Daily Digest: Trumpistan still struggling

Straight off my bingo card, here's the latest in South Dakota politics!

Creighton University's Ernie Goss has been warning that the Trump Organization is bad for American agriculture and follows the economies of several breadbasket states including South Dakota's—one of the slowest growing in the US.

April's employment index slipped in Trumpland, supply managers expect input prices to spike by more than five percent in the next six months and South Dakota’s manufacturing sector lost 400 jobs in the last year, losing nearly one percent of its manufacturing base. 50.0 is growth neutral.

Goss notes the survey's trade indicators are still negative. The new export orders index rose to a weak 49.9 from 48.9 in March. Goss attributes recent retaliation from higher U.S. tariffs and trade restrictions as the culprit. "That's still an issue with President Trump and his volatile policies on tariffs," he said. "I consider this volatility to be a self-inflicted wound. The president doesn't see it that way, but most economists see it that way. Trade and imports, not good." He adds supply managers indicate the Iran war is having an impact on manufacturing. "One in three of the supply managers indicated the Iran war was causing supply chain disruptions," said Goss, "stockouts, stock reallocations--this is, your company can only buy this amount of inputs. We're seeing that--that's certainly an issue. We saw supply chain disruptions as a measure that rose significantly for the month, with significantly higher prices on inputs." [source]