Trump is making Americans richer every day, and he’s not even president yet: ALEX BRUMMER

Trump’s second coming horrifies many liberals on the east and west coasts of the United States.

However, when older Americans examine their retirement investment portfolio, and Generation Z and millennials review the profits made by participating in Robin Hood

platforms, they cannot help but have mixed feelings.

Donald Trump’s alliance with fellow traveling conservative Elon Musk, embrace of deregulation, and electing laissez faire and anti-regulation hedge fund managers to key economic jobs are making ordinary Americans richer.

The possibility that his tariff agenda will eventually be adopted could impoverish American citizens and the country.

Trade wars will raise the cost of living (barriers are a tax on imported goods) and fragment an already distorted global trading system.

Time magazine has named the president-elect “Person of the Year” for his “once-in-a-generation political realignment.” Time could have added an economic and financial realignment to the appointment.

Options such as Scott Bessent, the macroeconomic hedge fund guru, nominated to head the US Treasury, and Andrew Ferguson, to head the antitrust Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where he has disagreed on actions against the big companies. technological, delighted Silicon Valley.

British investors have also had something to celebrate. UK fund managers’ preference for Wall Street rather than the Square Mile is hugely disappointing for FTSE 350 investors, but has done wonders for those following the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

It’s no coincidence that in the hours after Ferguson’s election, the tech-dominated Nasdaq soared to a record 20,000 points on Wednesday.

There was a sigh of relief from Alphabet, parent of Google, Microsoft and Apple: all have been under intense scrutiny by outgoing FTC chief Lina Khan.

Although Trump is no fan of Big Tech, except for Musk, there is a belief that the upcoming antitrust court case against Google, which calls for the possible divestment of its Chrome search engine, will fail.

It’s no surprise that Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, are among the biggest winners.

Trump’s choice of Musk as an “efficiency advisor” is paying big dividends.

Forbes magazine, in its latest billionaires list, records that the value of Musk’s companies soared 71 percent in 2024, to $440 billion (£345 billion), making it considerably richer than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The value of pioneering electric vehicle maker Tesla stumbled in early 2024. But last night the shares were trading at $419, not far from their all-time high of £434. As for its innovative SpaceX rocket and satellite, it is now worth a staggering £280 billion.

The £200m Musk spent to help Trump win the election is proving that the cash is surprisingly well spent.

The $64 billion question is whether the Trump-Musk rally has run its course.

So far, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell has not yet decided to emulate his predecessor, Alan Greenspan.

At the height of the dot-com bubble in 1996, Greenspan expressed concern about “irrational exuberance.” It took another four years for that bubble to burst.

But there should be concern that persistent inflation, Trump’s tariffs and America’s public debt overhang will take their toll.

Earlier this week, the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, warned that the growing amount of global government borrowing risks destabilizing the financial system. Maybe soon it will be time to fasten your seat belts.