Day: February 3, 2025
What the Oligarchs Want: Destruction
“Theirs is a logic of destruction. It is very hard to create a large, legitimate, functioning government. The oligarchs have no plan to govern. They will take what they can, and disable the rest. The destruction is the point. They don’t want to control the existing order. They want disorder in which their relative power will grow.”
— Timothy Snyder
Threat’s as Good as a Tariff
Trump’s “Art of the Deal” is negotiations’ dregs:
You strong-arm the mark until he gives up and begs.
It’s not good for inflation,
Economic growth or the nation.
Hey, wasn’t he going to bring down the price of eggs?
285 of 313 U.S. Air Traffic Control Facilities Are Understaffed
90%
“More than 90 percent of the country’s 313 air traffic control facilities operate below the Federal Aviation Administration’s recommended staffing levels, according to an analysis of staffing data from the union representing controllers obtained by The New York Times. As of earlier this month, 285 facilities — which include traffic control towers and other locations — were below staffing thresholds set by the F.A.A. and the union. At 73 of those facilities, staffing is so low that at least a quarter of the work force is missing.”
Trump’s Tariffs to Tack $3k on to Price of New Cars
$3,000
Bloomberg: The duties would immediately hit almost one-quarter of the 16 million vehicles that are sold in the US each year, as well as the parts and components that go into them — an import market that totaled $225 billion in 2024, according to research from consultant AlixPartners. Tariffs will add $60 billion in costs to the industry, the research shows, much of which is likely to be passed on to consumers.
Trumponomics Watch: Trump’s Tariffs Are Terrible
“Stock futures fell and oil prices rose Sunday after the U.S. imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from major trading partners, jolting Wall Street’s outlook for the American economy,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Futures linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the declines, falling by more than 2%, while the S&P 500 slipped by 1.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid by about 1.1%, or around 500 points.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 421 points, or 1%, to 44,123 in early morning trading. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 1.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index tumbled 1.8%.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that imposes 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, while adding an additional 10% levy on goods from China. Hours later, Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs of its own, while Mexico said it was also planning to issue tariffs on the U.S. as well, adding to the potential fallout from a trade war with two of the U.S.’ closest trading partners.
Mr. Trump’s announcement prompted some economists to project that the stiff new tariffs could dampen U.S. economic growth and cause an increase in job losses.
“This development came sooner than we anticipated in our baseline forecast and will lead us to downgrade our 2025 global forecast,” Oxford Economics wrote in a Feb. 3 research note. “The latest set of tariffs will lead to weaker GDP growth, higher unemployment, higher interest rates, and higher inflation this year in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. than in our January baseline forecast.”
