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Category: Economics/Business

ICE raids derail Los Angeles economy as workers go into hiding

ICE raids derail Los Angeles economy as workers go into hiding

Bloomberg reports: Los Angeles was already struggling to revive its fragile economy after the most destructive wildfires in its history erupted six months ago. Now, immigration raids are driving workers crucial to the rebuilding into the shadows. Framers and landscapers are abandoning job sites. Renovations of retail shops have stopped midway. Real estate developers say they are struggling to find crews to keep projects on track in a sector that relies heavily on immigrant labour. “We don’t have enough people…

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Immigration raids leave crops unharvested, California farms at risk — ‘70% of the workers are gone’

Immigration raids leave crops unharvested, California farms at risk — ‘70% of the workers are gone’

Reuters reports: Lisa Tate is a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura County, California, an area that produces billions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables each year, much of it hand-picked by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Tate knows the farms around her well. And she says she can see with her own eyes how raids carried out by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the area’s fields earlier this month, part of President Donald Trump’s migration crackdown, have…

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Wall Street panics over the prospect of a socialist becoming the mayor of New York City

Wall Street panics over the prospect of a socialist becoming the mayor of New York City

The Wall Street Journal reports: On Wednesday morning, the world’s epicenter of capitalism woke up to find it might soon have a socialist mayor. Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic primary for mayor shocked Wall Street. Some of the world’s most influential and powerful financiers were left grasping to understand what Mamdani’s victory would mean for their industry—and whether they would leave the city. “It’s officially hot commie summer,”…

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Roman gravestones hint that ancient economies still shape the present

Roman gravestones hint that ancient economies still shape the present

Science reports: There’s a lot more than just raw materials within the medicines in your bathroom cabinet or the watch on your wrist. These objects are also packed with knowledge, which is why they can only be produced by complex economies with the right mix of know-how, infrastructure, and technology. A new analysis of Roman gravestones, presented at the NetSci conference in Maastricht, Netherlands, on 4 June, suggests this kind of knowledge tends to stick in place—even over thousands of…

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Companies warn SEC that mass deportations pose major economic risk

Companies warn SEC that mass deportations pose major economic risk

Wired reports: As the Trump administration executes an aggressive deportation campaign across the United States, a growing number of US companies warn that the crackdown could threaten their operations. Since January, more than 40 companies have mentioned the impact of deportations in filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, with many saying it could hurt the labor force, increase the risk of a recession, or create more economic uncertainty, according to 74 filings reviewed by WIRED. The impacted industries…

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X drums up ad business with threats and intimidation

X drums up ad business with threats and intimidation

The Wall Street Journal reports: Late last year, Verizon Communications got an unusual message from a media company that wanted its business: Spend your ad dollars with us or we’ll see you in court. The threat came from X, the social-media platform that has been struggling to resuscitate its ad business after many corporate advertisers fled over concerns about loosened content-moderation standards following Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase in late 2022. It worked. Verizon, which hadn’t advertised on X since…

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America’s reputation is plummeting as China’s rises

America’s reputation is plummeting as China’s rises

Axios reports: U.S. trade policy is making China great again — at the United States’ expense, per an analysis from Morning Consult that looks at global favorability ratings, and finds China’s rising while America’s falls. Why it matters: The drop in America’s reputation is already costing the country economically — through a fall in foreign visitors turned off by White House policies, and even the decline of the dollar. The big picture: There’s potential for more damage: “As views of the United States worsen, trade and investment opportunities for American…

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Economic fears mount as Trump tariffs get snarled in court

Economic fears mount as Trump tariffs get snarled in court

Politico reports: With President Donald Trump’s tariffs entangled in the courts, industry leaders are warning that continued confusion over his trade agenda could drag down an economy that was already in danger of slumping. They are urging Trump to abandon an aggressive policy that has been marked by chaos and reversals, and instead focus on delivering tangible, lasting deals that will allow businesses to plan ahead. A federal court on Wednesday froze the tariffs, but an appeals court on Thursday…

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The president isn’t a king. He doesn’t have the power to impose tariffs whenever he feels like it

The president isn’t a king. He doesn’t have the power to impose tariffs whenever he feels like it

Ilya Somin writes: Wednesday’s unanimous ruling against President Donald Trump’s expansive “Liberation Day” tariffs by the United States Court of International Trade wasn’t merely a victory for the businesses and consumers opposed to the policy. The decision was much more than that: a victory for the constitutional system of separation of powers—and, even more broadly, for the rule of law in America. The decision came in a case filed by the Liberty Justice Center and me on behalf of five…

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Trump has no plan for who will grow food: ‘There is just flat out nobody to work’

Trump has no plan for who will grow food: ‘There is just flat out nobody to work’

The Guardian reports: Last spring, Carmelo Mendez was pruning peach trees in Colorado on a temporary visa, missing his children and wife back home, but excited about how his $17.70 hourly wage would improve their lives. This spring, he’s back in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala frantically searching Facebook for a job on one of the thousands of farms across the US that primarily employ guest workers like him. Mendez is one of the more than 300,000 foreign agricultural workers…

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Trump doesn’t like this taco

Trump doesn’t like this taco

Politico reports: Wall Street has a new shorthand about President Donald Trump — and he’s not happy about it. Traders have reportedly come up with the acronym TACO, which stands for “Trump always chickens out,” to take advantage of the trade environment created by the president’s habit of threatening to impose tariffs on countries, and then backing off at the last moment. He bristled when asked about it Wednesday in an Oval Office press conference. “Don’t ever say what you…

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As Trump’s tariffs incentivize fraud, trade crime is soaring, U.S. firms say

As Trump’s tariffs incentivize fraud, trade crime is soaring, U.S. firms say

The New York Times reports: As President Trump’s tariffs have ratcheted up in recent months, so have the mysterious solicitations some U.S. companies have received, offering them ways to avoid the taxes. Shipping companies, many of them based in China, have reached out to U.S. firms that import apparel, auto parts and jewelry, offering solutions that they say can make the tariffs go away. “We can avoid high duties from China, which we have already done many in the past,”…

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Hurdles being imposed on international students by the Trump regime pose a threat to U.S. economy

Hurdles being imposed on international students by the Trump regime pose a threat to U.S. economy

Politico reports: The Trump administration is weighing requiring all foreign students applying to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting — a significant expansion of previous such efforts, according to a cable obtained by POLITICO. In preparation for such required vetting, the administration is ordering U.S. embassies and consular sections to pause scheduling new interviews for such student visa applicants, according to the cable, dated Tuesday and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. If the administration…

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Any trade deal with U.S. must be based on ‘respect not threats’, says EU commissioner

Any trade deal with U.S. must be based on ‘respect not threats’, says EU commissioner

The Guardian reports: The European Union’s trade chief has struck a defiant tone after Donald Trump threatened to place a 50% tariff on all goods from the bloc, saying any potential trade deal between Brussels and Washington must be based on “respect not threats”. The US president made his announcement after voicing frustration with the pace of progress on a trade agreement with the EU. The new rates would come into effect from 1 June. The EU trade commissioner, Maroš…

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Trump calls for 50% tariff on EU, says he’s ‘not looking for a deal’ with bloc

Trump calls for 50% tariff on EU, says he’s ‘not looking for a deal’ with bloc

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Friday said he is “recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union” after complaining that trade negotiations have stalled. The steep new import duties would start June 1, Trump wrote on Truth Social. The EU “has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote of the 27-nation bloc. “Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Asked later Friday if he was looking to cut a deal with the EU in the next nine…

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Bond market shudders as tax bill deepens deficit worries

Bond market shudders as tax bill deepens deficit worries

The New York Times reports: The market for U.S. government bonds, the bedrock of the global financial system, continued to shudder on Thursday, as President Trump’s bill to extend expensive tax cuts and create new ones without significantly slashing spending passed through the House of Representatives. The bill has unnerved investors, deepening worries that the country’s debt is becoming unmanageable. Yields on U.S. bonds, which underpin consumer and business interest rates around the world, from mortgages to corporate loans, have…

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