Notice that in January, AI only accounts for 7% of the 108,435 announced layoffs. For all of 2025, the share is only 4.5%. For comparison, DOGE actions accounted for 24.4% (293,753) of total layoffs in 2025.
https://econbrowser.com/archives/2026/02/announced-job-layoffs-attributed-to-ai
Category: Politics, Religion & Money
Taking T
Somebody in the Trump organization must have noticed something I pointed out last month:
The Trump phone, assuming it ever actually becomes available, will not sport a tall “T” on back of the case.
The executives also said that while the phone will retain its golden finish and the American flag on the back, the large T1 logo would be removed from the final phone.
https://www.androidauthority.com/trump-phone-first-look-specifications-3638938/
Night of the Living Debt
A home equity line of credit is a type of second mortgage. I took one out 25 years ago to do some remodeling.
The HELOC and the mortgage on this place were paid off long ago. The property is now in a real estate trust that is untouchable to any outsider — unless the property tax doesn’t get paid.
The seemingly endless consequences of the Great Recession include foreclosures that are issued without prior notice. Zombie mortgages live!
Bezos WaPo “Lacks a Moral Core”
After receiving notice from the The New York Times that its digital subscription would be increasing from $25 to $30 every four weeks, I canceled my Washington Post digital subscription. I mentally applied its very modest $4 rate to the extra $5 the Times now costs.
Now there’s the announcement of a massive Post layoff. Former Post editor Marty Baron, whose book Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post I have read, comments.
Mom Joke
This is getting a lot of attention and coverage. It’s easy and free to put it here, so I will. Ashley Padilla looks likely to be the next SNL cast member who will get a movie or sitcom offer.
While We’re Waiting for Demolition
Trump promises he won’t tear it down, he’ll “only” gut the interior. Whatever he does, you know he won’t request Congressional approval for the shutdown, let alone bother to get approval for the funding.
https://x.com/FrancisWegner/status/2018106110524174828
