Catherine Rampell

You know, these are jobs that these are very demanding, difficult, backbreaking jobs.

They're very hard to fill.

It's not like.

I think Americans were being turned away from these positions.

In fact, construction companies have been complaining about labor shortages for years at this point.

So it's not like if you get rid of the immigrants, suddenly there'll be a lot of new openings for Americans.

Again, take all of these numbers with a grain of salt because there are a lot of measurement issues right now.

If you took them at face value, what might be going on?

Well, there is a huge need for new housing.

right?

Housing prices have gone through the roof.

People need new homes.

And so I think there's still demand for new homes.

The question is, will there be workers to build those new homes?

But if there are any workers available, yes, I think firms are scooping them up.

But the broader point here is I am slightly obsessed with this question of why isn't the private sector doing more to push back against Trump, not for reasons of moral clarity or caring about democracy, but because

he is destroying their business model and he is making it much harder for them to operate.

And, you know, there are different ways to see all of it.

That's what I'll get into my newsletter tomorrow.

Oh, yeah.