Pennsylvania city divided over Trump as it reels from economic whiplash

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Sat 25 Oct 2025 08.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 25 Oct 2025 09.04 EDT


It was set to be the most expensive project that the beaten-down manufacturing sector of Erie, Pennsylvania, had seen in decades. In a blighted corner of town, a startup planned a $300m plant that would turn plastic waste into fuel for steel factories.

Neighborhood advocates in Erie’s impoverished east side hoped the facility would provide the jobs and prosperity they needed. Environmentalists decried the pollution they expected the plant to bring. Unions got ready for what they hoped would be hundreds of jobs created by its construction, with more to come once it opened.

And then it was over. Mitch Hecht, founder of the company pursuing the project, announced that a Department of Energy loan crucial to the plant’s funding was put on hold as a result of Donald Trump’s policies, which “had a severe and immediate impact on our ability to move forward”.

It was the latest bout of economic whiplash to strike the county on north-west Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie shoreline, just months after its voters helped return Trump to the White House. Those who backed the president say they are sticking with him, even as his administration’s spending cuts have upended projects and budgets and tariffs have created new uncertainties for businesses.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/25/erie-pennsylvania-trump-policies

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The "but give him more time" MAGats are brain dead.

[yourout]

1. I guess he missed the memo about having to purchase a million dollars in Bitcoin first

[Raftergirl]

2. Oh well, they FAFO.

[slightlv]

3. I agree with what you said here:

The "but give him more time" MAGats are brain dead.

These are the same people who, under Cheney back "in the good old days" said that Conservatism couldn't fail; it could only BE failed. They never learn. No matter where they've tried to institute this, it fails horribly with miserable results for the common people. Look at Afghanistan and Iraq as 2 of the latest attempts... by Bush and Cheney. Kill all the government, institute one of your own liking, and pump billions of dollars into it that just disappear into the sand. So, since those failed... they started in on the one they REALLY wanted under that ideology - America. Damn them all to hell. We'll be paying the price for generations to get back to a reality-based government that works for all the people (which would be a chance from the way it's always worked.)

[progree]

4. But he has tamed inflation: "Stock market today: [market surges] to records as tame inflation cements Fed rate cut bets

Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq surge to records as tame inflation cements Fed rate cut bets, Rian Howlett, Laura Bratton and Ines Ferré, Yahoo Finance, 10/24/25

The September inflation data released on Friday morning came in cooler than expected. The headline Consumer Price Index rose 3% on an annual basis, the highest level since May but softer than forecasts for a 3.1% gain ((that makes it tame? --progree)). Month-over-month, prices rose 0.3%, a slight cooling from August's reading and also below expectations. ((oh, a 3.7% annualized increase is tame, I guess. That's what 12 months of +0.3%/month increases annualizes to -progree))

I call this cooking the narrative.

I so much hate it when the media compares to expectations rather than addressing where it's actually at. The expectations were really really hot. https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1116&pid=101154

These ((expectations -progree)) annualize to 4.9% and 3.7% respectively ... This would result in the 3-month average of 3.99% annualized for the CPI, and 3.94% annualized for the core CPI.

The actual numbers: Over the last 3 months, both the CPI and the Core CPI have averaged 3.6% inflation at an annualized rate, 1.8 X the Fed's 2% goal. Over 20 years, a 3.6% average annual inflation rate would cut the purchasing power of the dollar in half, meaning one's investments would have to double in order to just stay in place as far as purchasing power, as prices would double.

See graphs at https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143552691#post10

[BumRushDaShow]

5. "I so much hate it when the media compares to expectations rather than addressing where it's actually at"

It's the business media "opinions" that drive corporations into the types of behaviors (good or bad) that they engage in. And in many cases, their "assessments" at why the markets go up or down can be laughable, as it's like they pull some excuse out of a hat to try to "explain it".

The importers and wholesalers have generally been "eating" the tariffs and are now starting to reduce their exposure by passing it on (which will eventually get reflected down at the retail levels for the biggest retailers... the small ones have been crashing and burning with them, and some of the smallest ones occasionally get some news coverage).

The markets are also due for a correction again.

[progree]

9. "And in many cases, their "assessments" at why the markets go up or down can be laughable, as it's like ..."

And in many cases, their "assessments" at why the markets go up or down can be laughable, as it's like they pull some excuse out of a hat to try to "explain it".

Yes, I've been summarizing the media (well, Yahoo Finance's mostly) "at the closing bell" presentations almost every market day for months at my S&P 500 closing daily thread and sometimes it's blather to fill up space.

I'm cutting that thread back to just Tuesdays and Fridays, since the summaries were taking so long to produce.

[Aussie105]

10. The media has a vested interest in not being alarmist.

They will go for the line 'It is not quite as bad as was forecast, so no point in complaining.'

Bit like the frostbite victim who complains about the missing toes post surgery, and someone points out it isn't as bad as it could be, he still has 2 left.

The vested interest?

Not be accused of being the first to sound the alarm that a correction is coming.
Easy to be accused of setting the correction ball rolling.

The cumulative effect of the Trump administration mismanaging the economy will lead to a correction, and maybe worse.
And it will be felt world wide.

I'm expecting a 10% drop across the board for the Australian ASX200 in the next month or two, with an accompanying 5% drop in my stock market investments.
Will be painful but not unexpected.

[QueerDuck]

6. Well that's a damn shame, ain't it?

[orangecrush]

7. FAFO

From a. Erieite.

Stupid fuckers.

[Prairie Gates]

8. Dreary Erie by the Lake...Mother Nature's Great Mistake