The country continues on its path toward economic peril.
The February jobs report was an unexpected disaster. After the 130,000 count in January, the median prediction from the Dow Jones survey of economists was 50,000 new jobs in February. Instead, the official number was -92,000. Additionally, the 65,000 from December was revised down to -17,000, and January’s 130,000 was cut back to 126,000. Jobs in those two months were 69,000 lower than previously reported.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2026/03/07/februarys-92k-job-loss-may-be-a-sign-of-a-weakening-economy/
The health care sector, which has long been the fastest and steadiest growing industry for employment, lost workers in February, largely due to strikes in California and Hawaii.
Job losses were widespread throughout the economy, however.
The information sector lost 11,000 jobs in February as the rise of AI and a reversal of the post-COVID tech hiring frenzy continued to sap employment in the industry. Federal government employment fell by 10,000, and is down 330,000 since October 2024.
Employment barely changed in the mining, construction, manufacturing, financial and retail sectors, and the social assistance sector gained 9,000 jobs.
Fugazi
March 12, 2026, 4:57pm
522
Have you noticed that they’re not pointing at the DOW breaking 50K to brag about how great the economy is doing? Wonder why that is?
They are saving their excitement for the announcement when it breaks 45K!
They think 1984 is an instruction manual:
It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. […] The eyeless crature at the other table swallowed it fanatically. passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grams. Syme, too-in some more double complex way, involving doublethink-Syme, swallow it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?”
We’ve discussed it elsewhere, but Trump’s war is wreaking havoc with the cost of living. Gas prices are obviously going up, but the cost increases in transportation has ripple effects on all other sectors of the economy.
When the Trump administration’s reckless war on Iran began, all shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was effectively halted , removing roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply from the market. Fuel prices throughout the world spiked and will likely remain elevated as long as conflict persists. In the United States, despite record levels of domestic fuel production , prices are more exposed than ever to global fuel interruptions after a decade of building infrastructure meant to link domestic supply to overseas markets.
Many parts of the U.S. economy are still dependent on fossil fuels, and higher prices for oil and gas increase the prices for gasoline, electricity, fertilizer, food, and more. As long as this war continues—and perhaps for some time thereafter—American households will pay higher prices at the pump, on their utility bills, and on their grocery bills.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-war-in-iran-will-raise-fuel-prices-and-costs-throughout-the-economy/
The cost of fertilizer will directly impact farmers, which leads directly to higher food prices.