Today's Ugly PPI Inflation Report Is Further Confirmation That Trump Is A Titanic, Vainglorious F*ck Up

We now know inflation was starting to spiral out of control *before* the war began and oil/gas/commodity prices spiked

Friends, we got another bad economic report this morning - one of the three main inflation gauges, the Producer Price Index, came in way above expectations in February. Here’s CNBC:

Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy costs.

The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the so-called core PPI increased 0.5%.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures.

For the all-items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January. However, the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month.

On a 12-month basis, headline PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since February 2025, while core was at 3.9%, according to the BLS. The Federal Reserve targets inflation at 2%.

Stock market futures slipped following the report while Treasury yields were higher. Futures traders pushed out the next Fed interest rate cut until at least December.

Here’s the PPI trendline we’ve been following:

Here’s core CPE, the inflation gauge that Fed follows most closely:

The third inflation gauge, CPI, was released last week, and it too came in way above the Fed target:

Trump’s policies have pushed inflation to an unacceptable level, which is helping slow economic growth too. We lost jobs last month, the 5th time we’ve lost jobs in the last 9 months (since the tariffs):

And we got a revised GDP number on Friday showing that in q4 2025 GDP growth was just 0.7%, down from an initial estimate of 1.4%. So not only are we seeing job loss, not gains, the economy barely grew at all in the fourth quarter, and came in much slower in 2025 than 2023 or 2024:

Again, all this data is from before the war. Here’s Brent crude at press time - up today to $108 a barrel:

And here’s gas prices - up $1.12 a gallon, 40%!!!!! - this year. Diesel is up even more:

Trump recklessly went to war with an American economy slowing and inflation rising - and now we have soaring gas and other commodity (incl fertilizer) prices which will both drive prices higher and further slow an economy already teetering on recession. Listen to my new conversation with Iowa’s Christina Bohannan to hear how Trump’s policies - tariffs, mass deportation, the war - are crushing the farm economy in the US, and could lead to a disruption of the world’s food supply, endangering the lives of potentially tens or even hundreds of millions of people.

We know that Trump went to war in part to change the domestic dynamic in the US - weakening economy, rising inflation, rising health care premiums, metastasizing Epstein scandal, soaring unpopularity, repudiation of ICE - but as more and more economic data has come in this decision to go to war given what was happening with the US economy looks even more and more reckless, dangerous, and disqualifying.

Of course the Fed left interest rates unchanged today. The real question is what happens now if inflation does start spiraling out of control due to Trump’s reckless policies for historically the Fed raises rates when inflation begins to rise…..

We need to be loud this week my friends - we need to end the war, rescind the tariffs, block the “I don’t want those people to vote” Act, and rein in ICE.

Yes……

It’s Time To Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DC Event Next Tuesday - Next Tuesday I am co-hosting an event for Anderson Clayton and the North Carolina Democratic Party in DC, in the neighborhood near the National Cathedral. It runs from 6 to 8pm, and tickets start at $100. Learn more here and come hang out with me and Anderson next Tuesday!

Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map

Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $330,700 raised, $400,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | Learn More | Enjoy our new conversations with Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) and learn more about the eight candidates we just added to our campaign here.

We will be meeting the rest of our newly expanded slate of intrepid House candidates in the coming weeks. It’s a great crew! This fundraising total includes funds already raised with our friends at FridayAction for a joint event we’re doing later this month.

James Talarico For Texas - $31,900 raised, $100,000 March 31st goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More | Watch my recent interview with Rep. Talarico

Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $50,700 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and Learn More. | Watch my new interview with Mary Peltola

Winning Ohio - $79,800 raised, $250,000 goal - Our new campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton/Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party. Donate today and help us turn this critical 2026 battleground blue!

Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $89,300 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper

Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $143,200 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff

Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $419,800 raised, $500,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our new campaign to expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas, and catch interviews with 5 intrepid state party chairs leading us into battle this year.

Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties.

Advocate For The Hopium Agenda/Pass Resolutions Of Condemnation In Your Community/Sign Up For No Kings on March 28th

There are a few more ways to go to work in the coming days - call your leaders and advocate for elements of our working, ever evolving Hopium Agenda; bring resolutions that condemn our Mad King and lets facts be spoken to a candid world to your state or local government; sign up for a No Kings event and watch my new interview with Indivisible’s Ezra Levin, a driving force behind No Kings.

Here’s our working Hopium Post-Iran Disaster Agenda:

• Work To End This New Gulf War, And Trump’s Global Imperial Ambitions

• Make Clear We Support Ukraine and Europe, Not Russia

• Roll Back The New, Illegal Tariffs

• Rescind The Trump Tax Cuts, Claw Back The Extra ICE Funding

• Make The US A Clean Energy Superpower, Fight For True Energy Independence, And Lower Energy Prices For The American People

• Keep Fighting To Rein In ICE, End Mass Deportation

This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home, rescind the tariffs, and on blocking the “SAVE Act.”

Keep working hard all. We have a country to save and an election to win, together! - Simon