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US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

bbc.com

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Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#301

Post by garbawarb »

prh8 wrote: post #285
jandrewrogers wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Washington it is much broader than the tech sector. Washington is being buried in indefensibly bad legislation that is extremely hostile to large companies and tech companies of every size for openly ideological reasons. It has rapidly become one of the worst business environments in the country when it used to be one of the best. Many companies have stopped or reduced hiring in Seattle and are moving operations t…

For readers not in Washington, there is currently legislation being worked on that is essentially a millionaire's tax, (simplified as) 10% income tax on income over 1 million dollars, inflation adjusted. There are a few very angry, emotional, and vocal opponents of this in most corners of the internet, although very few of them actually make a million dollars and there are many million+ income people supporting this.…

The bigger news is that it would be WA's first-ever income tax, along with the tax on capital gains income they just introduced. You can look at any historical example of introducing income tax in the US to see that the rates always expand to lower brackets over time.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#302

Post by wcarss »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #264
barbazoo wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, my partner would love to visit national parks south of the border this summer but we decided we'd much rather spend our money in our own economy for the time being. That's not even considering the risk getting snatched by immigration anywhere in the country.

"spend our money in our own economy" - a common fallacy about economies. Spending money is how you take/consume resources from an economy. If you spend money in Canada, then you are taking stuff from Canadians. If you spend your money in the US, then you are taking stuff from Americans. You might wonder what happens at the limit - why don't Canadians just spend all their money in the US and take all America's stuff (…

This is not true.

When you spend Canadian dollars at a business owned by a Canadian, you're sending that owner and the Canadian government your money, in exchange for their goods or services, normally at a surplus of value for them. You are 'helping' them; you are 'investing' in the Canadian economy. You are justifying the existence of their business and the jobs of the people who work there.

Especially insofar as you're making this choice versus American options, you are putting money into the hands of Canadians rather than Americans. This is the underlying concept behind boycotts and voting with your dollars or feet.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#303

Post by NickC25 »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #176
aliljet wrote: post #6

There's a vibe in at least the PNW that feels like the tech sector is sloughing jobs and avoiding creating new ones courtesy of AI. I genuinely wonder if that feeling is backed by reality and whether it's large enough to be translating into national statistics across all industries.

In Washington it is much broader than the tech sector. Washington is being buried in indefensibly bad legislation that is extremely hostile to large companies and tech companies of every size for openly ideological reasons. It has rapidly become one of the worst business environments in the country when it used to be one of the best. Many companies have stopped or reduced hiring in Seattle and are moving operations t…

I don't think they killed the goose at all.

The tech companies killed the golden goose that was handed to them. They got too greedy. Amazon basically got carte blanche to build in Seattle, and plenty of tax credits to do so.

Amazon and their founder then told WA gov that they were going to relocate to Florida. WA gov said "well, we paid billions for your infrastructure, so if you're going to leave, please partially refund us" and Bezos whined and whined and whined. Imagine, a guy worth (at the time) nearly half a trillion dollars being told that he should have to pay a few hundred million dollars for his broken promises.

Imagine being given incredibly generous tax incentives for decades that allowed you to build a multi trillion dollar company, and then whining when the giver of those incentives asks for a tiny portion of that to be paid back when you tell them you're leaving.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#304

Post by [deleted] »

TwoNineA wrote: post #121
iso1631 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the government that's the problem per-se, it's the fact half the US supports that government

Controversial opinion, it's way more than half: 1/3 voted for the orange man, 1/3 didn't bother go to vote because "BoTh SideS ARe thE SamE!" and 1/3 tried to do the right thing.

[deleted]

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#305

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

Retric wrote: post #118
iso1631 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the government that's the problem per-se, it's the fact half the US supports that government

This administration has terrible approval ratings. https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump...

I love the copium. If I have 10 friends and ask all of them where they want to go for dinner and 6 say let’s have Chinese and the other 4 say let’s kill Bob and eat him, I still have a shitty friend group.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#307

Post by xhkkffbf »

angiolillo wrote: post #253
CalRobert wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, I live in the Netherlands (though I am originally from California) and my entire summer is booked full of either family or friends visiting from the US - the friends are mostly here to get a feel for the place and see if they want to emigrate. I wonder how many Americans of means are vacationing abroad instead of domestically just to get some respite...

> the friends are mostly here to get a feel for the place and see if they want to emigrate As a US citizen who has daydreamed about moving to a Dutch city like Ultrecht I'm curious what they found, and how it feels to be an immigrant in the Netherlands.

It's not so easy to do. You can't just daydream about it. A friend of mine spent 18 months just with the paperwork. He's now making half of what he might make at home, but he's happy. The people are definitely friendly and welcoming, but the legal system makes it hard. And the businesses know this so they underpay because they can.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#308

Post by irishcoffee »

Aurornis wrote: post #124
testfrequency wrote: post #4

I do not see the tourism industry mentioned here but I have to imagine that is a huge loss right now. Most of the world is not visiting the US right now which means projects and planning that was made in anticipation for summer has probably been halted or heavily reduced.

US tourism declined in 2025 but the number has been relatively flat since then. These recent job losses are probably not attributable to tourism since that’s unchanged year over year. I’m not saying tourism is not a factor or denying anecdotes about people not visiting the US, but I don’t think it’s the explanation for the February 2026 job losses.

> I’m not saying tourism is not a factor or denying anecdotes about people not visiting the US, but I don’t think it’s the explanation for the February 2026 job losses.

This is accurate. This thread is people emoting. I get it, might as well let it out. Tourism being major part of the US GDP feels like countries whose GDP depends on tourism, projecting. I get that too, if that is the paradigm you live in every day, that is the lens you view things through.

Tourism is probably affecting local economies at the margins, and there is a real loss there for those communities. The US GDP as a whole? Not even a rounding error.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#309

Post by zjsisba »

epistasis wrote: post #197

Mass deportation means economic contraction. The administration has promised to deport millions of people. Mass deportations on this scale will have a somewhat drastic effect, and the true mass deportation hasn't even started, because they haven't built enough concentration camps to facilitate the deportations. Unless it is stopped the job losses will be absolutely massive, and a tiny tiny footnote to the massive hum…

This is actually why Trump won’t do them, by the way. He’s already changed his rhetoric to “criminals only”.

Trump is completely captured by business interests and is not America First. Mass immigration is the billionaire first position.

Younger generations understand this, so we likely won’t see some change for a bit, but it is coming. And it makes sense - they’re the ones suffering most from unfettered immigration. Their birthright is being handed out to cheap labor, because the billionaires running our society see us as cattle.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#310

Post by lapcat »

testfrequency wrote: post #4

I do not see the tourism industry mentioned here but I have to imagine that is a huge loss right now. Most of the world is not visiting the US right now which means projects and planning that was made in anticipation for summer has probably been halted or heavily reduced.

This article mentions that leisure and hospitality are down: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/economy/us-jobs-report-februa...
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