The Boom Times Are Over’: Fox Host Charles Payne Sounds Alarm on ‘Shocking’ Collapse of Americans’ Spending

Fox host Charles Payne told Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo that “the boom times are over” after a weak jobs report and new consumer spending data.

The stock market tanked after Trump’s tariffs took effect this week, leading to some whiplash-inducing shifts and setting the table for Friday’s jobs report — the first full month of employment data of Trump’s second term.

With all eyes on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday morning, the jobs report came out with a weaker-than-expected 151,000 jobs added and unemployment ticking up slightly to 4.1 percent.

But on Friday morning’s edition of Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Payne was more concerned about the way Americans are spending:

MARIA BARTIROMO: I don’t mind the tariffs. Because I think there’s no other catalyst that’s going to get these companies to fire up manufacturing plants in America.

CHARLES PAYNE: Yeah. And by the.

MARIA BARTIROMO: Why would they do it, it’s so much cheaper in Mexico. Why would they say, okay, I’m going to build it in America. It’s more expensive, but I’m going to do it. And that’s what Trump is doing.

CHARLES PAYNE: Yeah.

MARIA BARTIROMO: Go ahead Charles.

CHARLES PAYNE: And by the way historically I mean tariffs have been associated with some of the biggest boom times we’ve ever had, including the Roaring 20s and the the the fourth party system that was ignited by McKinley.

But I want to pick up what Julia was talking about. Even though those are low paying jobs, the restaurant jobs and the leisure and hospitality jobs had sort of been a proxy for for people having disposable money.

A couple of days ago, Bank of America came out with their credit card data, and it was scary! I mean, a shocking decline in restaurants, airlines, lodging.

Just look at the most recent poll on people who say they’re going to go traveling in the next few months, and it’s plunged..

I think the boom times are over. All the free money has been spent. And yet–.

And this is why I have a problem, Steve, with the Federal Reserve and interest rates, because they’re if they’re if they look at aggregate data, it looks great. And so the– but the problem is 10% are doing 50% of the buying. And everyone else is struggling because of higher rates. It’s a no win situation.