The Nation's Financial Condition

[Farfromgeneva]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... or-market/

"Employers added 254,000 jobs in September, signaling signs of strength in the labor market heading into the height of the election season.

The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent, according to jobs data released Friday by the Labor Department.

The last six months of steady job growth has been plenty enough to keep the labor market firmly out of recession territory, economists say, especially as GDP growth remains hardy, productivity is strong and consumers continue to spend.

“This is what an economy at full employment looks like in an economy best described as robustly expanding," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM U.S. LLP. He said that September jobs report data supports a quarter point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month.

The report reflects a survey that the Bureau of Labor Statistics conducted before the Fed lowered interest rates last month. The data also does not reflect disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene, an ongoing labor strike at Boeing, and a brief but disruptive work stoppage at the East Coast and Gulf ports this week that ended yesterday. Those labor market changes will show up in the jobs report out days before the November presidential election.

Wage gains were also surprisingly robust, growing by 0.4 percent over the month. Average hourly earnings have risen by 4 percent this year, to $35.36. an hour, outpacing the rate of inflation, resulting in a boost to workers’ pocketbooks.


Strong upward revisions to job gains in July and August data also suggest that the labor market is healthier than previously thought.

“This was a very encouraging payroll report, with job growth handily beating expectations," Sonu Varghese, Global Macro Strategist at Carson Group in an analyst note. "The fact that inflation is easing at the same time means productivity growth is strong, and that should keep the Fed on track for more rate cuts – an added tailwind for the economy and markets.”

The increase in job were spread throughout a variety of industries, including restaurants and bars, healthcare, social assistance, construction and government.

The weaker jobs reports from this summer partly played a role prompting policymakers at the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates by a half of a percentage point for the first time since 2020.

That cut, which is lowering borrowing costs, is expected to bring relief to households and businesses eager to take out loans. But it won’t immediately trigger a rebound in job creation, economists say, as sectors react differently to easing financial conditions. Industries weighed down by higher rates, such as professional and business services, information and manufacturing are expected to regain their vigor.

By historic measures, layoffs and the unemployment rate remain low. But the labor market is softer than it was in the period leading up to the pandemic. The rate of hiring is tied for the slowest pace in a decade, excluding the pandemic shutdown, according to a job openings report released Tuesday. Workers are quitting their jobs at the lowest rate since June 2020, according to data from that report.

Many economists have been watching to figure out whether the labor market slowdown is signaling a rebalancing of labor market dynamics or an impending recession.

“The inability of hiring to keep up with rising labor force participation has led to the rising unemployment we’ve seen since early 2023,” said Kevin Rinz, a senior fellow at the nonprofit Washington Center for Equitable Growth, in a written note. “It will be interesting to see how long the labor force will continue to grow in the face of slower hiring.”

This is why folks who think we got below 3% on Fed funds here are out to lunch. Book it.

Everyone forgets the demographic inflection point we are at right now in this country when the print is good…

Mortgage rates move off the 10yr UST which is off a point in solar price or up nearly 0.15% today alone which the mortgage market will adjust to Monday. So this good print stuff is straddling a line: and why the more both side distort this data increasingly from clean data it’s going to bite us in the a**

[Farfromgeneva]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

FEMA a work yes, rednedks doing so much? Not what other from ceasars head to Hendersonville. Lot of which is New England retirees these days

[MDlaxfan76]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

Exactly the opposite of what the Governors are saying about the federal support. They and local government are the front lines of response and responsibility, federal brings in additional support based on requests, which were immediately provided. And of course neighbors are the fastest resource.

But of course you and your friends don’t understand that when it’s so much more convenient to criticize a Democratic Administration. Crickets if Republican.

Youth, you actually know better so why are you parroting this stuff?

[youthathletics]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

Then you' and your NC friends will all be happy when Fatso & company eliminate FEMA, NOAA, NHC and the rest of the Federal Government plus whatever Leon Musk decides to deep six as a Federal l administrator. Ask Puerto Ricans how they were treated when your boy Fatso was in charge - free paper towels. Crickets from you.

Leon Musk is only donating free Starlink service for 30 days to individuals. You can bet he''s charging the Feds and FEMA full freight.


Seems to me you ALWAYS have a beef with whatever the government does when you can pin it on Democrats.

BS.....I would not be happy if FEMA or NOAA or NHC were dissolved, hyperbole on your part. You clearly did not pay attention during the PR incident. You were just looking for smug comeback of lies. When he charges the FEDS, get back to us....then we will have reason to argue. More popp-e coc-ka from you.

[youthathletics]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

Exactly the opposite of what the Governors are saying about the federal support. They and local government are the front lines of response and responsibility, federal brings in additional support based on requests, which were immediately provided. And of course neighbors are the fastest resource.

But of course you and your friends don’t understand that when it’s so much more convenient to criticize a Democratic Administration. Crickets if Republican.

Youth, you actually know better so why are you parroting this stuff?

This is not even a partisan discussion.....why make it one?

[Kismet]

BS.....I would not be happy if FEMA or NOAA or NHC were dissolved, hyperbole on your part. You clearly did not pay attention during the PR incident. You were just looking for smug comeback of lies. When he charges the FEDS, get back to us....then we will have reason to argue. More popp-e coc-ka from you.

how good to know that you are supportive of parts of the Federal Government that will be on the chopping block if Fatso wins. Instead of NOAA, NHS and NWC you'll get a free sharpie to draw a hurricane forecast on any map you have at home.

Kindly show me how your pal Leon isn't charging the Federal Government for the free to individuals for only 30 days Starlink in NC right now?

I'll wait.

[Farfromgeneva]

Afan, from Wu Financial-diversify your motherfng alcohol revenue sources! Ggait will paper it up for the low low rate of $750/hr for you..because your you!


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[Brooklyn]

254,000 new jobs!



Thank you Mr Biden.

Gotta be discreet or the Republicans will get angry.

[Farfromgeneva]

Do folks root for the economy or markets AND actually position their scarce resources (savings /money) such that they have to cheerlead?

Does anyone here take an ag post if approach and position their life accordingly or is this yet another aspect of me that is insane?

If folks are all in one direction they are resonantly leveraged period: no excuse don’t have to understand finance to know what concentration risk looks like. Crazy. This is then oblivious life choices that make me increasingly less empathetic for increasingly more of the population.

[a fan]

Do folks root for the economy or markets AND actually position their scarce resources (savings /money) such that they have to cheerlead?

Does anyone here take an ag post if approach and position their life accordingly or is this yet another aspect of me that is insane?

If folks are all in one direction they are resonantly leveraged period: no excuse don’t have to understand finance to know what concentration risk looks like. Crazy. This is then oblivious life choices that make me increasingly less empathetic for increasingly more of the population.

The answer is yes. Which is why you have so many here (and elsewhere) whining when the US or other Government doesn't do something that directly lines their pockets.

Did you get that? They love when the .gov steps in to make them personally rich.....but the minute it doesn't go their way? The same .gov that made them rich is "bad".

It's why economic activity slows a bit during elections......folks waiting for their favored officials to make money FOR them, while they sit around and do nothing.

[cradleandshoot]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

Exactly the opposite of what the Governors are saying about the federal support. They and local government are the front lines of response and responsibility, federal brings in additional support based on requests, which were immediately provided. And of course neighbors are the fastest resource.

But of course you and your friends don’t understand that when it’s so much more convenient to criticize a Democratic Administration. Crickets if Republican.

Youth, you actually know better so why are you parroting this stuff?

Ain't that the same thing Democrats said about Republicans after Katrina? Your Republican party led by your guy George W Bush didn't care about the needless suffering of the black residents of New Orleans. What goes around comes around in the world of politics. Never let a good crisis go to waste...

[Seacoaster(1)]

Curveball:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/01/busi ... trike.html

"For the first time in nearly 50 years, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike Tuesday, a move that will cut off most trade through some of the busiest U.S. ports and could send a chill through the economy.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union, which represents roughly 45,000 workers, started setting up pickets after 11th-hour talks failed to avert a work stoppage.

“Nothing’s going to move without us — nothing,” said Harold J. Daggett, the president of the union, addressing picketers outside a port terminal in Elizabeth, N.J., in a video posted early Tuesday to a union Facebook account.

The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port employers, declined to comment early Tuesday. The two sides were not able to agree on wage increases, and the use of new technology in the ports was a sticking point for the union.

Businesses now face a period of uncertainty. Trade experts say that a short strike would cause little lasting damage but that a weekslong stoppage could lead to shortages, higher prices and even layoffs.

“When we talk about a two- to three-week strike,” said J. Bruce Chan, a transportation analyst at Stifel, a Wall Street firm, “that’s when the problem starts to get exponentially worse.”

The prospect of significant economic damage from a strike puts President Biden in a quandary five weeks before national elections. Before the strike, he said he was not going to use a federal labor law to force an end to a port shutdown — something President George W. Bush did in 2002 — but some labor experts said he might use that power if the strike started to weigh on the economy. White House officials had pressed both sides to reach a deal before the strike.

Longshoremen move containers off ships, sort them and put them on trucks or trains, and handle bulk cargo, too. Around three-fifths of the nation’s container shipments go through ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, the third busiest in the country, and fast-growing ports in Virginia, Georgia and Texas.

A strike will also stop the shipment of cars and heavy machinery through the Port of Baltimore, where operations were curtailed for most of the spring after a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Automakers said that they were monitoring the strike but that it was too early to say how it would hit them.

Cruise ship operations are unaffected by the strike, and military shipments will continue. Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said on Monday that around 100,000 containers would be stored at the port during the strike and that 35 ships arriving over the next week would be anchored offshore.

“The stakes are very high,” Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said at a news conference on Monday. “The potential for disruption is significant.” But she also sought to calm consumers, saying shortages of food and pharmaceutical products were not expected.

For bringing large amounts of goods in and out of the country, there is no practical alternative to ports. And ports cannot operate without longshoremen, giving them strong leverage in labor negotiations.

West Coast ports are open. Longshoremen there belong to a different union and agreed last year on a new contract that includes a significant increase in wages.

Under the contract that expired on Monday, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts earned a top rate of $39 an hour. The I.L.A. wants a $5-an-hour raise in each of the six years of a new agreement, giving it a 77 percent raise over the life of the contract.

The two sides had barely communicated for months before the walkout. But in recent days, the Maritime Alliance said on Monday, it had “traded counteroffers related to wages” with the I.L.A. and offered to extend the contract. The alliance also said its latest offer to the union would raise pay “nearly 50 percent” over the course of the contract.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the I.L.A. said that the alliance’s offer “fell far short” of the demands of its members.

With overtime and shift work, many longshoremen earn well over $100,000 a year, putting them ahead of other workers without a college degree. But they say they put in far more hours than workers in other jobs earning similar amounts, and do so in often harsh or dangerous conditions.

The high inflation of the last few years has reduced their wages’ purchasing power. And longshoremen contend that they have a right to a slice of the increased profits that their employers — some of which are large global shipping lines — made during the pandemic trade boom in 2021 and 2022.

“They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American I.L.A. longshore workers, and take those earnings out of this country,” Mr. Daggett, the union’s president, said on Monday in a statement.

Knowing that a strike was possible, many companies rushed in merchandise before Tuesday, including most of the durable consumer goods that they intend to sell during the holiday sales period. But even a short strike could hurt importers of perishable goods like fruit.

Daniel J. Barabino, chief operating officer at Top Banana, a fruit distributor based at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, said a strike could cause him to run out of bananas, his main product, by the end of next week. “It’s going to be everyone in the region, all the banana importers — nobody’s going to have fruit,” he said.

Mr. Barabino added that shipping fruit by air was too costly. And he said he couldn’t make up the shortfall with sales of produce other than bananas. “They pay the coffee bill, maybe the bottled water bill,” he said, “but they’re not paying the electric bill, the rent, the truck leases or employee salaries.”

The I.L.A. last walked out across all East and Gulf Coast ports in 1977, snarling container shipping for more than six weeks. The deal that ended the strike included wage raises well above those proposed by employers, increased contributions to pension plans and steps to address the I.L.A.’s concern that new technology could cause job losses.

The I.L.A. is still fighting automation. It broke off talks with the Maritime Alliance in June, saying a port in Mobile, Ala., was checking trucks using technology that was not authorized under its labor contract. (The technology had been in use since the port opened in 2008, a source familiar with its operations said.)

Under the expired contract, port operators were permitted to use “semi-automated” technology but not equipment “devoid of human interaction.” The Maritime Alliance said it had offered in recent talks to carry that commitment into a new contract.

Recently, other unions have gotten much of what they asked for in contract negotiations, and labor experts said the I.L.A. was hoping to capitalize on that winning run.

“The union has shown it’s fighting hard,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who has specialized in labor and trade. “The employers’ association is also well aware that the broader environment is that strikes have delivered for unions in the last year or so.”

This person inspires confidence...

https://x.com/GrahamAllen_1/status/1840752985376215291
https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1840790188731097542

Turns out, she wasn't involved or tasked with dealing with this strike. The Transportation Secretary and others got the deal to put them back to work. Results.

[a fan]

Curveball:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/01/busi ... trike.html

"For the first time in nearly 50 years, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike Tuesday, a move that will cut off most trade through some of the busiest U.S. ports and could send a chill through the economy.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union, which represents roughly 45,000 workers, started setting up pickets after 11th-hour talks failed to avert a work stoppage.

“Nothing’s going to move without us — nothing,” said Harold J. Daggett, the president of the union, addressing picketers outside a port terminal in Elizabeth, N.J., in a video posted early Tuesday to a union Facebook account.

The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port employers, declined to comment early Tuesday. The two sides were not able to agree on wage increases, and the use of new technology in the ports was a sticking point for the union.

Businesses now face a period of uncertainty. Trade experts say that a short strike would cause little lasting damage but that a weekslong stoppage could lead to shortages, higher prices and even layoffs.

“When we talk about a two- to three-week strike,” said J. Bruce Chan, a transportation analyst at Stifel, a Wall Street firm, “that’s when the problem starts to get exponentially worse.”

The prospect of significant economic damage from a strike puts President Biden in a quandary five weeks before national elections. Before the strike, he said he was not going to use a federal labor law to force an end to a port shutdown — something President George W. Bush did in 2002 — but some labor experts said he might use that power if the strike started to weigh on the economy. White House officials had pressed both sides to reach a deal before the strike.

Longshoremen move containers off ships, sort them and put them on trucks or trains, and handle bulk cargo, too. Around three-fifths of the nation’s container shipments go through ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, the third busiest in the country, and fast-growing ports in Virginia, Georgia and Texas.

A strike will also stop the shipment of cars and heavy machinery through the Port of Baltimore, where operations were curtailed for most of the spring after a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Automakers said that they were monitoring the strike but that it was too early to say how it would hit them.

Cruise ship operations are unaffected by the strike, and military shipments will continue. Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said on Monday that around 100,000 containers would be stored at the port during the strike and that 35 ships arriving over the next week would be anchored offshore.

“The stakes are very high,” Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said at a news conference on Monday. “The potential for disruption is significant.” But she also sought to calm consumers, saying shortages of food and pharmaceutical products were not expected.

For bringing large amounts of goods in and out of the country, there is no practical alternative to ports. And ports cannot operate without longshoremen, giving them strong leverage in labor negotiations.

West Coast ports are open. Longshoremen there belong to a different union and agreed last year on a new contract that includes a significant increase in wages.

Under the contract that expired on Monday, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts earned a top rate of $39 an hour. The I.L.A. wants a $5-an-hour raise in each of the six years of a new agreement, giving it a 77 percent raise over the life of the contract.

The two sides had barely communicated for months before the walkout. But in recent days, the Maritime Alliance said on Monday, it had “traded counteroffers related to wages” with the I.L.A. and offered to extend the contract. The alliance also said its latest offer to the union would raise pay “nearly 50 percent” over the course of the contract.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the I.L.A. said that the alliance’s offer “fell far short” of the demands of its members.

With overtime and shift work, many longshoremen earn well over $100,000 a year, putting them ahead of other workers without a college degree. But they say they put in far more hours than workers in other jobs earning similar amounts, and do so in often harsh or dangerous conditions.

The high inflation of the last few years has reduced their wages’ purchasing power. And longshoremen contend that they have a right to a slice of the increased profits that their employers — some of which are large global shipping lines — made during the pandemic trade boom in 2021 and 2022.

“They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American I.L.A. longshore workers, and take those earnings out of this country,” Mr. Daggett, the union’s president, said on Monday in a statement.

Knowing that a strike was possible, many companies rushed in merchandise before Tuesday, including most of the durable consumer goods that they intend to sell during the holiday sales period. But even a short strike could hurt importers of perishable goods like fruit.

Daniel J. Barabino, chief operating officer at Top Banana, a fruit distributor based at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, said a strike could cause him to run out of bananas, his main product, by the end of next week. “It’s going to be everyone in the region, all the banana importers — nobody’s going to have fruit,” he said.

Mr. Barabino added that shipping fruit by air was too costly. And he said he couldn’t make up the shortfall with sales of produce other than bananas. “They pay the coffee bill, maybe the bottled water bill,” he said, “but they’re not paying the electric bill, the rent, the truck leases or employee salaries.”

The I.L.A. last walked out across all East and Gulf Coast ports in 1977, snarling container shipping for more than six weeks. The deal that ended the strike included wage raises well above those proposed by employers, increased contributions to pension plans and steps to address the I.L.A.’s concern that new technology could cause job losses.

The I.L.A. is still fighting automation. It broke off talks with the Maritime Alliance in June, saying a port in Mobile, Ala., was checking trucks using technology that was not authorized under its labor contract. (The technology had been in use since the port opened in 2008, a source familiar with its operations said.)

Under the expired contract, port operators were permitted to use “semi-automated” technology but not equipment “devoid of human interaction.” The Maritime Alliance said it had offered in recent talks to carry that commitment into a new contract.

Recently, other unions have gotten much of what they asked for in contract negotiations, and labor experts said the I.L.A. was hoping to capitalize on that winning run.

“The union has shown it’s fighting hard,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who has specialized in labor and trade. “The employers’ association is also well aware that the broader environment is that strikes have delivered for unions in the last year or so.”

This person inspires confidence...

https://x.com/GrahamAllen_1/status/1840752985376215291
https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1840790188731097542

Turns out, she wasn't involved or tasked with dealing with this strike. The Transportation Secretary and others got the deal to put them back to work. Results.

SUre, but you get the game here, right? Complain and blame the Dems for a Dockstrike they have NOTHING to do with.

And when it's resolved, don't give credit to the Dems for fixing it.

So we're back to: no matter what, Dems are bad. My daughter will retire before these Americans stop "thinking" like this.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Curveball:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/01/busi ... trike.html

"For the first time in nearly 50 years, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike Tuesday, a move that will cut off most trade through some of the busiest U.S. ports and could send a chill through the economy.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union, which represents roughly 45,000 workers, started setting up pickets after 11th-hour talks failed to avert a work stoppage.

“Nothing’s going to move without us — nothing,” said Harold J. Daggett, the president of the union, addressing picketers outside a port terminal in Elizabeth, N.J., in a video posted early Tuesday to a union Facebook account.

The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port employers, declined to comment early Tuesday. The two sides were not able to agree on wage increases, and the use of new technology in the ports was a sticking point for the union.

Businesses now face a period of uncertainty. Trade experts say that a short strike would cause little lasting damage but that a weekslong stoppage could lead to shortages, higher prices and even layoffs.

“When we talk about a two- to three-week strike,” said J. Bruce Chan, a transportation analyst at Stifel, a Wall Street firm, “that’s when the problem starts to get exponentially worse.”

The prospect of significant economic damage from a strike puts President Biden in a quandary five weeks before national elections. Before the strike, he said he was not going to use a federal labor law to force an end to a port shutdown — something President George W. Bush did in 2002 — but some labor experts said he might use that power if the strike started to weigh on the economy. White House officials had pressed both sides to reach a deal before the strike.

Longshoremen move containers off ships, sort them and put them on trucks or trains, and handle bulk cargo, too. Around three-fifths of the nation’s container shipments go through ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, the third busiest in the country, and fast-growing ports in Virginia, Georgia and Texas.

A strike will also stop the shipment of cars and heavy machinery through the Port of Baltimore, where operations were curtailed for most of the spring after a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Automakers said that they were monitoring the strike but that it was too early to say how it would hit them.

Cruise ship operations are unaffected by the strike, and military shipments will continue. Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said on Monday that around 100,000 containers would be stored at the port during the strike and that 35 ships arriving over the next week would be anchored offshore.

“The stakes are very high,” Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said at a news conference on Monday. “The potential for disruption is significant.” But she also sought to calm consumers, saying shortages of food and pharmaceutical products were not expected.

For bringing large amounts of goods in and out of the country, there is no practical alternative to ports. And ports cannot operate without longshoremen, giving them strong leverage in labor negotiations.

West Coast ports are open. Longshoremen there belong to a different union and agreed last year on a new contract that includes a significant increase in wages.

Under the contract that expired on Monday, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts earned a top rate of $39 an hour. The I.L.A. wants a $5-an-hour raise in each of the six years of a new agreement, giving it a 77 percent raise over the life of the contract.

The two sides had barely communicated for months before the walkout. But in recent days, the Maritime Alliance said on Monday, it had “traded counteroffers related to wages” with the I.L.A. and offered to extend the contract. The alliance also said its latest offer to the union would raise pay “nearly 50 percent” over the course of the contract.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the I.L.A. said that the alliance’s offer “fell far short” of the demands of its members.

With overtime and shift work, many longshoremen earn well over $100,000 a year, putting them ahead of other workers without a college degree. But they say they put in far more hours than workers in other jobs earning similar amounts, and do so in often harsh or dangerous conditions.

The high inflation of the last few years has reduced their wages’ purchasing power. And longshoremen contend that they have a right to a slice of the increased profits that their employers — some of which are large global shipping lines — made during the pandemic trade boom in 2021 and 2022.

“They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American I.L.A. longshore workers, and take those earnings out of this country,” Mr. Daggett, the union’s president, said on Monday in a statement.

Knowing that a strike was possible, many companies rushed in merchandise before Tuesday, including most of the durable consumer goods that they intend to sell during the holiday sales period. But even a short strike could hurt importers of perishable goods like fruit.

Daniel J. Barabino, chief operating officer at Top Banana, a fruit distributor based at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, said a strike could cause him to run out of bananas, his main product, by the end of next week. “It’s going to be everyone in the region, all the banana importers — nobody’s going to have fruit,” he said.

Mr. Barabino added that shipping fruit by air was too costly. And he said he couldn’t make up the shortfall with sales of produce other than bananas. “They pay the coffee bill, maybe the bottled water bill,” he said, “but they’re not paying the electric bill, the rent, the truck leases or employee salaries.”

The I.L.A. last walked out across all East and Gulf Coast ports in 1977, snarling container shipping for more than six weeks. The deal that ended the strike included wage raises well above those proposed by employers, increased contributions to pension plans and steps to address the I.L.A.’s concern that new technology could cause job losses.

The I.L.A. is still fighting automation. It broke off talks with the Maritime Alliance in June, saying a port in Mobile, Ala., was checking trucks using technology that was not authorized under its labor contract. (The technology had been in use since the port opened in 2008, a source familiar with its operations said.)

Under the expired contract, port operators were permitted to use “semi-automated” technology but not equipment “devoid of human interaction.” The Maritime Alliance said it had offered in recent talks to carry that commitment into a new contract.

Recently, other unions have gotten much of what they asked for in contract negotiations, and labor experts said the I.L.A. was hoping to capitalize on that winning run.

“The union has shown it’s fighting hard,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who has specialized in labor and trade. “The employers’ association is also well aware that the broader environment is that strikes have delivered for unions in the last year or so.”

This person inspires confidence...

https://x.com/GrahamAllen_1/status/1840752985376215291
https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1840790188731097542

Turns out, she wasn't involved or tasked with dealing with this strike. The Transportation Secretary and others got the deal to put them back to work. Results.

SUre, but you get the game here, right? Complain and blame the Dems for a Dockstrike they have NOTHING to do with.

And when it's resolved, don't give credit to the Dems for fixing it.

So we're back to: no matter what, Dems are bad. My daughter will retire before these Americans stop "thinking" like this.

I get the game (and it's tougher on them when, you know, a gay guy fixes the problem); YA and Old Salt are working, functioning examples of it everyday here on FL. YA works overtime to bring out every possible Democratic fault...but doesn't support (for this third time, anyway) the Orange BabyMan.

[MDlaxfan76]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

Exactly the opposite of what the Governors are saying about the federal support. They and local government are the front lines of response and responsibility, federal brings in additional support based on requests, which were immediately provided. And of course neighbors are the fastest resource.

But of course you and your friends don’t understand that when it’s so much more convenient to criticize a Democratic Administration. Crickets if Republican.

Youth, you actually know better so why are you parroting this stuff?

This is not even a partisan discussion.....why make it one?

Because all of this narrative is coming from right wing media and specifically from Trump.

There should be no such politicization of the response but Trump began flaming lie after lie and the right wing partisan media followed his lead, all for $ and power.

Shameful

[MDlaxfan76]

Just watched Fox hosts and guests suggest that Trump should claim this good performance is because there’s an expectation he’s going to win…so it’s really Trump success. Practically smirking.

Also watched them repeat Trump’s lie that FEMA isn’t responding with massive resources to the hurricane because they don’t have the money because it’s all been diverted to help illegal migrants.

Off the hook.

I have friends in NC and family with friends out that way. The general consensus is that the help is much like standard gov't.....logistics is slow, red tape for help, no drones allowed to help spot people, Red Cross does not need help...just get on a list....bureaucracy in motion. If it were not for all the citizens willing to just lend a hand, it would be far worse. Even a NASCAR driver is using his own helo to help along with so many others, and they are being threatened to be arrested.

This tells us a few things.....FEMA did not respond fast enough, they did not have a quick response plan that was conveyed, they did not solicit or support local help in coorindation efforts. It's like the keystone cops.....the 'rednecks' with jonboats and ATV's and a chainsaw are doing more. Add in Musk, spinning up Free Open Broadband Starlink for Comms in roughly 24-48 hours.

Exactly the opposite of what the Governors are saying about the federal support. They and local government are the front lines of response and responsibility, federal brings in additional support based on requests, which were immediately provided. And of course neighbors are the fastest resource.

But of course you and your friends don’t understand that when it’s so much more convenient to criticize a Democratic Administration. Crickets if Republican.

Youth, you actually know better so why are you parroting this stuff?

Ain't that the same thing Democrats said about Republicans after Katrina? Your Republican party led by your guy George W Bush didn't care about the needless suffering of the black residents of New Orleans. What goes around comes around in the world of politics. Never let a good crisis go to waste...

Way downstream and there was a reality to inept FEMA leadership. Brownie…some of the criticism of lack of motivation was likely unfair, but definitely inept.

In this situation, the Biden Administration was all over it from jump. They need to follow through, but they got it right from the beginning, according to all the Governors.

Trump was lying out of his ass from jump and right wing media ran with it.

Shameful

[Brooklyn]

Ain't that the same thing Democrats said about Republicans after Katrina? Your Republican party led by your guy George W Bush didn't care about the needless suffering of the black residents of New Orleans. What goes around comes around in the world of politics. Never let a good crisis go to waste...

LOL. The Bush regime took away people's guns in NOLA but the delusional right wing blamed Democrats for violating the Second Amendment.