10-29-25 America's Truckin' Network

You know, you think in terms of all these commercials you see for those resort areas, and all they ever do is focus on the beaches and so on, and you just think, okay, that's pretty much it. But the the pictures and the stuff that I was seeing in terms of how Jamaica is built, there's an awful lot

of hills there. And the one guy was talking about that, and I don't know if it's continuing to go on, but they said that Jamaica is basically a confluence of all these I guess plates in terms of the you know, the shifting of the of the land, and that these plates are pushing together and pushing the island actually higher out of the ocean, and a lot of these buildings are built on these hillsides, and with these steep hillsides, with the mount of rain that they're going to be getting,

the amount of flow, I mean, you not only have the surge of the of the hurricane coming in off the water, but then you've got the foot of rain, two feet of rain, et cetera, hitting these mountains and then coming down and flowing into the cities, and it is just going to be an absolute mess. So again, our hearts and prayers are going out to those people. I was not aware of how high and how hilly that area of Jamaica is. All I've ever seen is

pictures of the beaches and so on. Now, of course, once the hurricane Melissa is finished with them, moves on to Dominican Republic and then across the way and then goes into hopefully going to just hit the southeastern portion of Cuba, but that is the area where Quantanamo Bay is, and then they're talking about where it moves on from

there on to the Bahamas. But again, the trajectory of this storm looks like it's going to be heading northeast away from this area, and depending upon how it turns and what it turns and where it turns, hopefully it'll miss part of the Bahamas and hopefully maybe just nick the ends of Cuba. But of course we'll keep our eye on that particular storm. It is just they were telling you about that this hurricane season. Now, we have

not seen a direct landfall in the United States. This hurricane season began June first and ends November thirtieth, knock on wood that we won't have a direct hit. But we have had some storm surges as a result of some of these passing storms hitting the outer banks there around Cape Hatteras and whatever, North Carolina, and I think there were about twelve houses that are on stilts and whatever because of the storm surge actually got destroyed. But

for the most part we have escaped. But they said that this is one of the most active. The record number of five category five hurricanes that have been in the Atlantic Ocean the record this is going to be the well so far going to be the second highest at three hurricanes that are category five.

the land. But apparently back in two thousand and five there were actually four storms that got up to a category five, so they still got about a little about a month and a half left, a little over a month and a couple of weeks anyway till the end of the hurricane season, and hopefully we won't have any more category five hurricanes, or if we're going to have them, stay the hell off the you know, out in the ocean,

and so on. We talked yesterday about food prices and talked about inflation, and the thing that kept catching my eye just I am not downplaying the fact that there is some inflation. Okay, when you're looking at hot prices going up about two percent two and a half percent on a yearly basis, that adds up over time. But when you look at the way the spoon fed regurgitators in the mainstream media are characterizing this, this is the kind of talk, This is the kind of expectations I

would have seen from the spoon fed regurgitators. Back in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two, when we were having four and a half five and a half percent, we had one month where there was nine and a half percent increase in inflation in the month of June of twenty twenty two. We saw gas prices in twenty twenty two getting as high as a national average across the board. Now in California it was a lot higher, obviously, but across the board, the average gas price in the

United States was at five dollars a gallon. The average price now is around three h three to three h four. I think what's the number three? Yeah, three oh four, And so prices have come down considerably from there, and yet everybody wants to talk about, oh, fuel prices were up four point one percent, whereas I'm looking at numbers from last month and gas prices a month ago, we're at three thirteen and we're down nine cents almost ten

cents a gallon from that. So where they're coming up with these numbers and every time they do one of these analysis, I think the Wall Street Journal, or was that the New York Times did an analysis a couple of couple of months ago, and they were saying, well, just take a focus on in New York at the Walmart center there, and there are some prices that have

gone up fifty two percent. And pulling out that numbers, digging through the details and stuff, what we found or what I just looked at in terms of that was that this was a item imported from China. It was a pot and pan set from Drew Barrymore called Beautiful or whatever it was. That it went from ninety nine dollars up to one hundred and forty nine dollars. And this was an item imported from China. This isn't the best cookware available. There aren't other alternatives, not like there's

not other alternatives out there. And if they want want to raise those prices, if the Chinese labor there, and we talked about at the time, how.

the pot. And I keep saying that if I keep looking at these stories from the spoon feder regurgitators in the mainstream media, and it appears as though that they are trying to talk down the economy, talk down what's going on as far as economic policy is concerned, and they are trying to manufacture recession, and they are failing

miserably because things are humming along. We see that as far as the unemployment rate, we see that as numbers of the jobs created, although it's flat, there aren't very many layoffs, and we see the unemployment numbers where those aren't increasing dramatically, and when you see two percent increase in prices and stuff like that across the board, it's pretty much on average of what they were talking about before. And we'll get into a lot of this because we

want to talk a little bit more about it. But the one thing that popped out it seems like when they're talking about food prices, all they were, you know, at the beginning of the year, all it was was eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs are up forty two percent. Fit Trump's not bringing those is down. Well, now that those prices are down compared to last year, all of a sudden, well they've got to shift categories and talk about coffee and beef.

so on, so those prices will fluctuate. Energy itself fluctuates depending upon geopolitical issues, what's going on in terms of the sector, whether there's different refineries that are closing down or shutting down for maintenance, imports, storms on the seat, so all that's volatile. So they pull that out and say okay, put those off to the side, and then look at the other core items in the as far as inflation is concerned.

as much supply. And when you know, obviously, you know that when there's smaller supply and the demand is the same, the prices are going to go up. And yes, the tariffs have added to that to a certain percentage. But when you take into consideration the costs we've documented here on the program. We had the contracts that were signed by the West Coast and East Coast dock workers bringing those goods in, that's going to add to the product.

Plus you have fuel prices and stuff being transported. Plus you have the drought down there in South America in these coffee bean areas, and that's adding to it. So break picking those out the amount of tariffs that are added to this. Now they keep saying that coffee prices are up. Okay, they're saying coffee prices are up from last year by nineteen percent. Now they're saying also that the tariffs on these on coffee is somewhere in the

neighborhood on certain countries about forty percent. So if coffee prices are going up only nineteen percent. One of the things is is that I've talked about, and we've talked about on this program a number of times that because of the production costs, because of the availability, the big margins in some of these areas, some of these people are some of these companies are actually absorbing these increases.

As far as tariffs, now, there's been some movement because there is a program that if you've got rare things that are not actually available in the United States and they have to be imported, they can be exempted from any tariffs on that particular country and those can be eliminated. There's a push now to eliminate the tariffs on coffee, which would be good. But in the story that I read,

they talk about this. Nicky Bravo, the cow co owner of Momentum Coffee in Chicago, raised her prices by fifteen percent recently as to her coffee prices, and she talks about how, you know, she's paying fifteen percent more for the coffee coming into the country and coming into her business, but she's also roasting some of her own beans to try to offset that then you've got the added increase in terms of the sleeves, the cups, and all the

different supplies that's got to be added into it. Plus the fact that she has her operation of her stores in Chicago and Chicago back in twenty twenty put forth a new minimum wage law where the minimum wage in twenty twenty was thirteen dollars an hour and has now jumped up to sixteen dollars and sixty cents an hour. In July the first part of July, that price of the minimum wage for their stores or for those companies

that have employees went up two and a half percent. Now, when we have inflation at two and a half percent and we've got wages going up by two and a half percent, doesn't it stand a reason that some of the focus on this, and my point is what we need to do is we need to start not you know, the spoon fed regurgitators in the mainstream media. Well, have you believe that all these price increases are a result of tariffs, Whereas.

the part of the spoon, federalgirdstairs and mainstream media. Again, it's not like we don't know that prices are going up, but you know when there are other things that are causing that, whether it be drought, whether it be the wages that are being paid, Let's be truthful about that and talk about that as opposed to trying to pass it off as far as tariffs are concerned. But I

thought it was interesting. I mean, back in twenty twenty, the effective rate was the minimum wage back then was ten dollars an hour, and then they immediately in twenty twenty one raise that to fifteen dollars an hour, and then from that point on two and a half percent, depending upon inflation, was raised every year since then, so they jumped from fifteen dollars and eighty cents an hour up to sixteen dollars and twenty cents an hour as

of July the first. So when they talk about the price of coffee and stuff, I mean they're talking about that, you know, these restaurants they're saying is September, the cost the average price for a cup of coffee was three dollars and fifty four cents compared to three dollars and forty five cents last year. Well, that's up two point six percent. So again, even with the increased terrace as far as coffee, the drought and so on, a two point six percent increase. But where were these people, Where

were these people whining about inflation? Back in twenty one twenty two, we had gas prices go up a full dollar a gallon from the beginning of well from January of twenty twenty to the January of twenty twenty one, and then when Russia invaded Ukraine it went up another dollar twenty five.

have very many eggs. So there are reasons behind this, and not just because of an economy that's going to hell in a handbasket. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's Truck and Network seven hundred WLW.

break with her party. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green acknowledging she lashed out on a Republican call, accusing the gop of not having a plan to tackle healthcare costs. Green writing today, she confronted Speaker Johnson, saying, I have no respect for the House not being in session, and I demand to know from Speaker Johnson what the Republican plan for healthcare is. Forty million Americans now days away from losing food benefits as the standoff continues if Congress does not act now.

few alternatives. State leaders argue the changes will deliver tax relief to homeowners, but districts say it comes as at the expense of students and staff across Ohio. Now, Lee Mallen, let's talk about some sports.

The Colonels will battle the Louisville Saint Xavier Tigers for the title Saturday afternoon at four from the Lexington Sporting Club.

to do on interest rates, whether they're going to lower them keep them the same. Now the thinking is that they're going to lower the interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

Every time they talk about stimulating the economy, every time, people look at what interest rates do when it affects your credit cards, when it affects your home loans, when it affects your your financing as far as if you're trying to buy a new truck, or fleets trying to expand their fleet, or if you're trying to expand your business by buying additional equipment or expanding the buildings you operate, and all these things require financing, and if financing is high,

it may put you on the sideline to the point where you're not going to make that investment at that particular point in time. But lower mortgage rates are pushing home sales. One of the downsides of that, though, is that when interest rates come down, some of these people get it in their head that well, people are getting a break on their mortgage and they're going to be paying less, so maybe I can get a little bit

more from my house now. There is that thinking. But part of what's driving that though, is that when interest rates come down, the affordability of homes are there and more people jump in. When more people jump in, you have a bigger demand. And if there's tighter supply, then those prices are going to go up because as we pointed out the other day, that some of the inventory of available homes is less than what it normally is.

weekend and even up to this point. Again, apparently, if there's good news, then our friends, the spoon fed regurgitators in the mainstream media aren't going to cover it. All they want to cover is the doom and gloom. Now, when you look at some of these the numbers, the count is based on closing, so people signing contracts, likely in July and August when mortgage rates were coming down, but we're not as low as they are now.

And so when you have an influx there of one hundred and fifty thousand people jumping into the housing market, they are then well, they're going to be spending money. They're going to be going into a home. They're probably going to have a bigger home than the size of their apartment, which means that they're going to be buying

more furniture, They're going to be doing some renovations. They're going to possibly be buying some carpet paint, maybe new appliances and stuff, which are good for the overall economy. And if the economy is good, that means that more stuff is going to have to be shipped, and you guys are going to be a lot busier out there hauling more and more freight because of this. And if you're talking about a half a percentage point that draws one hundred and fifty thousand people into the market, imagine

when those prices come down even further. We're talking about, and we've gone through the numbers several times on this show, the difference between the type of house you can you know, what your price would be at certain interest rates, and what your monthly mortgage payment would be at lower interest rates.

And we've seen that, and we've talked about what it would be if the affordability wise on a monthly payment, how much larger house you can afford, and the numbers are astronomical, and you know, I can post something about that, or I may talk about that later on, but I've talked about it three or four times now, and I'm sure a lot of people have heard it. But when these interest rates come down, the affordability comes down and

more people can jump into the market. And the fact that Federal reserve their interest rates that they talk about, which is the borrowing rate that banks do when they need money and they you know, for cashing checks or whatever their cash needs for that day, they have to borrow from other banks, and the bank rate is that four percent four point two five percent. But as a result of that, that also affects the interest rates on credit cards, mortgages and everything that's financed. So when that

rate starts coming down. That's when you start seeing a lowering of interest rates. And just with that quarter percentage point that the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates last month, we see a half a percentage point in mortgages coming down.

And so you know, I've been talking all along the thing that is holding this economy back, and I keep making the analysis that it reminds me of these movies I used to you'd see from the Oklahoma land rush, where on a given day the territory was opened up for people to go in and claim their stake. They could get sixteen acres or whatever the number was, and they all had to do was put a stake down and then have it logged in and you know, just register it and it was their land. And at that

date everybody was lined up on the border. All these wagons and all these horses and everything were all lined up, and that it is. You know, the gun was fired off and everybody rushed in. That's how I see this economy. With lower interest rates, our economy will absolutely explode for

the good. And I've been talking about all along. You see what we've seen as far as the just with things as they are, they were predicting that our gross domestic product would only be around one point eight percent. We already saw the effect of the resilience of the American people, the resilience of the American consumer, that that gross domestic product is up to three point eight percent.

And I've said that if these interest rates come down and the way this economy is not even if the interest rates come down, with the way this economy is going, with the trade deals that are being cut, and we just had a bunch of trade deals with Trump being over in Asia, with Japan, and hopefully there's some signs that there's going to be something done as far as China. They're getting moved more closer and closer to making a deal.

Those teriff rates will come down and we will have a lot more prosperity and a lot more free flow

of goods. Fair trade. Fair trade as opposed to just free trade, and so if this economy, I still I am still maintaining the fact that by the end of this year, Okay, we've only got what two more months, basically at the end of this month, the end of twenty twenty five, we will see that the gross domestic product will be somewhere between four point five and five percent, and I do seriously believe that inflation will be down

around that two percentage point range. I'm maintaining that, and what we need is a little bit of cooperation from Lyon and Jerry Powell and the FED. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck and Network seven hundred WLW.

things are not cast in concrete. On liberation, day, he put out and said that as of a date, certain these tariffs were going to go into effect as reciprocal teriffs if the other countries don't reduce their terraffs. And he had the different charts where it showed what they charge our goods going into their country versus what we charge,

and we were going to reciprocate those terraffts. That was a negotiating tool to get them to the table to start negotiating and bring these tariffs down on our goods and opening up their markets to our goods, which would lead to more jobs, more exports, more volume, more freight, et cetera. Good for our country here and the people working that is been going forward very rapidly. They're now in the final stages trying to pull together a deal with China which should bring some of those prices down

as well. But where there is an area that needs to be tweaked, you put on a fifty percent terra for something, then you look at some of those items within those exports coming into this country, what would penalize some of our people. He's done Exemptions one of the

things they're working on. I talked about this in one of the previous segments talking about with the coffee prices, possibly putting in an exemption to that to bring the price of coffee down even though there's been droughts down there and so on.

cattle cannot grays on the open land. They have to be fed, and so with grain prices up, it becomes very expensive to produce cattle, and so a lot of people have thinned their herds to the point where we are at the level in terms of the herds that are in the United States are at levels we haven't seen since we're at the levels where they were back in nineteen fifty one. So we're talking about a seventy five, seventy seventy two, seventy four years low. So of course

that's going you're going to have a dwindling supply. So a lot of the beef that we have been importing from other countries has been offsetting that to keep the prices a little bit low, last lower than what they would normally be. Trump suggested last week or last week suggests that the US will be buying more beef from Argentina and with that coming in should affect the prices

a little bit. But there were the cattlemen were not too happy with that because they said that that would artificially push down the prices and that they wouldn't be making as much. And the way the story was written, it said why cattlemen say Trump talk of Argentine beef imports is no solution. Again, the headline didn't match the story. It talked about some of the stuff that they have to do and some of the things that they need to do, and well as far as one of the

things in there talking about the drought conditions. The cattle ranchers in Texas and around the country are concerned about the screw worm, which is a parasitic fly that was once eradicated in the United States, is threatening a comeback on the Mexican border. They had an infestation of the infestation of that down in the southern parts of Mexico and it has already moved up almost halfway through the country and getting close to the border.

the US after traveling to Al Salvador. H not where the Maryland dad was from and could it possibly be No, it's not Chris van Holland that went to his senator from Maryland. Remember he went down there and had Margarita's with kilmar Abrego Garcia. No, but it was apparently somebody else who traveled down to El Salvador and got this flesh eating disease. But what they've tried to do is put these sterile flies to go down there and breed,

so it basically kills off. But these parasites if it was eradicated in the United States and been eradicated for Center for decades. Why can't that technology be put forth and eradicate those diseases down in Mexico. I don't I don't understand that. But again, that's one of the things that the Trump administration is trying to do. They're trying to be flexible in terms of importing beef or allowing beef to be imported from different areas of the world,

to pull our prices down and get them back more reasonable. Now, with these trade negotiations going on with China them moving closer and closer to a deal, it's throwing closer one of the areas that I thought was a done deal. And I'm surprised that this is weird. Its ugly head is Canada. Canada? All of a sudden, well Trump is you know, we had they had that meeting with Mark Carney in the in the Oval office, what was it a week and a half ago, and they were chuckling

it up. They were seemed like they were fast friends. It looks like they were, you know, really on the same page and talking about things. Well, all of a sudden, I don't know if he was getting some pressure from the folks back home that hey, you're cozying up to this guy.

They are now sucking up to him, and they are just they we are eating their lunch.

give them ammunition. But apparently there's been something that ruffled some feathers somewhere along the lines. Hope it's not been the broadcast talking about this, but there's been some trade negotiations between the two countries which has suddenly fallen apart, and Trump has suspended trade negotiations with Canada. Now that's happened once before and then eventually they got back to

the table. Was probably a negotiating tool. But I don't know if you've seen this ad where I guess it's Ontario that is running this ad talking about Ronald Reagan where he was giving a speech talking about tariffs, and if you just look at that commercial on the surface, it looks pretty interesting from the standpoint of where he's saying, the terrorists may feel good, it may bring in more revenue and so on, but eventually the others are going to retaliate and it's going to be bad for American

jobs and so on. They have spliced that speech out because I read I've pulled up the speech from the Reagan Foundation, and apparently the Reagan Foundation is suing the government of Ontario for falsely portraying Ronald Reagan as opposing all terrorists. And as a matter of fact, what Reagan was actually talking about in that speech was, and this was back in nineteen eighty seven, where he was talking

about implementing certain terrorifts to balance the playing field. And if you listen to that speech and what he's saying, he said that it may feel good on the part and as he talked about as the United States feeling good about raising terroriffs, but other people raised, uh than raised their terrorists.

them more fair and free. And what they're trying to say, or trying to hint through this commercial is that because we are raising our terrorists, it's bad for the overall economy between the two countries. They forget that they have had outrageous terrafts on our products. Just in Pholtry, just in dairy products a two hundred and ninety nine percent tariff on our goods going into their country. Of course, we're not going to be selling anything going in there.

Those markets are based in effect close to us, so the argument that they're trying to make should be flipped around on them. You guys have put these tariffs on. You may feel good about having these terriffs. You may be feeling good about collecting this money from the United States, but at some point in time, we're going to raise ours and level the playing field, which would be a more fair and more true way of looking at that. But I got to tell you, and that has upset

the trade negotiations. That one commercial has been one of the areas that have been talked about of why the trade negotiations between the two companies and countries have fallen apart. Then you take into consideration that the Reagan Foundation looked at that compared to what the speed each actually was and said, this misrepresents what his speech was all about. So just if you see that commercial, know that it's a crock of crap and don't pay any attention to it. Well, folks,

we're up against clock here. Stay tuned for ati radios. At the top of the hour, I'm Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW.