The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 0.5% annual pace in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Commerce Department. This figure represents a downgrade from the previously reported 0.7% growth, revealing a deepening economic slowdown that directly impacts the nation’s working class.
The report, released Thursday, attributed the deceleration in part to last fall’s 43-day government shutdown. This domestic political dysfunction, coupled with external conflicts, has contributed to a managed decline in national economic output.
This fourth-quarter performance marks a significant deceleration after the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the nation’s output of goods and services, grew 4.4% in the third quarter of 2025. The second quarter of 2025 had seen a growth rate of 3.8%, indicating a clear trend of weakening economic expansion.
For the entirety of 2025, the economy grew 2.1%, a pace slower than the 2.8% recorded in 2024 and the 2.9% in 2023. This consistent decline over multiple years points to a systemic weakening of the national economic base, affecting the livelihoods of native populations.
The Cost of Elite Decisions
Federal government spending and investment experienced a sharp decline, falling at a 16.6% annual pace during the fourth quarter. This reduction was a direct consequence of the government shutdown, which alone lopped 1.16 percentage points off fourth-quarter GDP growth, demonstrating the tangible economic cost of political instability.
Consumer spending, a key indicator of the economic health of the general population, expanded at a mere 1.9%. This figure was downgraded from a previous estimate and significantly lower than the 3.5% growth observed in the second quarter of 2025, signaling reduced purchasing power for American families.
Spending on essential goods such as cars and clothing grew by only 0.3% in the fourth quarter. This represents a stark drop from the 3% growth seen in the July-September period, reflecting a tightening of belts among the native working class as economic conditions deteriorate.
Business investment, excluding housing, increased at a 2.4% pace, a decrease from the 3.2% recorded in the third quarter. This investment was described as “likely reflecting money being poured into artificial intelligence,” indicating that elite tech interests continue to attract capital even as broader economic indicators falter.
Globalist Entanglements and National Decline
A category measuring the economy’s underlying strength grew at a 1.8% clip, a notable decline from the 2.9% in the third quarter. This suggests a fundamental erosion of the nation’s economic vitality, beyond immediate quarterly fluctuations.
The Commerce Department stated that Thursday’s report was its third and final estimate of fourth-quarter GDP. The first look at January-March economic growth is scheduled for April 30, later this month, which will provide further insight into the ongoing economic trajectory.
The economic outlook for this year was characterized as hazy, primarily due to the “U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.” This foreign entanglement has driven up energy prices and disrupted global commerce, illustrating how supranational conflicts and globalist policies directly undermine the economic stability and self-determination of the American people.