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Category: Economics/Business

Small businesses are being crushed by Trump’s tariffs. Economists say it’s a warning for the economy

Small businesses are being crushed by Trump’s tariffs. Economists say it’s a warning for the economy

CNBC reports: Viresh Varma can’t sleep. The CEO of AV Universal Corp., a small footwear company that sells through retailers like Macy’s, Nordstrom and DSW, said he needed to take out a $250,000 loan to pay his tariff bill on a container of shoes he imported from India for the holiday shopping season. Varma didn’t have the cash on hand to pay the duties, which he said used to be around $7,500 for a similar-sized container before President Donald Trump’s…

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Tariffs to cost companies $1.2 trillion this year, mostly hitting consumers, study finds

Tariffs to cost companies $1.2 trillion this year, mostly hitting consumers, study finds

Axios reports: President Trump’s tariffs will cost businesses more than $1.2 trillion this year, with most of that cost being passed on to consumers, according to a new study from S&P Global. Why it matters: It’s the latest sign that Americans will end up bearing the brunt of Trump’s trade war. It also contributes to a picture of a much more difficult economy ahead. Driving the news: In the study published on Thursday, S&P Global found that companies are now expected to pay at least $1.2 trillion…

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Trump causes a $2 trillion loss in U.S. stock market with a single social media post

Trump causes a $2 trillion loss in U.S. stock market with a single social media post

CNBC reports: On Friday morning, the S&P 500 was less than a couple of points from another all-time high. Then, after a single social media post from President Donald Trump, $2 trillion in market value was wiped out. The unraveling shows the sway the president’s one-man trade policy still has over the fate of the global economy. Trump at 10:57 a.m. ET wrote on his Truth Social platform that China was “becoming very hostile” with the rest of the world,…

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Labor Department says Trump’s immigration raids are causing a food crisis

Labor Department says Trump’s immigration raids are causing a food crisis

David Dayen writes: The Department of Labor’s new rule cutting farmworker wages bluntly states that souped-up immigration enforcement has devastated the agricultural workforce and created a significant “risk of supply shock-induced food shortages,” according to a document filed in the Federal Register last week. The document also indicates that American workers are simply not interested in and do not have the skills to perform agricultural jobs, at odds with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s claim that the farm workforce will soon…

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Threat to global markets: Risks posed by AI bubble and Federal Reserve losing credibility

Threat to global markets: Risks posed by AI bubble and Federal Reserve losing credibility

The Guardian reports: The Bank of England has warned there is a growing risk of a “sudden correction” in global markets as it raised concerns about soaring valuations of leading AI tech companies. Policymakers said there were also threats of a “sharp repricing of US dollar assets” if the Federal Reserve lost credibility in the eyes of global investors. It comes as Donald Trump’s continues to attack the US central bank and threaten its independence. Continued hype and optimism about…

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Marc Rowan: The billionaire behind Trump’s extortion plan targeting universities

Marc Rowan: The billionaire behind Trump’s extortion plan targeting universities

“Traditionally, we are taught to judge the success of a society by how it deals with the least able, most vulnerable members of that society. [But] shouldn’t we judge a society by how they treat the most successful?” Marc Rowan, 2012 The New York Times reports: The Trump administration shook higher education this week when it promised benefits to universities that signed a “compact” closely aligned with conservative priorities. But much of the compact’s construction happened outside of the West…

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Trump’s restrictions on H-1B visas may results in jobs being moved out of the U.S.

Trump’s restrictions on H-1B visas may results in jobs being moved out of the U.S.

Reuters reports: The Trump administration’s hefty new visa fees for H-1B workers have prompted high-level talks inside companies in Silicon Valley and beyond on the possibility of moving more jobs overseas – precisely the outcome the policy was meant to stop. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday announced the change to the visa program that has long been a recruitment pathway for tech firms and encouraged international students to pursue postgraduate courses in the U.S. While the $100,000 levy applies…

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Manufacturing mediocrity: AI-generated ‘workslop’ is destroying productivity

Manufacturing mediocrity: AI-generated ‘workslop’ is destroying productivity

Harvard Business Review reports: A confusing contradiction is unfolding in companies embracing generative AI tools: while workers are largely following mandates to embrace the technology, few are seeing it create real value. Consider, for instance, that the number of companies with fully AI-led processes nearly doubled last year, while AI use has likewise doubled at work since 2023. Yet a recent report from the MIT Media Lab found that 95% of organizations see no measurable return on their investment in…

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Are America’s business leaders ready to stand up to Trump?

Are America’s business leaders ready to stand up to Trump?

As ABC and Disney defy the Trump regime by bringing Jimmy Kimmel back, it may finally be dawning on corporate America that deference to Trump is bad for business. John Cassidy writes: Why can’t business leaders band together to resist Trump’s bullying and autocratic tendencies? The profit motive certainly plays a prominent role: from Mussolini’s Italy and Nazi Germany to Vladimir Putin’s Russia and modern China, there is a long history of major corporations conceding to authoritarian governments for commercial…

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America’s top business leaders agree: Trump’s policies aren’t working; MAGA is like Maoism

America’s top business leaders agree: Trump’s policies aren’t working; MAGA is like Maoism

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, and Stephen Henriques write: The Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute’s CEO forum gathers top political leaders with Fortune 500 CEOs for a Chatham House rules discussion where direct quotes are off the record. In Washington DC this week at the 155th gathering, as clouds swirled around the Capitol building just steps away, senators from both parties and some top Trump administration officials joined us. They had to face down the near…

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Israel has transformed military service from a civic obligation into economic opportunity

Israel has transformed military service from a civic obligation into economic opportunity

Assaf Bondy and Adam Raz write: When Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel went to war, economists worldwide braced for a familiar pattern. History teaches us that wars devastate economies in predictable ways: people stop buying cars and furniture, businesses shut down, unemployment soars, and governments take over the economy by spending massively on weapons and military equipment. Israel seemed destined for this classic wartime economic transformation. Defense spending has shot up by more…

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Meet New York’s young business professionals who are voting for Mamdani

Meet New York’s young business professionals who are voting for Mamdani

The New York Times reports: Zohran Mamdani’s continued strength in New York City’s race for mayor has bewildered many business leaders who have tried to paint the democratic socialist as too extreme for the city. But the success of Mr. Mamdani’s campaign has not surprised many young professionals at tech start-ups, law firms and investment companies, who, despite earning well above the New York’s median household income of about $81,000, feel that living in the city is harder than it…

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Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers as migrant labor is increasingly hard to find

Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers as migrant labor is increasingly hard to find

Politico reports: As House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson prepares to introduce legislation aimed at easing the farm labor crisis, farmers in the Pennsylvania Republican’s district are hoping he’s heard their cries that they need more help right now. In Tioga County, where President Donald Trump won 75 percent of the vote in 2024, farmers are losing patience with the White House’s promise of a quick solution for farm workers. Their urgent need is highlighted by stories like those of a…

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China’s choice to stop buying U.S. soybeans creates a crisis for American farmers

China’s choice to stop buying U.S. soybeans creates a crisis for American farmers

The New York Times reports: On a windy September morning, Josh and Jordan Gackle huddled to discuss the looming crisis facing their North Dakota soybean farm. For the first time in the history of their 76-year-old operation, their biggest customer — China — had stopped buying soybeans. Their 2,300-acre soybean farm is projected to lose $400,000 in 2025. Soybeans that would normally be harvested and exported to Asia are now set to pile up in large steel bins. Since President…

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Detained Korean workers report ‘human rights violations’ by ICE after being treated like dogs

Detained Korean workers report ‘human rights violations’ by ICE after being treated like dogs

Hankyoreh reports (translated from Korean to English by Google): Their waists and hands were tied together, forcing them to bend down and lick water to drink. The unscreened bathrooms contained only a single sheet to cover their lower bodies. Sunlight barely penetrated through a fist-sized hole, and they were only allowed access to the small yard for two hours. Detained by US immigration authorities for eight days, the workers and their families expressed shock, describing human rights violations and absurdities…

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The real reason Trump poses a threat to the economy

The real reason Trump poses a threat to the economy

Jonathan Cohn writes: With his broad shoulders, thick arms, and even thicker New England accent, ironworker David Langlais is exactly the sort of American who is supposed to love Donald Trump’s policies. But Langlais says he is dumbfounded by some of the president’s recent decisions, especially the one that halted work on an energy project off the coast of Rhode Island. The project is called Revolution Wind. When it is completed—or, more accurately, if it is completed—it will consist of…

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