• "We spent 40 years developing this trade relationship with China and in one fell swoop, it was all taken away," fourth-generation soybean farmer Bret Davis told Axios' Courtenay Brown in May.
• 2018's U.S. soybean sales to China were at a 16-year low.

By the numbers: Just 77% of potential soybean acres have been planted in the 18 highest producing states vs. an average 93% over the past 5 years.

• For corn, it's 92%, compared to an average of 100%. This is the worst number in 40 years, the WashPost reports.
• Even cotton is at 89% vs. the 5-year average of 94%.
• Michigan, South Dakota, Missouri and Ohio are feeling the pain worse than others.

The big picture: Farmers are generally insured against crop loss — and many are insured against being unable to plant.

• But "the suppliers who sell seed and herbicides to farmers don’t have insurance," South Dakota State's Jonathan Kleinja told the Post.
• Another whammy: Beleaguered industries like dairy are facing already-bad profit margins and are reliant on corn to feed their cows.

The bottom line: More farm aid is almost certainly on the way. The Trump administration — which is responsible for farmer trade war pains — keeps upping its offers to help, including for farmers who weren't able to plant.

Flashbacks:

• 2007: Rudy Giuliani was asked the price of milk and bread. (His answers were not particularly close.) In 1992
• 1992: George H.W. Bush was asked the price of bread. "I'd say ... it would cost you about a buck a loaf." (He was right.)

The big picture: Billionaires may be unlikely to know what a grocery item costs, and their actions as president would have limited effects on prices.

But they should know the broader trends in the costs that most Americans face.

1. Health care: How much has the average health insurance deductible for a family of four changed over the past 5 years? How about copays?
2. Education: What's the average price of tuition at a public 4-year university? How much has this outpaced inflation over the past few decades?
3. Kids: What's the average cost of child care in your home state? Is this a greater share of take-home income than it was 10 years ago? 20?
4. The youths: What percentage of 25-year-olds have more than $50,000 in student debt? What percentage of 25-year-olds have purchased a home? How do these compare to 10 years ago?
5. Housing: How much of the average American's monthly paycheck goes to rent or a mortgage?
6. Rainy day funds: How many months of living expenses does the average American have in liquid savings?

Why it matters: “[T]he next president will have to demonstrate not only that he or she understands the day-to-day struggles that people are facing, but they also have to lay out a clear plan to address those problems," Center for American Progress SVP Daniella Gibbs Léger told Axios.

Go deeper: Livid liberals try to bully Schultz out of 2020

Flashback: 82 days ago, the Dow closed at a record high — 26,828 — on a day where this newsletter focused on the Khashoggi coverup and the power shift driven by #MeToo.

Driving the news: "Mnuchin convened a call [today] with top regulatory officials ... to discuss coordination efforts to assure normal market operations. Regulators on the call said that markets were functioning normally..." [WSJ]

• Prudential Financial strategist Quincy Krosby: “We’ve gone through situations before where it’s absolutely normal for the secretary of Treasury to reach out to the private sector... But what’s bad is this made the papers, and says the government is very worried." [WSJ]

What they're saying:

• Trump: "The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch - he can’t putt!"
• Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi: '"It's Christmas Eve and President Trump is plunging the country into chaos. The stock market is tanking and the president is waging a personal war on the Federal Reserve..."

Be smart: We’ve transitioned from a glass half-full bull market to a glass half-empty environment. This is much different than earlier this year when no amount of bad news could shake the market. Now it’s the opposite: good news isn’t as powerful as it used to be.

The bottom line: “The markets going down will eventually create an economic problem... People who spend money as consumers, if they have stock exposure, they’re reconsidering if they’re going to buy a $1,000 present — they’ll buy a $200 one.” [Bloomberg]