Plus, Gene Hackman’s everyman legacy. On Today’s Episode: U.S. Economy Shows Signs of Strain From Trump’s Tariffs and Spending Cuts, by Alan RappeportAgriculture Department Looks to Import Eggs as Prices Soar, by Linda QiuThe People Carrying Out Musk’s Plans at DOGE, by The New York TimesChief Justice Allows U.S. to Continue Freeze on Foreign Aid Payments, by Zach Montague, Michael Crowley and Adam LiptakOrgan Transplant System ‘in Chaos’ as Waiting Lists Are Ignored, by Brian M. Rosenthal, Mark Hansen and Jeremy WhiteGene Hackman, Hollywood’s Consummate Everyman, Dies at 95, by Robert BerkvistTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [email protected].
Chapter 1: How is the U.S. economy performing under Trump's policies?
From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Thursday, February 27th. Here's what we're covering. The United States economy is starting to show signs of strain under President Trump's aggressive agenda. It's still the strongest economy in the world, but economists warn that the relative calm that Trump inherited could be in jeopardy.
When he took office last month, there was stable growth and inflation was easing. Three of Trump's big policy moves could shift that. First, there's the widespread funding freezes. They've thrown billions of dollars of projects focused on infrastructure and clean energy into limbo, rattling businesses and states that had already started working on them. And U.S.
Chapter 2: What effect do Trump's tariffs and spending cuts have?
farmers took a hit when the crops they export for foreign aid programs got caught up in the spending pause. On the tariff front, Trump's plans to put hefty surcharges on America's biggest trading partners, China, Canada and Mexico, could cause prices to rise at home and trigger trade wars. Consumers are watching warily.
A recent survey of consumer sentiment showed the largest monthly decline in four years. And the flood of government layoffs is also contributing to the unease. The dismissed federal workers are a small percentage of the overall American workforce. But tens of thousands of people losing their jobs at once could affect what has been a historically strong labor market.
Trump has acknowledged that his policies could bring some initial pain. His plan is that cutting taxes and government spending, as well as other initiatives, will offset that. But even some of his biggest supporters have expressed concern about where the economy is headed.
Last week, Larry Kudlow, a Fox Business host who served in the first Trump administration, said, quote, "...at least for now, the economic signals are flashing slower growth and higher inflation. Not good."
Meanwhile, we have to get the prices down, not the inflation down, the prices of eggs and various other things. Eggs are a disaster.
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Chapter 3: Why are egg prices soaring in the U.S.?
One of the biggest economic issues that Trump ran on, the price of groceries, is still front and center for many Americans, especially egg prices. The bird flu outbreak has pushed those prices to record highs. Trump acknowledged the situation in his first cabinet meeting yesterday and... All right, y'all want to talk eggs?
Yeah. Let's do it.
His new secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rollins, said the U.S. was looking at temporarily importing eggs.
Talking to three or four countries right now about getting between 70 and 100 million eggs into the country in the next month or two, which of course will help with supply and demand.
Turning to imports may only have a limited impact on the market since the U.S. consumes billions of eggs each month. Rollins said the administration will also be funding measures to fight bird flu, including developing vaccines for chickens. also at yesterday's cabinet meeting.
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Chapter 4: What role does Elon Musk play in the federal government?
Is anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we'll throw him out of here.
President Trump dismissed growing criticism of Elon Musk that's been coming from both inside and outside of the federal government.
I have a lot of respect for Elon and that he's doing this. And some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you, for the most part, I think everyone's not only happy, they're thrilled.
As Musk's Department of Government Efficiency continues to fan out across federal agencies, looking for what to cut and who to fire, the Times has been looking at who is on that team. The White House has not disclosed most of the names of the staffers, and Trump issued an executive order that effectively shields the group from open records laws.
Chapter 5: Who are the key figures in Musk's Department of Government Efficiency?
When some of the Doge staffers have gone into federal agencies to grill employees about their work, they've even declined to share their own last names. The Times has now compiled a list of known Doge staffers.
One big theme is how many ties these folks have to his private companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, X, and a bunch of his other enterprises. They have worked at his companies and clearly were recruited through that network.
My colleague Nick Nehamas has been digging into who works at Doge. He says few of the staffers have any government experience.
One of the Doge aides who really exemplifies what's happening is a young man, a software engineer named Luke Ferreter, who dropped out of college, is a prize-winning computer scientist, 23 years old. And we have seen him play a key role across at least half a dozen federal agencies, including shutting down USAID.
Nick says many federal workers have told him they're concerned about the young team's inexperience. They're having to walk Doge staffers through how their agencies work, step by step. And in some cases, staffers have been fired and then quickly unfired when it became clear that their work was more essential than Doge aides realized.
I think what we've learned is that this group is extremely empowered to break things, in their words, inside the federal government and keep moving fast and keep moving forward.
Chief Justice John Roberts has given the Trump administration its first Supreme Court victory in its attempts to slash government spending. Late last night, Roberts said the government does not have to immediately pay more than $1.5 billion for foreign aid work that's already been completed. That includes AIDS relief programs and other life-saving humanitarian efforts.
The government had been facing a midnight deadline set by a lower court to make those payments. But government lawyers asked the Supreme Court for more time, saying the payments posed a logistical issue. Roberts' order is only temporary. The full court is expected to consider the matter soon.
There are more than 100,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States. It's a life or death issue for them. They have faith in the organ transplant system, which was designed to prioritize fairness. And increasingly, it is, in more and more cases, a lie.
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