Silicon Valley Godzilla vs. Wall Street Mothra
The Trump economy has created a lot of losers among workers and consumers, yes, but also among businesses. Retailers are dealing with high tariffs. Auto and energy manufacturers have lost tax credits. Construction, agriculture, and other industries with significant immigrant workforces are having trouble retaining employees. Even health care, thought to be totally recession-proof, is showing cracks with the looming slashing of government funding and UnitedHealth’s troubles. A combination of sluggish hiring and higher inflation could tip the country into recession and have a spiraling effect.
But there are two winning sectors in the Trump economy: Big Tech and big banks. Due to positive trends and extremely favorable government treatment, banking and tech companies are absolutely soaring. And because they are among the biggest economic entities in the world and dominate the major stock indexes, the fact that more than half of the S&P 500 have reported declining earnings, as the Financial Times has reported, fades into the background.
Yet in an interesting twist, Wall Street and Silicon Valley are turning on each other, in an increasing number of high-profile regulatory fights. The future of the U.S. economy can be glimpsed in this battle between sectors that are not content to stay in their lanes and are taking their opportunity to essentially control the country.
