Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben — 2/5/26
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What does the latest jobs report reveal about U.S. layoffs?
welcome to ben micellus on breaking news i'm ben micellus and this is breaking news we've got a lot to discuss starting with the really bad jobs report this morning january layoffs surged to a 17-year high as u.s employers announced 108 435 layoffs in january That's up 205% from December and the highest January total since 2009 during the Great Recession right after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. There's a lot of comparisons to right now and 2009. That's not a good thing when all of these comparisons as it relates to people being laid off and people not getting the manufacturing jobs that they were promised. And a lot of comparisons to 2009. Economists are saying things like this. Sobering data from Challenger.
That's the group that does these reports. And by the way, we have to rely on groups like Challenger. because our own government is not doing reports that are uh up to the level that they once were sobering data from challenger on the u.s labor market announced job cuts in january more than doubled year over year hitting their highest level since the 2009 great recession
How are current layoffs compared to the Great Recession?
Most notably, these layoffs are occurring while the GDP continues to grow at approximately 4%, accelerating the decoupling of employment from economic growth. And that is another way of saying that the billionaires are getting richer, doing deals with each other over AI. while screwing over everybody else, who not only are not feeling the impact, but are being significantly adversely harmed by this Trump economy. As Heather Long, an economist, writes, the US hiring recession shows no sign of ending. Job openings fell to 6.5 million in December. That is the lowest level since September 2020 during COVID. So these comparisons are COVID, great recession the hiring rate remains anemic 3.3 firms aren't even thinking about hiring right now outside potentially of health care and ai and we know the trump regime is out there attacking health care and also having unregulated ai screw over we the people you know
I just did an interview with Assemblymember Boris over in New York State Assembly District 73. He's running for Congress in the 12th Congressional District.
What are the implications of the U.S. hiring recession?
That's that open primary Nadler's previous seat. And Boris's main agenda is talking about the threats posed by A.I., And for those who don't know his background, he worked in Palantir for like five years. And he resigned, quit from Palantir in 2019, where he started to see the links between Palantir and ICE in 2019. 2019 is when he resigned there. And so he's made his platform to call out the dangers of AI, but harness its powers, but call out the dangers of unregulated AI. And so a super PAC has devoted tens of millions of dollars to try to defeat him. And anyone who speaks out against AI you know, are getting attacked by these right wing oligarchs right now. It should be noted as well. Remember Donald Trump said that he was the, by the way, we're going to talk in this episode about Trump's Epstein coverup.
Okay. And what we're learning more as well. We're going to talk about that deranged interview that Donald Trump gave with NBC, where he talks about cognitive exams. And we're going to talk about the Senate hearings that have been taking place with Treasury Secretary Besson. I just, I think it's important that we start episodes like this with areas that are not getting enough attention. Because we've been talking about Epstein when it was not getting enough attention. And that's what I pride ourselves in this network about because we were talking about Epstein files since this network was founded.
What threats does AI pose according to Assemblymember Boris?
We were doing deep dives, Melania's dark past, Trump's dark past videos. I was doing interviews with the survivors five years ago. We were talking about what was going on then. So I know it's getting a lot of attention. I've done deep dive videos into the Epstein files. I've done the links between Putin and the Epstein files and Epstein's communications with Russia and whether Epstein was involved in a KGB kind of honey trap network right there.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does the latest jobs report reveal about U.S. layoffs?
0:01–1:30
2
How are current layoffs compared to the Great Recession?
1:30–2:58
3
What are the implications of the U.S. hiring recession?
2:58–4:43
4
What threats does AI pose according to Assemblymember Boris?
4:43–7:06
5
What revelations are emerging about Trump's connections to Epstein?
7:06–11:10
6
How is the crypto market performing amid economic changes?
11:10–13:19
7
What is the significance of the new gerrymandering map in Virginia?
13:19–15:04
8
What are the implications of Trump's recent lawsuits against the government?
15:04–58:06