this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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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.

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[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 90 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They can just tell their kids that Santa wasn't allowed to enter the Untied States

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

He got to all the wealthy houses before ICE grabbed him.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago

Conveniently

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I want to see Santa's social media history over the last 5 years.

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[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 52 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ninexe@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Good.

We live in a scam society and the only winning move is not to play.

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[–] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 42 points 1 day ago (9 children)

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

[–] D_C@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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...

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[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Well, it's not as though there was a precedent for all the shitty things he'd do once he took office. Not like he said he'd do all the shitty things in the leadup to his winning the election.

Except that there was. And he did. American voters are some of the dumbest, most idiotic people on the face of the planet. If you voted for the orange turd, or tried to excuse your sitting it out by virtue of something happening outside of your country, all I have to say is FAFO.

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[–] ninexe@sh.itjust.works 38 points 1 day ago (4 children)

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.

[–] DrDickHandler@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

There won't be enough substantial resistance. Things WILL continue to get worse.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

but it's not just him.

It's also the oligarchs who support him as well as the various puppeteers who control him.

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[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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?

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[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Copythis@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Calm down people, just buy less pencils and we'll all be fine

[–] InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

...all this has a lot more respectability if you say it between drafting up and bragging about plans for a ridiculously gaudy ballroom, scheming over some crypto grift, and throwing a little Gatsby-style party for the upper crust.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

But did they stick to only 1 or 2 pencils? What about the dolls? Did people stop buying 37 dolls?

[–] 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hey, I just had a thought. Do you think people buying only one or two dolls instead of 37 might be bad for an economy designed to grow forever?

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

There are a whole lot of thoughts that are bad for something that requires delusional thinking like infinite growth. This is why the conservatives work to dismantle (real) education in this country.

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[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Soon there will be a critical mass of people who have nothing left to lose

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

“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.”

https://youtu.be/DviCUygm3eM

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[–] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

I thought affordability was a democrat hoax!?

[–] velindora@lemmy.cafe 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 2 days ago

Please stick to facts. It is only A+++++

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] TronBronson@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[–] jasonweiser@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

*self-proclaimed billionaire Trump

[–] MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

That, and Russians helped him dig out of the 8 billion debt he had in the 90s.

[–] cheeseburger@piefed.ca 9 points 1 day ago (5 children)

When will Americans realize that trump is a cunt?

[–] 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

When he dies ..and folks start saying... Oh I never liked or supported him .

You know while the maga flag burns in their fire pit

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[–] tym@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

He's not a cunt - he lacks the warmth and depth

[–] tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The evidence has been laid bare for quite some time.

collapsed inline media

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Over half of them have always known this.

Blame voter apathy.

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[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But still wont group up and do anything to improve the situation.

[–] tym@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] Plurrbear@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Where’s my $2k check? Why aren’t egg prices down? Clearly, this administration doesn’t give a fuck about the people! They only care about themselves and how to line their pockets! Time to CLEAN FUCKING HOUSE! Worst 4 years of our lives!!!!

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[–] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You MAGAs got what you voted for, puh-raise JEE-zuz-ah!

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[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Despite all the "news" articles and clickbaits telling me how great everyone's doing surprisingly this year, yeah, this is what I am going to believe. The bought-and-paid for media is shoving flowers at us to try and mask the scent of shit.

No one can buy shit this year. Thankfully I'm doing okay enough that I can send what little family I have left a gift cert for two hundred each. It's not great but it's better than so so many can do. 🙁

[–] ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Family made a deal this year. Socks only.

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

That socks

EDIT: I sincerely apologize to anyone who has read my comment and I will now be leaving.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

It would be funny to give MAGA people affected by Trumps policies some new bootstraps, so they can pull themselves up.

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