Chapter 1: What factors contributed to the rise in cargo theft in 2025?
Okay, look, fish tacos. That's all I'm saying. From American Public Media, this is Market Plants. In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. It is Wednesday today. This one is the 4th of February. Good as always to have you along, everybody. We begin on this Wednesday, as we are wont to do from time to time, with an eye on the economic calendar.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, no longer shut down, told us this morning that the January unemployment report, originally due on Friday, will now show up on Wednesday next. Which... Great. But at this point, can you blame us for trying to find other ways to measure the labor market at this fraught moment?
The payroll processing company ADP said this morning the economy added just 22,000 jobs in January. Marketplace's Sabri Beneshor spent his day reading those labor market tea leaves.
Clarence Clue is 43. He's his own boss. He's worked in PR in New York for a long time, and he is thinking it is time to branch out.
I see the writing on the wall for the industry in itself.
Businesses are still figuring out AI. Budgets are on hold. So he's looking for all kinds of positions.
The world around us is changing rapidly. I think we should be open to evolving as well. How do I feel about the market right now? Honestly, I think it's a bit terrifying.
Clue's not alone in feeling that way. Consumer sentiment is still depressed. That said, the job market looks to be at least stable. There's still jobs being added, but it's at a much slower rate. Macrina Wilkins is director of market insights at Associated General Contractors of America. It's hard to tell for sure right now because the government isn't releasing official data.
So economists are looking at other things, like what payroll processors are reporting.
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Chapter 2: How does cargo theft affect producers and consumers?
So Mercado La Paloma is this beautiful community center in South L.A. where you walk in. And there's six independently owned restaurants. There's four shops. And then there's non-profits on the second floor. And I think Mercado Paloma is unique in that all of these places truly reflect somebody's story. Chichen Itza is the culmination of my parents' lifelong dream. And Holbox is mine.
Tell me about your parents. My parents. Don Gilberto and Doña Blanca. From Yucatan, as am I. We immigrated to the United States for the first time in 1985. I was five years old. And like most immigrants, we came because things were tough in Mexico. They were looking for better opportunity for my sister and myself. And again, like most immigrants, my parents had lots of different jobs.
My dad focused on culinary jobs and did his passion, which was cook traditional Yucatecan food as a side hustle. Eventually, that side hustle got my mom involved into it. My sister and I, we were the little helpers shredding chicken for tamales for Sunday sales after church. My dad is my only chef mentor that I've ever had.
He was really great at connecting with customers and telling his story of his upbringing, his culinary roots through food. And I learned how powerful that was. And that's really what we try to do at Holbox.
I want to get to Holbox first. But it occurs to me, this is kind of an interview and a story, yours anyway, about place. Literally about Yucatan, but also about this place, Mercado La Paloma, and also this place, L.A., in South L.A.
I don't know. Am I making that up? No. No, that's really what the story is about. Mercado La Paloma is instrumental in everything that has happened to me. It was the only place my dad could open a restaurant. He didn't choose Mercado La Paloma amongst other options. This was a project started by a nonprofit, Esperanza Community Housing.
And the idea was, let's bring people that have something to tell through their food. but don't have the resources to do it, and let's help them out. So the nonprofit helped us out, my family out, with loans, small business training, basic accounting, these things that we didn't have and were outside of the reach of our resources. They co-signed loans for my dad to buy equipment.
So it's huge, and it formed a really strong relationship, which we continue to carry.
Is Place why you're still here? I mean, you're having amazing success. You could franchise, you could go to New York, you could go to... I mean, almost anywhere, right? On the strength of your name and what you've built. And yet you're still here.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of data centers building their own natural gas plants?
And then this is Komal. So Chef Fatima and Conrado's project. I mean, just look at it. It just screams, even the wall looks like corn, right?
I can confirm it does indeed. All different shades of yellow tile make that happen. Gilberto was sort of a mentor for Komal's Chef Fatima Juarez. She worked at both Chichen Itza and Holbox. Still supplies their masa, actually. Kamal opened in 2024. On the morning we visited, Chef Fatima had just been nominated for a James Beard Award, actually, for Emerging Chef.
And now is a threat to us because of the massive amount of success they've had. I'm so proud of them. I'm really proud of them.
Hilberto, we should say, also nominated for his third James Beard Award that morning, this time for Outstanding Chef. So we're going to end at Holbush. We end at Holbush.
When I come down here, what should I have? So I'm not going to say a specific menu item. When you come here, find a seat at the bar. Okay. Preferably over on the side next to the lobster tanks. Okay. Not specifically to have a conversation with the lobsters or anything, but that's where the cevicheros are working. Sit down and ask them, what should I get today?
So our menu, we print the menu out daily because it changes daily. Because that is what I personally enjoy about going to Mexico. You go to a little coastal town and you eat whatever's being caught. But yeah, order the ceviche, whatever fish ceviche is recommended by cevicheros. And then ask them, One to ten, how are the sea urchins today? If they say anything over a seven, you have to get it.
Okay, all right. Done deal. Shibata, thank you so much.
Guy, such a pleasure. Thank you.
I have to come. All right, I'm coming. Full disclosure, I haven't been back yet, but, you know, soon. I should have stayed neat and coming up.
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Chapter 4: How is the labor market evolving in the current economy?
You know the drill. Here, though, is the kicker. The company said it is going to double its capital expenditures this year, the overwhelming majority of which is going to AI. They're going to double them to somewhere between $175 and $185 billion American dollars. Our media production team includes Brian Allison, John Fochie, Montana Johnson, Drew Johnstead, Gary O'Keefe, and Charlton Thorpe.
I'm Kyle Rizdahl. We will see you tomorrow, everybody. This is APM.