran has triggered a collapse in public support that analysts say could define his second term—and end his legislative agenda.

    According to data from the poll aggregator FiftyPlusOne, Trump’s net approval has plunged to negative 21.4%, dipping below 40% for the first time since his January inauguration. Writing for Strength In Numbers, pollster G. Elliott Morris noted that Trump’s ratings now represent “the lowest of any president at this point in their term, going back to FDR.”

    The catalyst is a war with no apparent exit strategy. During a Wednesday address to the nation, Trump offered no clear plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly 20% of global oil flows—instead telling European and Asian allies to “grab and cherish” responsibility for the crisis he created. Markets immediately punished the uncertainty, with oil prices spiking and equities tumbling as traders absorbed the economic shock.

    The contradiction is politically toxic. Trump campaigned in 2024 on lowering household costs, yet his Iran war has compounded inflationary pressures already exacerbated by chaotic tariff policies. Energy analyst Rory Johnston warned listeners on the Commodity Context podcast that futures markets are exhibiting “irrational optimism,” adding that “futures markets are grievously underpricing” the sustained energy crisis.

    Demographically, the erosion is sweeping. A recent CNN survey found that 80% of voters aged 18-34 now disapprove of his handling of the presidency, along with 73% of independents. Research from the Center for Working-Class Politics indicates that working-class Black and Latino voters—critical to Trump’s 2024 popular vote victory—are rapidly retreating from the GOP, a shift already visible in 2025’s off-year gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.

    With midterm elections just seven months away, Republicans face the prospect of losing the House, which would effectively halt Trump’s agenda and potentially subject his final two years to investigation and gridlock. By simultaneously replicating Jimmy Carter’s energy shock, George W. Bush’s catastrophic Middle East war, and Joe Biden’s inflation woes—all within a single term—Trump may have finally constructed a scandal too vast to escape.