Trump's cruel policies have a human cost

Trump’s cruel policies have a human cost
Bleak economic numbers and a fraying safety net are leaving people helpless — and hopeless

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published August 5, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Last week, Chicago was smothered by another heat dome. The smell of sewage lightly perfumed the air.

On one of those horrible days, I walked down Michigan Avenue in the 100-degree heat and there he was — the same homeless man I pass almost every day. His filthy clothes were torn into vertical strips, like one of the ghillie suits hunters and military snipers use for camouflage. A large man, he was semi-nude below the waist. The crowds on the sidewalk streamed past as if he were invisible.

A few minutes later I came upon another man, who was digging through a garbage can for something to drink. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. He was dirty and covered in sweat. As he threw one plastic bottle after another on the sidewalk in his futile search, a sign across the street loomed large over his shoulder: Trump Tower.

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On Friday, the bleak economic figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the truth about what is happening in Donald Trump’s America. (Far too much truth, in fact; the president subsequently fired the bureau’s commissioner.) As Vox’s Eric Levitz noted on Monday, the “labor market is much weaker than previously thought.” Economic growth is slowing and inflation is once again on the rise — as is the chance of a recession. To quote an X post by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week, “The Trump economy has officially arrived.”

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Trump’s action came on the heels of his so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which includes drastic cuts to essential initiatives serving low-income Americans. The Wall Street Journal reported that the legislation slashes at least 1 trillion dollars from Medicaid and other federally funded health programs. Based on all available evidence and historical precedent, the Big Ugly Bill, along with the administration’s other cuts to the social safety net, looks likely to trigger a sharp rise in homelessness. ....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/08/05/magas-cruel-policies-have-a-human-cost/