The job market, inflation and tariffs

Oh so that's how these "influencers" do it.

Was at the beach in Long Beanch in September when it was still warm. I see a college-age looking young lady standing ankle deep in the water taking selfie after selfie from all angles. This went on for a few minutes. What looked to be her younger sister maybe 9-10 was rolling around in the surf having a good time. Selfie sis was completely ignoring her. And I'm thinking "if the girl gets pulled out do I have to get offa my chair for a rescue?"

 

No. Also it can't be told from what you wrote, but some U11s are better in the water than some U-grads.

 

Since they say "eventual division" I guess that implies that inflation won't be a one-time hit, as many Trumpers have been saying (especially that insufferable guy on CNBC's morning Squawk Box show). More like a gradual process, with businesses absorbing a greater share initially (?)

 

You're doin' a heckuvajob, Orangie

 

Q2 or Q3? The chart says Q3, and its title Q2. But this might explain some of the dip in the S&P if these withdraws occurred in Q2.

 

More TACOs!!

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/whi...american-trade-deals-lower/story?id=127507073

 

Who could have known that putting arbitrary tariffs on items the US does not produce would raise their prices?

 

People were supposed to grow coffee in greenhouses. You say it takes 3 to 4 years for the plants to mature?

 

Come on. Not everyone was an Econ major. Some of us were clueless reality TV stars with no ability to connect with actual reality.

 

C'mon, companies say you have to embrace AI! It'll make your job easier & stuff.

 

I am employed again but I apologize to contributing to the nonexistent jobs report.

 

AI bubble about to pop?

Nvidia Stock Fell After Peter Thiel Dumped His Stake. Why ‘Everyone’ Is Selling.

 

The title of the article has little to do with what was in the article.

 

Yeah, Tariffs are not helping manufacturing.

The US is losing blue-collar jobs for the first time since the pandemic—year-on-year job losses have hit 59k as manufacturing industries lose jobs at a rapid pace while growth in construction & transportation has nearly zeroed out pic.twitter.com/fCOhbA7hqk

— Joey Politano 🏳️‍🌈 (@JosephPolitano) November 20, 2025

 

I want to talk a bit about manufacturing. Back when Trump first instituted his tariffs, I was very glib in my posts here thinking it was just about bringing piecework to the US. But the honest thing is that it is much more than that, and it is important to have in the US. First, having someone else manufacture everything makes us dependent and erodes our skills to nothing, and as this was a topic of 90's sci-fi and as a person who thinks 90's sci-fi taught him everything important in life I am ashamed to have ignored that. There's any number of things that could break our channel to China, and if that would happen we would be sunk. But there's also other reasons it would be a benefit, such as having closer, more responsive agents to bring new ideas to market.

I think some of you have seen this video last summer. In it Destin from the popular SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel tries to built a simple mainstream product using only American construction if possible, and not Chinese construction is necessary. He finds it a very difficult task.



There is another way that building this kind of thing in America is difficult that isn't mentioned, but is obvious once told. Justin has to find each and every manufacturer and assembler, including things like labels for the handle and someone to stick the labels on. Even when you have nine parts it's a lot of work. In the US there are people that do this for a living, but there are few and they only work on big projects - it would be impossible to find someone to manage constructing a barbecue scrubber. When you ask a manufacturer in China to build a part, they are proactive in helping you find these related designers, manufacturers, and assemblers. Everything from circuit board designers down to final boxing are all situated close-by and integrated. So it's more than just America not being able to manufacture - it's the whole ecosystem we lack while China is very good at it. This video goes into more detail about that:



This kind of skill saps more than our low level manufacturing ability. China is moving up the food chain. Originally they made things to our designs and toolings, and then they made designs to our concepts, and now they are making whole products that we select on Alibaba and merely stick our brand on.

It's become clear that Trump doesn't actually care about manufacturing. He cares about making deals. The thing is, bringing manufacturing back is really, really difficult. Why would someone do years of study to go into the field of, say, manufacturing molds for injection molding when the average person in that field makes less than I do as a store clerk? A while back the nationalist leader of India similarly said he wanted India to manufacture more. After years of policies, India ended up manufacturing even less. There is a joke that goes " 'Made in India' means 'Made in China' " and if you watched that SmarterEveryDay you'd know that it's funny because it's true. Tariffs alone are not going to do it unless you make tariffs like 1000% and you absolutely guarantee that they are staying for a decade. And you can imagine the damage that would do to the economy. There should be a grand policy to do this, but it has to be far reaching and well thought out. I don't know if any leaders in the US has that level of long term thinking.

 

Went to a standup show the other night and one of the comics pointed out that China has a 50 year plan, whereas the US has more of a 5 Hour Energy vibe.

 

Trump's understanding of what it means to be a first-world country is lacking. He would have been disdainful of Athens BITD (and too stupid to get right what was positive about Sparta). He idolizes places where he thinks the leaders meet in rooms with a large table map and play with toy tanks and miniature flags, and/or places where the leaders were a military uniform instead of a suit. Returning mfg to a first world country is a step backward.

Also quoted you because I saw the work of a guy called ANK Creative a couple of weeks ago. Dude builds small (like Matchbox/HO) scale models made entirely from sheet PVC or PVC pipe, cigarette lighters, paint, and super glue. The tools he uses are an X-acto, a Dremel, some sandpaper, and a glue syringe. Surgeon skills.