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Speaker 1: This is America's Trucking Network with Kevin Gordon.

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Speaker 2: Welcome aboard, Thanks for tuning in on this Friday morning. Well,

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Speaker 2: now that the dust has settled from the holidays and

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Speaker 2: the numbers coming in as far as retail sales, we're

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Speaker 2: starting to see those which are positive.

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Speaker 3: We've been hearing over the last couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: Volatility as far as employment numbers kind of sketchy always,

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Speaker 2: volatility range around the holidays and difficult to pin down. Well,

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Speaker 2: we got one of the first I guess after the

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Speaker 2: holidays reading as far as unemployment is concerned.

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Speaker 3: And this is interesting.

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Speaker 2: Once again, I look at when the reports come out,

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Speaker 2: I take a look at, I do a search, and

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Speaker 2: then I see what headlines are out there. And as always,

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Speaker 2: it seems that certain media decides that they're going to

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Speaker 2: shade things one way. They're not going to straight up report.

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Speaker 2: Let's just get into it here. Let's see.

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Speaker 3: I'll get to the worst one first.

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Speaker 2: This is from Breaking the News, which is basically what

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Speaker 2: they've done. US initial jobless claims up by eight thousand

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Speaker 2: to two hundred and eight thousand.

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Speaker 3: Sounds bad unless you put it in context.

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Speaker 2: FX Street US initial jobless claims rose to two hundred

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Speaker 2: and eight thousand last week.

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Speaker 3: One that's not one. That's pretty decent.

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Speaker 2: US initial job is claims two hundred and eight thousand

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Speaker 2: versus two hundred and ten thousand estimated, which is not

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Speaker 2: bad investing dot Com initial job is claims.

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Speaker 3: Rise but fall short of forecast. And then.

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Speaker 2: Ms N their news headline says weekly initial job is

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Speaker 2: claims rise less than expected. Now, probably one of the

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Speaker 2: best ones, which was kind of a surprise to me,

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Speaker 2: was Reuters their headline, US week jobless claims increase marginally,

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Speaker 2: which is what in fact the headlines should be, and

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Speaker 2: when you get into the numbers, that's exactly what it is.

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Speaker 2: Number of Americans filing for applications for unemployment benefits rose

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Speaker 2: moderately last week, suggesting that layoffs were relatively low at

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Speaker 2: the end of twenty twenty five, though demand for labor

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Speaker 2: remains sluggish. Initial claims first state unemployment benefits rose eight

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Speaker 2: thousand to a seasonally adjusted two hundred and eight thousand

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Speaker 2: for the week end in December twenty seventh, according to

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Speaker 2: the Labor Department. Economists polled by Reuters had forecasted two

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Speaker 2: hundred and ten thousand claims for last week. Now I

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Speaker 2: saw another report that said that they had forecasted two

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Speaker 2: hundred and thirteen thousand. So even they can't come up

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Speaker 2: with their can't be consistent with what they expected it

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Speaker 2: to be. Claims have been chopping, and this is let

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Speaker 2: me see, claims have been chopping in recent weeks amid

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Speaker 2: challenges adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations around the year

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Speaker 2: end holiday season. Although you know every year the holiday

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Speaker 2: season comes and goes, so they're acting as though that

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Speaker 2: this is the first time they've had this kind of

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Speaker 2: a situation, rather than going back and talking about trends

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Speaker 2: in the past. Through the volatility, layoffs have remained low

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Speaker 2: by historical standards. Now that's a key point because what

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Speaker 2: we keep hearing is that the labor market is weak.

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Speaker 2: And again, if the labor market is weak, people aren't

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Speaker 2: going to be spending a lot of money. People aren't

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Speaker 2: going to have money to spend, which means that they're

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Speaker 2: going to be going to retailers less, which means that

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Speaker 2: retailers are going to be ordering less, which means that

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Speaker 2: trucks aren't going to have the tonnage that they would

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Speaker 2: normally have. But the fact that unemployment is low and

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Speaker 2: that these layoffs are minimal. People are out there, people

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Speaker 2: are spending robustly and keeps the wheels of the economy

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Speaker 2: moving and the wheels of the trucking industry, which.

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Speaker 3: Is good news.

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Speaker 2: Layers have been reluctant to boost headcount amid tariff related

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Speaker 2: uncertainty and growing popularity of artificial intelligence, but they have

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Speaker 2: not engaged in mass firings and workers, keeping the labor

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Speaker 2: market in a state of paralysis, which is contrary to

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Speaker 2: what we saw yesterday when we talked about the ADP numbers.

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Speaker 2: We saw them with private firms, private payrolls that they

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Speaker 2: that they managed was up significantly more than what they

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Speaker 2: had expected. And we saw increases in the leisure and

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Speaker 2: hospitality industry, transportation and onto some of these others. And

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Speaker 2: they were saying that most of the increases came from

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Speaker 2: small businesses less than five hundred employees. So that is

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Speaker 2: in contrast to what they're saying here that many have

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Speaker 2: not engaged in hiring the popularity and they're holding back. Again,

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Speaker 2: maybe there's a cross current, maybe there's you know, the

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Speaker 2: data that comes in for one report over is fall

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Speaker 2: short of what is available to another report, and the

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Speaker 2: other report may be a little bit more accurate, but

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Speaker 2: I would.

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Speaker 3: Tend to lean on the side of ADP.

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Speaker 2: Again, as I pointed out yesterday, the fact that they

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Speaker 2: were a payroll processing firm, they would know the number

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Speaker 2: of checks that they issued last week versus the week before,

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Speaker 2: the week before, the week before that, And so if

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Speaker 2: they're not seeing any major decreases, and they're in fact

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Speaker 2: seeing increases, I think I would rely on those numbers

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Speaker 2: because actually they have the head counts where basically the

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Speaker 2: check counts in terms of how many checks they're sending out.

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Speaker 2: While a separate report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Great

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Speaker 2: and Christmas showed layoffs announced by US based employers jumped

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Speaker 2: fifty eight percent to a five year high of one

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Speaker 2: point two one point two six million in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 2: Cost cutting by the federal government and technology companies accounted

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Speaker 2: for the bulk of the planned reductions.

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Speaker 3: Now again, let's hold on to that thought.

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Speaker 2: According to Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer Challenger Gray and Christmas,

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Speaker 2: he said technology has been pivoting to both developing and

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Speaker 2: implementing artificial intelligence much more quickly than any other industry This,

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Speaker 2: coupled with over hiring over the last decade, created a

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Speaker 2: wheak wave of job loss in the industry. Hold on

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Speaker 2: to that thought as far as Challenger Gray and Christmas

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Speaker 2: talking about the US layoffs announced by US based employers.

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Speaker 3: Okay, we'll come back to this.

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Speaker 2: Hiring plans dropped thirty four percent to five hundred and

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Speaker 2: seven thousand almost five hundred and eight thousand last year,

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Speaker 2: the lowest level since twenty ten. Lackluster hiring means unemployed

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Speaker 2: people are experiencing longer bouts of joblessness. The number of

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Speaker 2: people receiving unemployment benefits for after an initial week of aid,

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Speaker 2: a proxy for hiring, increase fifty six thousand to a

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Speaker 2: seasonally adjusted one point nine to one million. Now that

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Speaker 2: has been up, down, up, down, somewhere around one point

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Speaker 2: eight nine and one point nine to one million over

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Speaker 2: the last month or so. The government reported on Wednesday

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Speaker 2: the job openings dropped by fourteen dropped to a fourteen

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Speaker 2: month low in November. There were point nine to one

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Speaker 2: job openings for every unemployed person in November, the lowest

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Speaker 2: level seen since March of twenty twenty one, and down

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Speaker 2: from ninety seven point ninety seven in October. So for

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Speaker 2: every person that's out there, there's point nine to one jobs.

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Speaker 2: There's nine tens of one job for every person out there.

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Speaker 2: So if the people would go out and look for

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Speaker 2: the jobs, they may be looking in the wrong area,

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Speaker 2: or it may be a situation if that's not a

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Speaker 2: good fit. It's maybe either above their skill level or

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Speaker 2: below their skill level and would not be something that'd

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Speaker 2: be a good fit. So that would account for a

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Speaker 2: lot of that. Now, let me see if there's any

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Speaker 2: other gems in here. Non farm payrolls probably increase, Okay,

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Speaker 2: And this is what's interesting again, they get into speculation.

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Speaker 2: The claims data have no bearing on December's employment report

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Speaker 2: that is due out and do to be released later

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Speaker 2: on today on Friday. They go in here and they

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Speaker 2: speculate nonfarm payrolls probably increase sixty thousand jobs last month

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Speaker 2: after raising sixty four thousand in November. And they're talking

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Speaker 2: about possibility of the unemployment rate coming down, which is

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Speaker 2: what I've been talking about. November unemployment rate was partially

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Speaker 2: distorted by the forty three day long federal government shutdown,

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Speaker 2: you mean the Schumer shutdown, which also prevented the collection

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Speaker 2: of household data for October. The unemployment rate for October

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Speaker 2: was not published for the first time, and the government

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Speaker 2: started tracking that number back in nineteen forty eight. So

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Speaker 2: according because of Chuck Schumer's Schumer shut down, we didn't

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Speaker 2: get that information as we normally get for the first

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Speaker 2: time since nineteen forty eight.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Chuck.

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Speaker 2: Some other stories having to do with unemployment those are

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Speaker 2: kind of interesting and we'll get to those coming up.

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Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck In Network seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 1: This is the racing report on America's Trucking Network on

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Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 4: Seven time NASCAR Cup Series champion in Hall of Famer

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Speaker 4: Jimmy Johnson will utilize the open Exemption provisional to guarantee

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Speaker 4: Johnson spot as the forty first car in the twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty six Daytona five hundred, which is thirty seven days away.

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Speaker 4: Johnson says he was also Johnson will also return to

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Speaker 4: the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for its inaugural race at

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Speaker 4: Naval Base Coronado in San Diego in June. Hendrick Motorsports

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Speaker 4: has partnered with Atrium Health for their team wellness The

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Speaker 4: NASCAR Cup Series tests set for North Wilkesboro to work

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Speaker 4: on the short next Tuesday, will include drivers Ross Chastain,

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Speaker 4: Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, aj Allmendinger, among others.

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Speaker 4: Er mclaar and IndyCar teams have a deal with regional

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Speaker 4: airline Republic Airlines for transportation to the races, and IndyCar

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Speaker 4: driver Scott McLoughlin will race in the upcoming Rolex twenty four,

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Speaker 4: joining fellow drivers Alex Palo, Scott Dixon and Will Power

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Speaker 4: in the field.

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Speaker 1: This is the racing report on America's drug A Network

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Speaker 1: on seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 2: Kevin Gordon, America Instructing Network seven hundred WLW. Just so

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Speaker 2: you can feel a little sorry for me here, because

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Speaker 2: I dig through these numbers. I read these stories and

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Speaker 2: then come up with the stories for this show. And

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Speaker 2: sometimes it's a little painful to read some of these

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Speaker 2: stories because of the how should I say, the lack

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Speaker 2: of intelligence put into this, And yet.

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Speaker 3: Those are the things that start to make some headlines.

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Speaker 2: This is from investing dot Com, of all people, this

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Speaker 2: story almost seems like it was written by an amateur,

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Speaker 2: somebody that has just that this was their first job

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Speaker 2: assignment initial.

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Speaker 3: Listen to some of these phrases in here.

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Speaker 2: The latest data on initial jobless claims, a key indicator

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Speaker 2: of the health of the US labor market that got

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Speaker 2: that as of of a boiler plate, I'm sure, has

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Speaker 2: been released showing an uptick in the number of individuals

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Speaker 2: filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. The actual

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Speaker 2: number of new jobless claims stood at two hundred and

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Speaker 2: eight thousand according to the report, This figure, while higher

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Speaker 2: than the previous week, fell short of economists forecast of

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Speaker 2: two hundred and thirteen. See there is no context in

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Speaker 2: terms of how this plays into where the jobless initial

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Speaker 2: jobless claims have been over a period of time, which

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Speaker 2: is generally between what we've been looking at, is between

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Speaker 2: two hundred and ten and two hundred and fifty thousand.

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Speaker 2: So at two hundred and eight it's below the low end,

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Speaker 2: but of course you're not going to get that from this,

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Speaker 2: I guess, amateur or whatever. Compared to the previous week's

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Speaker 2: figure of two hundred thousand, the latest data shows an

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Speaker 2: increase of eight thousand new claims.

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Speaker 3: This represents four percent rise in.

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Speaker 2: The initial jobless claims, signaling a slight slowdown in the

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Speaker 2: labor market. However, it's important to note that the weekly

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Speaker 2: figures can be volatile and are often subject to substantial revisions. Again,

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Speaker 2: almost like a rookie situation. They're reading that now, this

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Speaker 2: is an interesting take on this and digging into some

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Speaker 2: of these numbers and digging into some of these reports.

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Speaker 3: I mentioned yesterday when.

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Speaker 2: We were talking about the job increases from ADP in

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Speaker 2: their reporting, and they said in one of the sectors

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Speaker 2: that even though there was job increases in hospitality, healthcare

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Speaker 2: and so on, and even in transportation, it was offset

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Speaker 2: by decreases in business services. Professionals and in data processing

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Speaker 2: in technical areas. I mentioned at the time because I

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Speaker 2: had read something along the line that said that is

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Speaker 2: a possibility that some of these companies had, you know,

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Speaker 2: in order to develop AI, that as they were doing it,

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Speaker 2: as they were you know, coding, and they were getting

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Speaker 2: it launched, and then the implementation of it, they may

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Speaker 2: have overhired. And so this is just a leveling of

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Speaker 2: the playing field. Now, this is interesting. AI layoffs are

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Speaker 2: looking more like more like corporate fiction that's masking a

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Speaker 2: darker reality. This is according to Oxford Economics. Despite the

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Speaker 2: breathless headlines warning of robot takeover in the workforce, a

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Speaker 2: new research briefing from Oxford Economics cast doubts on the

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Speaker 2: narrative that artificial intelligence is currently causing mass unemployment. According

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Speaker 2: to the firm's analysis, quote, firms don't appear to be

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Speaker 2: replacing workers at with AI in a significant scale, suggesting

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Speaker 2: instead that companies may be using the technology as a

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Speaker 2: cover for routine head count reductions. Just like back to

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Speaker 2: into pandemic, when we heard about supply chain issues, you know,

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Speaker 2: after coming out of that that a lot of that

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Speaker 2: possibly had to do with not knowing how much business

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Speaker 2: was going to come back to a particular company, like

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Speaker 2: a restaurant or retailer, having been closed for several months

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Speaker 2: before they could get back and open, and the fact

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Speaker 2: that they go out and try to rehire some of

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Speaker 2: the employees that they had. So there were staffing shortages

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Speaker 2: because people were making more money staying on unemployment and

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Speaker 2: the stimulus checks as opposed to getting back to work.

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Speaker 2: So there were a difficulty filling these slots. And as

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Speaker 2: you may remember that some of these staffs were low,

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Speaker 2: and so because the staffs were low, they of course

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Speaker 2: didn't have enough people to handle the volume of business

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Speaker 2: they had. And because they're ordering techniques were a little skewed,

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Speaker 2: they're a little rusty, they would run out of stuff,

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Speaker 2: but of course they'd blame it on supply chain issues,

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Speaker 2: just like in so many instances. You know, if companies

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Speaker 2: last year were raising prices, they would claim it had

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Speaker 2: to do with tariffs. But when you dug into the

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Speaker 2: numbers and you looked at what they were doing had

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Speaker 2: nothing to do with tariffs. A lot of the stuff

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Speaker 2: that they raised prices on were domestically produced items. They

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Speaker 2: just wanted to sneak in a price increase and blame

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Speaker 2: it on the tariffs so situation here as far as

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Speaker 2: certain layoffs and a January seventh report, the research firm

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Speaker 2: argued that while anecdotal evidence of job displacement exists, the

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Speaker 2: macroeconomic data does not support the idea of a structural

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Speaker 2: shift in employment caused by automation. Instead, it points to

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Speaker 2: a more cynical corporate strategy.

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Speaker 3: Quote.

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Speaker 2: We suspect some firms are trying to dress up layoffs

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Speaker 2: as good news stories rather than bad news such as

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Speaker 2: pass over hiring, which is what I mentioned last yesterday

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Speaker 2: into this. Primary motivation for this rebranding of job cuts

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Speaker 2: appears to be investor relations. The report notes that attributing

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Speaker 2: staff reductions to AI adoption conveys a more positive message

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Speaker 2: to investors than admitting the traditional business failures such as

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Speaker 2: weak consumer demand or excessive hiring in the past. By

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Speaker 2: framing layoffs as a technological pivot, companies can present themselves

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Speaker 2: as forward thinking innovators rather than business struggling with cyclical downturns.

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Speaker 2: In a recent interview, Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli told

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Speaker 2: Fortune that he's seen research about how because markets typically

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Speaker 2: celebrate news of job cuts, firms announced phantom layoffs. So

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Speaker 2: if you notice when companies are you know, trying to

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Speaker 2: you know, boost up their stock, they will announce, well,

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Speaker 2: we're going to we're going to announce a certain number

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Speaker 2: of layoffs. And then the investors look at that and say, well,

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Speaker 2: they're being very good stewards of our money. They are

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Speaker 2: trimming you know, their employees and they're going to be

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Speaker 2: more profitable, which means that our stock will be more

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Speaker 2: and then that boosts up the stock. But as they

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Speaker 2: talk about here phantom layoffs. Now, I want to take

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Speaker 2: you back to the story we had initially talking about

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Speaker 2: jobless claims increase marginally. In that story we talked about

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Speaker 2: Andy Challenger, Chief Revenue Officers Challenger Gray and Christmas. They

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Speaker 2: were talking about how, let me see showed layoffs.

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Speaker 3: Announced by US.

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Speaker 2: Employers jumped fifty eight percent to a five year high

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Speaker 2: of one point two million.

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Speaker 3: They said, the layoff.

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Speaker 2: Announced by US based employers, Now those may not have

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Speaker 2: come true.

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Speaker 3: They may have.

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Speaker 2: Been as they refer to in this story we're talking

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Speaker 2: about that they actually are phantom layoffs trying to stimulate

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Speaker 2: the stock market.

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Speaker 3: Isn't that interesting? Okay?

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Speaker 2: Investors typically celebrate news of job cuts, firms announce phantom

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Speaker 2: layoffs that never actually occur. Companies were arbitrarily let me

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Speaker 2: see arbitraging or arbitraging in other words, misleading the numbers.

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Speaker 2: There the positive stock market reaction to the news of

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Speaker 2: a potential layoff, but a few decades ago the market

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Speaker 2: stopped going up because of investors starting to realize that

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Speaker 2: companies were not actually even doing the layoffs that they

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Speaker 2: were trying to do. So what they're trying to do

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Speaker 2: is arbitrage these things. They're trying to play both ends. Again,

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Speaker 2: it's the middle to hope that prop up the stock

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Speaker 2: and some investors or some people kind of lay off

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Speaker 2: on that and don't pay attention to it.

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Speaker 3: But still you see stories.

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Speaker 2: Like from Challenger Gray and Christmas that's saying that these

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Speaker 2: layoffs have been announced, but they haven't come to fruition,

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Speaker 2: and so this is one of the things that's kind

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Speaker 2: of mutting the waters here data behind the hype. Oxford

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Speaker 2: Reports highlighted data from Challenger Gray and Christmas, the recruiting

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Speaker 2: firm that is one of the leading providers of this

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Speaker 2: kind of data layoff data, to illustrate the disparity between

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Speaker 2: the perception and reality. While AI was cited for the

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Speaker 2: reason for nearly fifty five thousand job cuts in the

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Speaker 2: first eleven months of twenty twenty five, accounting for over

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Speaker 2: seventy five percent of all AI related cuts reported since

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, this figure represents a mere four point

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Speaker 2: five percent of total reported job losses, so again over

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Speaker 2: inflating the number of announcements of job cuts only to

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Speaker 2: make sure that people think you're doing well, when in

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Speaker 2: fact you're doing nothing very interesting. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's

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Speaker 2: truck in Network seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 6: Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the

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Speaker 6: rest of the country and the Try State. Overnight mostly

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Speaker 6: claudi with rain near day break, the low down to

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Speaker 6: fifty seven morning rain for Friday, a high of sixty six.

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Speaker 6: Rain Saturday, coming to an end by early afternoon. Otherwise Claudia,

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Speaker 6: high of fifty three, mostly Claudia and colder Sunday a

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Speaker 6: high of thirty two. Nationally, parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula

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Speaker 6: and the Central High Plain seeing heavy snow while freezing

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Speaker 6: rain is possible from the Upper Midwest now into Friday

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Speaker 6: and into the Northeast by Friday evening into Saturday. There

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Speaker 6: is a slight risk of excessive rainfall from parts of

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Speaker 6: the Tennessee Valley to the Lower Mississippi Valley Friday into

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Speaker 6: Saturday morning.

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Speaker 2: Seven hundred IM Kevin Gordon is as America's struck a network.

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Speaker 2: You know, I've had, you know, more of a chance

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Speaker 2: to you ponder that, you know, before you know, I

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Speaker 2: was putting the show prep together, I was reading that

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Speaker 2: stuff about inflating the job layoff announcements versus what has

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Speaker 2: actually happened. Just the amount of how do you say,

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Speaker 2: just trying to dupe the investors, trying to It blows

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Speaker 2: my mind that all these things that people pick up

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Speaker 2: on and that affect the markets. When you dig into

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Speaker 2: the numbers and find out that hey are not as

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Speaker 2: bad as you. And again, if they're putting out these

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Speaker 2: announcements and saying that they're going to be doing certain layoffs,

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Speaker 2: then people having their perception that, oh my gosh, there's

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Speaker 2: going to be a ton of layoffs, the unemployment rate

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Speaker 2: is going to go up, there's going to be you know,

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Speaker 2: job market, the job market is softening, and there's going

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Speaker 2: to be possibly with people getting layoff like that. The

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Speaker 2: economic downturn when in fact it is merely phantom layoffs,

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Speaker 2: which is just blows my mind. But again, if you

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Speaker 2: miss any part of that, or miss any of our

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Speaker 2: previous shows, hit up that iHeartRadio app and of course

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Speaker 2: that's brought to you by our friends at Rush Truck Centers.

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Speaker 2: Another story that surprised me, and this is from the

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Speaker 2: Federal Reserve. Okay, the San Francisco Federal Reserve, right again,

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Speaker 2: Federal Reserve twenty three thousand plus employees that work for them.

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Speaker 2: They have twenty you know, a lot of them I

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Speaker 2: assume are economists if you figure that they're in the

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Speaker 2: financial business and financial industry, and they determine as far

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Speaker 2: as you know, the job market, inflation and all that,

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Speaker 2: determining whether or not they should raise or lower interest rates.

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Speaker 2: So you would assume that there'd be some economists in there.

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Speaker 2: I get this research note from the Federal Reserve San

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Speaker 2: Francisco observed that previous episodes of high tariff rates resulted

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Speaker 2: in lower inflation and mapped out two possible explanations for

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Speaker 2: the phenomenon.

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Speaker 3: What have I been.

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Speaker 2: Saying since Liberation Day back on April the second? Digging

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Speaker 2: back into my economics class when I was in college,

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Speaker 2: listening to people like Larry Kudlow, listening to people like

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Speaker 2: our friend Phil Flynn with Price Futures Group, listening to

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Speaker 2: people Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank talking about that it's

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Speaker 2: not tariffs that add to inflation. It's overspending. It's out

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Speaker 2: of control spending by the federal government, which we saw

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Speaker 2: in the later stages of the Biden administration. Well, actually

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Speaker 2: in the beginning of the Biden administration when they did

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Speaker 2: the Inflation Reduction Act, which had nothing to do with

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Speaker 2: inflation reduction but had more to do with green energy

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Speaker 2: programs to be as a windfall to donors of the

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Speaker 2: Democratic Party, and then any of these stimulus bills or

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Speaker 2: of stimulus checks that went out, even though they were

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Speaker 2: warned that that would lead to inflation, they went ahead

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Speaker 2: and did it anyway. So government spending, out of control

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Speaker 2: government spending leads to inflation, not necessarily tariffs. And here

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Speaker 2: we have the San Francisco Federal Reserve Research Group says

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Speaker 2: the same thing. The fifteen percent increase in the average

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Speaker 2: US tariff rate in twenty twenty five was the largest

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Speaker 2: in the modern era. It pointed out the researchers looked

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Speaker 2: back to before World War Two to see the potential

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Speaker 2: effects from high tariff rates. Let me see see what

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Speaker 2: the potential effects from high tariff rates might have on

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Speaker 2: the economy. Since World War II, global tariffs dropped from

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Speaker 2: ten percent in nineteen forty five to under three percent

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Speaker 2: by January of twenty twenty five due to the General

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Speaker 2: Agreement on Tariffs and Trade an acronym of GATT or GAT.

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Speaker 2: The last time average tariffs were above fifteen percent occurred

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Speaker 2: between World War One and World War Two. Prominent theory

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Speaker 2: says tariff shocks tend to increase domestic production costs because

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Speaker 2: the import value it arises.

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Speaker 3: So if you have higher costs.

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Speaker 2: Coming in, of course you're going to have higher costs

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Speaker 2: going out. That's one theory we've talked about that our

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Speaker 2: estimate suggests the opposite, however, with the shocks from higher

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Speaker 2: terriffs leading to both higher unemployment and lower inflation. Of

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Speaker 2: this note said, however, what they're talking about that in

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Speaker 2: the past that high inflation or partial inflation or low

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Speaker 2: layoffs hasn't occurred. One possible explanation is that terraff shock

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Speaker 2: generally coincides with the increased economic uncertainty, which by itself

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Speaker 2: depresses economic added activity and puts downward pressure on inflation.

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Speaker 2: Another possible explanation. So they're writing this research paper and

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Speaker 2: they're arguing with them, and yet they got the big headline.

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Speaker 2: The bottom line is that their research is suggesting that

438
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 2: higher tariffs could reduce inflation. Actually, then they get into

439
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 2: that apparently their original theories in terms of this is

440
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 2: going to lead to inflation, lead to high unemployment, and

441
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:26,280
Speaker 2: lead to a possible recession because numbers today don't necessarily

442
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 2: match these situation from one.

443
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 3: Hundred years ago.

444
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 2: So again, these are economists, These people you would think

445
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 2: would have a basic understanding of the history of economics,

446
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,879
Speaker 2: the push and pull from different sectors of the economy,

447
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:50,199
Speaker 2: whether tariffs increase, tariffs decrease, inflation up, inflation down, or

448
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,400
Speaker 2: what are the actual pressures on the economy. And yet

449
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 2: the people that are on the federal that in the

450
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:02,199
Speaker 2: Federal Reserve, that they cannot get their handle on it.

451
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 2: But they're going to be the stewards and they're going

452
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,400
Speaker 2: to know what it is all about as far as

453
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,919
Speaker 2: when to raise interest rates. That's why he keep hearing

454
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,200
Speaker 2: that Lion Jerry pebble will, at least for me, lion

455
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,960
Speaker 2: Jerry Powell changes what he's saying in terms of what

456
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,080
Speaker 2: is going to why, what is going to affect interest

457
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,399
Speaker 2: rates either increases or decreases, And it's going to be

458
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 2: basically on what his whim is. And if the fact

459
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 2: that you look back at the history of the Federal Reserve,

460
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 2: they have always been late to the game and either

461
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 2: interest rates cuts or interest rate increases, that the damage

462
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 2: has already done and all they do is play catch

463
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 2: up and the situation continues. And basically this story, with

464
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 2: them talking about and arguing about both sides of the issue,

465
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 2: they don't even really come to a conclusion except for

466
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 2: the fact that research suggests that higher tears could reduce inflation. Unbelievable,

467
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 2: even though all these so called experts back in April

468
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 2: we're saying that, oh, this is going to lead to inflation,

469
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 2: going to lead to unemployment, high unemployment, and going to

470
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 2: result in the possibility of a recession. And yet as

471
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,959
Speaker 2: we've seen and as we've talked about on this program,

472
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 2: it hasn't happened.

473
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 3: So isn't that amazing?

474
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 2: I go back to this saying, and I keep bringing

475
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 2: it up because the more and more you read it,

476
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 2: and the more and more you hear it, the more

477
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 2: it's true. An economist is an expert who will know

478
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 2: tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

479
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 2: So everything they do is always in the hindsight. They'll

480
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 2: explain why stuff that they predicted didn't happen. They won't

481
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 2: say that their predictions were wrong. They'll just explain to

482
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 2: why other things happened that changed what they had predicted.

483
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 2: It is just absolutely amazing and to a certain extent,

484
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 2: mind boggling. One of the things that is very interesting,

485
00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,120
Speaker 2: and again bringing these things up, bringing up the the

486
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 2: fact about unemployment, initial jobless claims, whether or not tariffs

487
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 2: are going to increase inflation, which then if it increases inflation,

488
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 2: people are not going to be able to afford to

489
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,640
Speaker 2: buy certain things, which then leaves things on the shelves

490
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 2: more people are not buying things, which means that it's

491
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 2: going to adversely affect the trucking industry. But what we're

492
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 2: seeing is that the opposite of that, that the employment

493
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 2: numbers that we are getting don't pay attention to the announcements,

494
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,520
Speaker 2: pay attention to what the initial jobless claims are and

495
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 2: what they are. And in one of the stories they

496
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 2: were talking about I don't believe I mentioned it, but

497
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 2: the fact is that they were saying that now that

498
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 2: they have a better handle on what's going on after

499
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 2: the holidays and after the Schumer shut down, that it

500
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 2: appears as though that the unemployment rate that they had

501
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 2: said was up to four point six percent may actually

502
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 2: be revised down. And who has been saying that since

503
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 2: that number was announce right here on America's truck In

504
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 2: Network once again, listen to this program. You're gonna be

505
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 2: far ahead of the curve so far they won't even

506
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 2: see your tail lights. One of the other things going

507
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 2: on is productivity levels, how much people are producing on

508
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 2: the job, whether that number is up or down.

509
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 3: We'll be talking about that coming up.

510
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:26,840
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck a Network seven hundred WLW.

511
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 7: News Radio seven hundred WLW and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human

512
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 7: seven hundred WLW, HI Hard Radio Live.

513
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:44,080
Speaker 2: This is America's struck In Network, seven hundred WLW.

514
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 3: I'm Kevin Gordon.

515
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:51,240
Speaker 2: Labor productivity again, this is good news, can be good news,

516
00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 2: can be bad news because Again, if people on the

517
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 2: job are producing more and their productivity is up, then

518
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 2: that means more goods are on on the market. And

519
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 2: because people are more productive, then the employment costs stretched

520
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 2: out over the number of units that are actually manufactured.

521
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,840
Speaker 2: You know, if in an hour period of time, whatever

522
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 2: your hourly rate is, if you're producing ten percent more

523
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 2: than what you were earlier for whatever reason, maybe job flow,

524
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 2: maybe the way things of the supply chain, or something

525
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 2: along those lines. If productivity is up, the cost per

526
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 2: unit goes down. That would then lower the prices, lower inflation,

527
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,360
Speaker 2: and then we would have things better on an even keel,

528
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 2: and we'd actually see prices coming down. So this is

529
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 2: an important number from that aspect. Again, you have certain

530
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 2: topics again when I go into and I search these things,

531
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 2: because on a weekly basis, the economic calendar comes out.

532
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 2: You know what reports are going to be done on

533
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 2: what particular day, and then on that day you can

534
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,560
Speaker 2: go and search it. But you don't want to go

535
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 2: to just one resource. You want to go to several

536
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 2: resources so you get an accurate picture of what's going on.

537
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 2: And of course sometimes some reports will actually contradict within

538
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,680
Speaker 2: the story itself what they're saying, and so by reading

539
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 2: a lot more articles about the same issue, you come

540
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 2: to a well. In our case, here aut America's truck

541
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 2: in network the right conclusion because again we have been

542
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 2: right more than we have been wrong on this program.

543
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 2: Look at some of the headlines Barons on their headline,

544
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 2: US productivity surges, but AI isn't driving efficiency gains yet,

545
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 2: which is kind of ties into what we were seeing

546
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 2: earlier that some of these AI gains or some of

547
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:52,239
Speaker 2: these AI layoffs aren't necessarily factored in there properly. That

548
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 2: it has to do more with over hiring US product

549
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,680
Speaker 2: This is from Bloomberg dot Com. US productivity picked up

550
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 2: in the third quarter. Labor costs declined again. If the

551
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,680
Speaker 2: labor costs again, if you're producing more items per hour,

552
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 2: then the cost of your labor to that is stretched

553
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 2: over a lot more products, which would be then the

554
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 2: labor costs would be down.

555
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:18,720
Speaker 3: Third quarter.

556
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: According to Reuter's third quarter productivity rises at.

557
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 3: Fastest pace in two years.

558
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 2: Taking a look at that particular story at US economy,

559
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:33,960
Speaker 2: secret weapon surges in a third quarter, raising hopes of

560
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:40,400
Speaker 2: AI payoff again. A lot of talk about AI and AI,

561
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 2: depending upon how it's used in the workforce can make

562
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 2: you more productive, make things a lot easier for you

563
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:54,600
Speaker 2: to handle, and may do some of the research not

564
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,719
Speaker 2: necessarily lead to layoffs, but actually make the employees that

565
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 2: are there little bit more efficient, which is always good.

566
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 2: One of the biggest drivers of the strong US economy,

567
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,400
Speaker 2: worker productivity surged over the summer and in early fall,

568
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,400
Speaker 2: raising hopes that investment in artificial intelligence is beginning to

569
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 2: pay off.

570
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:18,799
Speaker 3: US productivity accelerated at a.

571
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 2: Four point nine percent annual clip in the third quarter.

572
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 2: The government said on Thursday. The game was in liign

573
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 2: with what forecasts of economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal.

574
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 2: Productivity has been steadily improving, and some economists expect the

575
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,280
Speaker 2: trend to continue. You know, quite honestly, this could also

576
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 2: be the fact that since the pandemic, people are back

577
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 2: to work, they had not been on the job, or

578
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 2: they had switched jobs as a result of maybe the

579
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,359
Speaker 2: possibility of higher pay someplace else. And you know, in

580
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 2: some instances, you look at certain jobs and they talk

581
00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:01,120
Speaker 2: about how it takes somewhere between six months to a

582
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 2: year or more to get very efficient and knowledgeable of

583
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,760
Speaker 2: that particular position to the point where you are being

584
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 2: very productive. This may not have anything to do with AI,

585
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 2: but more the fact that somebody is used to doing

586
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:17,320
Speaker 2: this particular job.

587
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 3: They know some of the shortcuts.

588
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 2: Because if you've ever done any cooking, if you've ever

589
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,479
Speaker 2: done any baking, if you start off and you've never

590
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 2: done the recipe before, you are going to be going

591
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 2: line by line because you know, if you look at

592
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,880
Speaker 2: the recipe, it'll say, oh, the preparation time is ten minutes,

593
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 2: and the baking time or the cooking time is exercise,

594
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,799
Speaker 2: and it gives you all these statistics. But if you've

595
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:45,720
Speaker 2: never prepared it before, that preparation time may be double

596
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,400
Speaker 2: or triple because you're making sure that you want to

597
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,319
Speaker 2: do it accurately. So you're going to the cookbook, you're

598
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,600
Speaker 2: going to the recipe, you're reading the ingredients, you're measuring

599
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 2: those out, you're reading and you're saying, Okay, I got

600
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,760
Speaker 2: to do this step, then I got to do this step,

601
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,840
Speaker 2: that I have to do this step and this step. Well,

602
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 2: after you've done that a few times, then you know

603
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,200
Speaker 2: what to do, and you could you don't have to

604
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,400
Speaker 2: keep referring back to the recipe, and it just becomes

605
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:13,160
Speaker 2: memory skills. Of where you know what to put in,

606
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,160
Speaker 2: you know what to do, and you know how to

607
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 2: do it. So on the job market or in the

608
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 2: job in the working if you in fact know what

609
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,319
Speaker 2: you're doing and you have had the experience doing this,

610
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,879
Speaker 2: then you become more productive at your job. And that

611
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,239
Speaker 2: could account for a lot of what this productivity increases.

612
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 2: Because we are now and to a certain extent, some

613
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,319
Speaker 2: of these companies have actually told their employees you're no

614
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:40,399
Speaker 2: longer working from home.

615
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 3: We want you back in the office.

616
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 2: And maybe because they're back in the office, or a

617
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 2: lot of companies are back in the office, the productivity

618
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,840
Speaker 2: is up. People aren't home, they aren't messing around on

619
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,160
Speaker 2: the computer, but you know, doing whatever they're doing, and

620
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 2: they're actually on the job being more productive. That isn't

621
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,800
Speaker 2: covered in here, but that's the theory I'm putting out there.

622
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 2: Productivity has steadily be increasing, improving, and some economists expect

623
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,720
Speaker 2: the trend to continue. Unit labor costs fell one point

624
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,800
Speaker 2: nine percent in the third quarter to assign that labor

625
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 2: costs are now driving inflationary pressures so or not driving

626
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,800
Speaker 2: inflationary pressures. So again, as the unit costs come down,

627
00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,880
Speaker 2: the cost of that item comes down and it can

628
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,279
Speaker 2: be sold for a lot cheaper on a year over

629
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 2: year basis. Productivity accelerated to one point nine percent gain

630
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 2: from one point five percent in the third quarter or

631
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 2: in the prior quarter. In the third quarter, output rose

632
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 2: five point four percent annual clip, while the hours work

633
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 2: rose point five percent. Hourly compensation adjusted for inflation fell

634
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:48,880
Speaker 2: two tenths of one percent in the third quarter. Matthew Martin,

635
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 2: senior economists at Oxford Economics. Now Oxford Economics is the

636
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:57,319
Speaker 2: group that talked about the AI story and that some

637
00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:03,360
Speaker 2: of the job layoffs are phantom layoffs and not actual layoffs,

638
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,800
Speaker 2: so again kind of tying the various stories together together.

639
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:08,399
Speaker 3: Productivity will be.

640
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 2: A key to determining the economy's speed limit and inflationary dynamics.

641
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 2: If productivity growth continues to accelerate due to tax cuts, deregulation,

642
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:23,600
Speaker 2: and technological advancements, including AI, economic growth can pick up

643
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:29,480
Speaker 2: without causing unwanted inflation. According to the Richmond Fed, President

644
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 2: Tom Barkin said in a speech on Monday, reluctant to

645
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,680
Speaker 2: pass along higher prices from President Donald Trump's tariffs to

646
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 2: their customers, businesses have used automation and reduced hiring to

647
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:47,360
Speaker 2: offset cost increases. Well, the other side of that is

648
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,400
Speaker 2: is that they may have cut into their profit margins

649
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:53,800
Speaker 2: a little bit. The profit margins again, as I talked about,

650
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 2: as far as tariffs are concerned, you have many layers

651
00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:01,200
Speaker 2: of tariffs. You have something being manufactured in a foreign country,

652
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,920
Speaker 2: cheaper labor than over here, they have high margins. Before

653
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,719
Speaker 2: they sell it to the exporter, they maybe absorbed some

654
00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:13,239
Speaker 2: of those tariffs. The exporter themselves may absorb some of

655
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 2: those tariffs. The importer may absorb some of those tariffs. Again,

656
00:40:18,719 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 2: because you're concerned about you're concerned about customer loyalty and

657
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 2: your customer base.

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00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 3: You don't want to lose that, so you.

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00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 2: Absorb that a little bit at the importer level. Then

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00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 2: it goes to the wholesaler, and then to the retailer

661
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 2: and then to the customer. So because of trying to

662
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,680
Speaker 2: maintain market share, these companies are absorbing this.

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00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:44,439
Speaker 3: Along the way.

664
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 2: So again, this may not be just all according to

665
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:53,000
Speaker 2: the FED, that that people are automation is reducing these costs,

666
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:55,839
Speaker 2: because there's really no sign of that. Well, folks, we're

667
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:57,760
Speaker 2: up against the clock here. Time for us to scoot

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00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,400
Speaker 2: out the door. I hope you have a great weekend.

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Speaker 2: Stay tuned for red Eye Radio at the top of

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00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 2: the hour. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven

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Speaker 2: hundred WLW