During the 2024 campaign for president, we heard many promises and many lies. One of those issues was the economy. It was painted by Trump as being terrible and only he could fix it on day one. If you believed that, let’s take a look at how the economy is today. The GDP decreased at a 0.3% annualized rate last quarter according to the Commerce Department. The U.S. economy contracted in the 1st quarter as a result of the disruptive nature of Trump’s tariff policy creating chaos for businesses trying to figure out how to function.

Yesterday my husband and I were at a restaurant that was advertising a Mother’s Day Brunch. While we were eating the owner came around and took the advertising tents from every table. We asked him why and he told us that the supplier he works with was unable to ship the order, so he had to scramble to find another source for the products. When he found one the cost for him was much higher than he had budgeted so he needed to increase the cost of the brunch. That was a close and upfront example of what Trump’s tariffs are doing for small businesses in real time.

The lies about the economy were just that-lies. There are so many more examples that I could cite, but those are for another day.