Trumpenomics
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https://www.foodandwine.com/self-checkout-theft-rates-increase-lendingtree-report-2025-11869915
https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/checkout-theft-survey/
Twenty-seven percent of users now admit to purposefully not scanning items, up from 15% just two years ago, according to a new survey from LendingTree released as the holiday shopping season peaks. The jump comes as grocery costs continue to climb and economic pressure on lower-income households grows.
Among those who admitted to stealing, 47% cited "unaffordable essentials" as their primary reason, while 39% said prices felt "unfair or too high." ...
I am surprised that theft at the self-checkout lines is now so pervasive.
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The logistics are not that simple at my local HEB and presumably most places. You can't just put an unscanned thing in the bagging area, because there's a scale there expecting exact weights for exact items that you scan. You'd have to put the unscanned item in your cart directly, without being seen by the watcher person. But there it would sit until you've completed your checkout, and they'd have questions.
There are more advanced versions I've heard about where a person might scan a cheap item of a certain weight, then put a more expensive item of the same weight in the bagging area. Then scan the cheap item again and put it in the bagging area. That would be more difficult for the watcher to notice, and would leave no trace through the rest of the checkout process.
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I think easy cheating is dropping the leading â9â from organic foods (or selecting the non-organic option from the menu) since you can feign ignorance if caught.
One time I accidentally didnât take out the item from the bottom of my cart (I think it was paper towels), scanned everything else, put the bags in my cart, and headed out. Then I noticed it and went back to scan the big item in a separate transaction. That would have been another possibility with plausible deniability. You could theoretically steal some real $ that way, a big fat organic turkey for example.
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Trump threatens 100 percent tariffs on Canadian goods over China deal
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/24/trump-canada-100-percent-tariff-threat/
... Trump on Saturday threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods if the country âmakes a deal with China,â a week after he said Prime Minister Mark Carney striking a trade deal with Beijing was âgoodâ and what he âshould be doing.â
âIf Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a âDrop Off Portâ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,â Trump wrote on Truth Social. âChina will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life.â
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Trump threatens 100 percent tariffs on Canadian goods over China deal
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/24/trump-canada-100-percent-tariff-threat/
... Trump on Saturday threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods if the country âmakes a deal with China,â a week after he said Prime Minister Mark Carney striking a trade deal with Beijing was âgoodâ and what he âshould be doing.â
âIf Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a âDrop Off Portâ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,â Trump wrote on Truth Social. âChina will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life.â
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LOL
Yup, he is running into the same problems Biden had, and he is quickly losing the timeframe where is thinks he can blame Biden for his current economic problems.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/27/trump-south-korea-trade-tariffs/
South Korean officials found themselves scrambling on Tuesday morning after waking up to a social media post from President Donald Trump announcing a fresh hike in tariffs on their country.
Trump said he would raise levies from 15 percent to 25 percent on autos, lumber, pharmaceuticals and all other goods affected by âReciprocal TARIFFSâ that are shipped from South Korea to the United States, citing the South Korean legislatureâs failure to approve a trade deal he had reached with Seoul in July. âWhy hasnât the Korean Legislature approved it?â Trump wrote in the post.
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Jan. 2026 jobs report: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
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Damnit. I really needed $21,308.
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US Trade Deficit Hits Record High Despite Tariffs
US goods imports continued to outpace its exports last year, sending the country's trade deficit to a new high despite sweeping tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump.
The gap between the value of goods imported into the US and American products sold to other countries widened by 2.1% compared to 2024, hitting roughly $1.2 trillion (ÂŁ890bn), official figures show.
The rise emerged despite a sharp drop in trade with China, one of the earliest targets of the tariffs.
The gap runs counter to one of the White House's key aims which is to reduce the deficit, arguing that US reliance on overseas goods has hollowed out the country's production abilities and put national security at risk.
