Meanwhile, back in the states…
The blue collar billionaire seems to be more billionaire than blue collar in this second term:
The causes of this blue-collar downturn are multifaceted—manufacturing remains in structural decline amidst the slowdown in demand for durable goods and consumer electronics. The early-COVID homebuilding boom has ended as builders finish work on the large number of projects that began in 2021/2022. Employment in oil & gas extraction continues to drop as crude prices sink to the lowest level since 2021. Transportation and warehousing jobs are declining as the trucking sector struggles.
Yet recent federal policy moves have been counterproductive. Tariffs are hurting blue-collar employment by raising the costs of manufacturing inputs. Immigration raids are disproportionately hurting the construction sector. Cuts to industrial policy subsidies have helped push factory construction down more than 8% over the last year. The administration’s desired “blue-collar boom” is not happening; quite the opposite.
But at least the price of eggs has leveled off. That’s really all that matters.