Power hungry data centers break the utility model of socializing electricity costs: Seventy percent of last year's increased electricity cost was the result of data center demand

 

 As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame. States feel pressure to act

... Monitoring Analytics, the independent market watchdog for the mid-Atlantic grid, produced research in June showing that 70% — or $9.3 billion — of last year’s increased electricity cost was the result of data center demand. ... 

PJM [Interconnection, the mid-Atlantic grid operator], has yet to propose ways to guarantee that data centers pay their freight, but Monitoring Analytics is floating the idea that data centers should be required to procure their own power. 

In a filing last month, it said that would avoid a “massive wealth transfer” from average people to tech companies. ...

 Demand for Electricity Takes Off. US Power Generation by Source in 2024: Natural Gas, Coal, Nuclear, Wind, Hydro, Solar, Geothermal, Biomass, Petroleum 

The quantity of electricity generated in the US by all sources, from natural gas to rooftop solar, rose by 3.1% in 2024 from 2023 to a record of 4,304,039 gigawatt-hours (GWh), according to data from the EIA today.

This is now clearly a breakout in demand, after 14 years of stagnation, from 2007 through 2021, when electricity users, to reduce their costs, invested in more efficient equipment – lights, appliances, electronic equipment, industrial equipment, heating and air-conditioning, etc. – and in better building insulation, shading, etc., to reduce their power costs. This relentless drive for greater efficiency kept demand roughly stable for years despite the growing economy and population. And it mired many power generators and electric utilities in a no-growth business where it was difficult to justify investment.

Now the scenario has changed, largely due to the growth in demand from data centers (AI, cloud, crypto) and the increasing penetration of EVs in the national vehicle fleet – EVs accounted for over 10% of US vehicle sales in 2024. ...

Republican Ralph Norman (SC-5), who wants to be South Carolina's next governor, says higher prices due to Trump's tariffs are for the good of the country

 You be happy paying more. 

 ... Notably, Norman was one of the few House lawmakers not to endorse Trump in 2024, backing former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley instead.

In his late July announcement of his upcoming gubernatorial bid, however, he praised Trump, predicting “what he did [in Iran] is going to put him in the annals of the greatest presidents we have ever had.” ...

More. 

There are already five Republicans running for governor in South Carolina. 

The conservatism that I once knew is dead, dead, dead, and J. D. Vance is its Strelnikov

 

The market cap of all silver estimated to have been mined through 2019 is up about 70 percent in the last eighteen months

 

early February 2024

early August 2025

The market cap of all above ground gold reserves as of the end of 2021 is up about 69 percent in the last eighteen months

 

early February 2024

early August 2025

The failure of Santa Anna National Bank of Santa Anna Texas on June 27 will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $23.7 million even though the mismatch between assets and deposits was only $10 million

😒 

... Suspected fraud contributed to the failure of the bank and estimated cost to the DIF. ...

More. 

Zelenskyy again says Nyet lol

Like everyone expected, except for Donald Trump, who has never been to Realville.

Zelenskyy rejects Trump’s proposal that Ukraine could swap territories with Russia

 

... "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.” ...

 

Meanwhile . . . 

 

 

Trump the amateur appointed this guy in early December, fires him in early August lol

 

Jim Lovell was the greatest of Americans

 

 

This is a fabulous tribute to the man who kept his head while all others were losing theirs. 

Apollo 13 moon mission leader James Lovell dies at 97

... One of NASA’s most traveled astronauts in the agency’s first decade, Lovell flew four times — Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 — with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth.

In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders was the first to leave Earth’s orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. They could not land, but they put the U.S. ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crew’s Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968.

But the big rescue mission was still to come. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in April 1970. Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the moon. But Apollo 13′s service module, carrying Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the moon. The astronauts barely survived, spending four cold and clammy days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat. ...

“I think in the history of space flight, I would say that Jim was one of the pillars of the early space flight program,” Gene Kranz, NASA’s legendary flight director, once said. ...

The Apollo 13 crew of Lovell, Haise and Swigert was on the way to the moon in April 1970, when an oxygen tank from the spaceship exploded 200,000 miles from Earth.

That, Lovell recalled, was “the most frightening moment in this whole thing.” Then oxygen began escaping and “we didn’t have solutions to get home.”

“We knew we were in deep, deep trouble,” he told NASA’s historian.

Four-fifths of the way to the moon, NASA scrapped the mission. Suddenly, their only goal was to survive. ...

Trump is still an amateur lol

 

Gold futures trade off highs as White House to issue clarification on bullion tariffs

 

Oopsie.

 

 

EV sales achieve record high 9.1% of total sales of passenger vehicles in July, 90.9% sold still internal combustion lol

 

EV sales soar as Trump axes $7,500 tax credit: ‘People are rushing out’ to buy, analyst says

Consumers are racing to buy electric vehicles before a fast-approaching deadline to claim tax credits worth up to $7,500, according to auto analysts.

Legislation championed by Republicans on Capitol Hill and signed by President Donald Trump in July eliminates the tax breaks — available for new, used and leased EVs — after Sept. 30.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act had originally offered the tax breaks to consumers through 2032.

“We’re expecting Q3 may be [a] record for EV sales because of the tax incentives going away,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, a senior analyst at Cox Automotive.

“People are rushing out” to buy, she said.

Consumers purchased nearly 130,100 new EVs in July, the second-highest monthly sales tally on record, behind roughly 136,000 sold in December, according to Cox Automotive data. The July figures represent a 26.4% increase from June and nearly 20% increase year-over-year, Streaty said.

The share of EV sales in July also accounted for about 9.1% of total sales of passenger vehicles that month, the largest monthly share on record, according to Cox.

“We’re seeing significant volume in new EVs,” said Liz Najman, director of market insights at Recurrent, an EV marketplace and data provider. ...

 

Gee, I hope the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is going to subpoena the guys at The Washington Free Beacon to testify under oath that they knew absolutely nothing about a Trump dossier

 

Mad King Ludwig tariffs gold bars, making liquidity more expensive for big banks

  Gold futures hit record high after report of US tariffs on gold bars

Gold futures climbed to a record high on Friday after a report that the United States had imposed tariffs on imports of 1-kg gold bars, while spot gold stayed on track for a second straight weekly gain on tariff turmoil and U.S. interest rate-cut hopes. ...  

U.S. gold futures for December delivery were up 0.9% at $3,484.10, after hitting an all-time high of $3,534.10.

The price spread between New York futures and spot prices widened by more than $100 after the Financial Times reported on Thursday that the United States had imposed tariffs on imports of 1-kg gold bars, citing a letter from Customs and Border Protection.

The letter, dated July 31, said 1-kg and 100-ounce gold bars should be classified under a customs code subject to higher tariffs, a move that could impact Switzerland, the world’s largest gold refining hub.

The tariffs on gold bars “will create a dislocation or rather some issues in terms of settlement by big banks” and this was reflected in liquidity prices this morning, with prices jumping everywhere, said Brian Lan, managing director at GoldSilver Central, Singapore. ...

 

The Treasury Secretary is such a kiss-ass and knows damn well that the Fed's so-called full employment mandate was a set of handcuffs put on the Fed in 1978

And why did the Congress do that to the Fed?

So the Congress could evade responsibility for high unemployment as well as for high inflation, that's why.

A bunch of cowards six ways to Sunday they are.

Besides, core personal consumption expenditures is the Fed's key metric, as everyone knows, and that is an inflation metric, not an employment metric. 

And The Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act specifically recognizes that reducing inflation is the Fed's main job, actually mandating ZERO inflation, not 2% inflation as widely misinterpreted. 

Meanwhile there is another report of employment besides the total non-farm payrolls report which the Fed can consult, and it shows employment continues near all-time highs in July.

No change to DFF was the appropriate response of the Fed to persistent core inflation way above 2%.  

 

Bessent: How Can The Fed Set Rates When Jobs Data Is This Broken? "This Was A Five Standard Deviation Mistake"

 

 

 

 

 

If you missed Hiroshima on Wednesday, there's always Nagasaki on Saturday

 

Oh well, I guess you'll just have to become your own brain surgeon

Learn to code, they said. 

Student loan caps a ‘punch in the face’ for aspiring doctors: American Medical Association president

 

... Starting next year, the legislation caps the amount of federal loans students can borrow for graduate school at $100,000 over a lifetime — and sets a lifetime loan limit of $200,000 for professional programs, such as medical, dental or law school. Grad PLUS loans will also be eliminated entirely. Those changes go into effect for new borrowers on July 1, 2026. ...

However, for aspiring doctors, the limits may mean drastic changes. The average cost of medical school already exceeds $200,000. At private institutions, the average cost is more than $300,000, according to 2024 data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. ...

 

 

Giant prick sprouts in Texas

 

 It's Pritzker's party: Hell yes, he's messing with Texas...

 ... Newsom is offering voters a professor at the very moment they want to elevate a brawler. Pritzker’s primetime slugfest with Abbott and Paxton is designed to leave no doubt in voters’ minds that he’s a brawler.

There’s also the practical fact that the billionaire governor’s stacks of cash are a more immediate help to Texas Democrats than they are to Newsom’s longer-term play. State Democrats had ruled out a “quorum bust” due to cost and logistical challenges, until Pritzker offered to finance and organize the operation. Now they give official press conferences in front of Pritzker’s campaign logo. If Pritzker wants to be seen as the party’s “can-do” Democrat, this is a great way to start. ...

But doesn't jump

 Trump takes unusual stroll on White House roof

Mike Collins also running for US Senate from Georiga lol

 

Sláinte Seante

 

Dooley Running for GA Seante

The cost of groceries is a major source of stress for 53% of US adults according to AP-NORC poll, followed by the cost of housing

... Esther Bland, 78, who lives in Buckley, Washington, said groceries are a “minor” source of stress — but only because her local food banks fill the gap. Bland relies on her Social Security and disability payments each month to cover her rent and other expenses — such as veterinary care for her dogs — in retirement, after decades working in an office processing product orders.

 

“I have no savings,” she said. “I’m not sure what’s going on politically when it comes to the food banks, but if I lost that, groceries would absolutely be a major source of stress.”

Bland’s monthly income mainly goes toward her electric, water and cable bills, she said, as well as care of her dogs and other household needs.

 

 “Soap, paper towels, toilet paper. I buy gas at Costco, but we haven’t seen $3 a gallon here in a long time,” she said. “I stay home a lot. I only put about 50 miles on my car a week.” ...

 

Bland, the Washington state retiree, said she’s paid for pet surgery with a pay-later plan. ...

 

More. 

 

 

Illinois seems to be the go-to haven for state Democrats whether fleeing Wisconsin in 2011 or Texas in 2025 to thwart state Republican legislatures

 

Texas Democrats decamp to Illinois to deny Republicans a quorum on redistricting

 

Texas Dems Flee State In Effort to Block GOP Redistricting

Patrick Marley, WaPo

 

 

 

Trump says the jobs numbers were rigged to make him look bad, J. D. Vance says they make Trump look good

 

Mike Shedlock, veteran critic of the BLS since the Great Recession: This is a clear case of shoot the messenger

 Did Trump Fire the BLS Head for Cause, Being the Messenger, or Something Else?

 

... “The process of obtaining the numbers is decentralized by design to avoid opportunities for interference.”

Trump wants you to believe hundreds if not thousands of people are in on the scheme and they are all silent.

The Cult sucks it up as if that makes sense.

I do not defend the antiquated procedures of the BLS. I have been writing about the flaws for years.

Yet, I can say that in all my conversations with BLS technicians (dozens over the years), I have found BLS [personnel] to be knowledgeable, courteous, and helpful. ...

 

Sorry Cultists and conspiracy theorists, the data is not rigged. And don’t pee your panties because it won’t be under Trump either (or someone will point it out).

Regardless, Trump’s tariffs ensure it will get worse. I expect many small businesses will go under. Trump has only himself to blame.

 

Why did Larry Kudlow cling to his job as Director of Trump's National Economic Council after he had a heart attack in June 2018?

 

 

Why Is Powell Clinging to His Job?

Larry Kudlow, New York Sun

 

Get off it, Larry. 

US Treasury yields retreated 3% from their July average in the aggregate on Friday in a flight to safety

 The July average yield of the aggregate of eleven US Treasury issues was 4.2927. Friday's 3% retreat left the aggregate at 4.1636.

Yields on Bills pulled back to 4.2175 from 4.2925 in July, or 1.7%.

Yields on Notes pulled back to 3.866 from 4.042 in July, or 4.3%.

Yields on Bonds pulled back to 4.80 from 4.92 in July, or 2.4%. 

 

VFSTX is now ahead 4.45% year to date.

VFICX is now ahead 6.37% year to date.

VWESX is now ahead 4.47% year to date. 

VBTLX is now ahead 4.67% year to date. 

VTSAX is now ahead 6.26% year to date. 

Mad King Ludwig fires BLS commissioner in a fit of rage over his bad jobs numbers, blaming the messenger

I don't recall Obama firing anybody at BLS in 2011 when there were ZERO jobs created in August.

 

 

Banana republic stuff from the Banana Republican.

Trump is unfit to be president.

 

Trump fires commissioner of labor statistics after weaker-than-expected jobs figures slam markets

 

... “I can’t believe what I just saw,” said Peter Mallouk, president and chief investment officer of Creative Planning. Trump’s social media post seemed like a parody or satire at first, Mallouk said.

 

“This is not healthy,” he added. “We can’t have a set of numbers come out and fire somebody that served under numerous administrations in various roles because you don’t like the numbers.”

William Beach, a 2017 Trump appointee and McEntarfer’s immediate predecessor at BLS, also sharply criticized her firing.

“The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau,” Beach posted on X.

“This escalates the President’s unprecedented attacks on the independence and integrity of the federal statistical system,” Beach added in a statement. “The President seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news.” ...

This is the same administration which complains the Fed is building a palace for itself

 

Limbaugh-Trump dumb ass unemployment rate 37.3% in July 2025, near record 103.4 million eating but not working

 

Look at that flight to US Treasury safety

 

Trump unleashes sweeping new tariffs in a blow to global trade

 

U.S. added just 73,000 jobs in July and numbers for prior months were revised much lower

 

 

 

Mr. Big Stuff has cut just 84,000 federal jobs since January through July, barely 2.8%

 

There have been just five Julys since 2008 when full-time employment exceeded 50% of population, and yep, you guessed it, July 2025 ain't one of 'em

Full time as a percentage of population was 52.32% in July 2008,

50.66% in July 2018 (ten years later!),

50.98% in July 2019,

50.69% in July 2022,

50.74% in July 2023,

50.26% in July 2024, and . . .

. . . 49.72% in July 2025. 

 

Ahead of the jobs report tomorrow, the 4-week moving average of continued claims for unemployment is up about 86,000 in the monthly average in July from April

 The June and July levels above 1.9 million haven't been seen since November 2021.

 

I literally laughed out loud

 

Harris Skips CA Governor Run. She Can Skip President, Too

Ed Kilgore, NY Magazine

 

... a two-time loser ...             

 

Ouch. 

As bad as inflation has been since the pandemic, imagine living with core pce inflation above 3% year over year for twenty-six consecutive years 1967-1992

 If they lived through that, we can live through this, and we will.

 

 

Here's the latest chart for grand total foreign holdings of US Treasury securities 2000-2025

 I don't remember why I started doing this chart in May of whenever it was, but I stuck with it over the years.

It was probably some nutball during the Great Financial Crisis screaming that foreigners were dumping U. S. Treasury securities and we were all doomed!

The nutballs have been saying that for a loooooooooooooong time.

 

These are the raw, as-reported numbers at the time, and do not incorporate any subsequent revisions.

In May 2025, 43% of the over $9 trillion in outstanding value for foreign held UST was "Official", that is, by governments. And 89.8% of that 43% is invested in longer term Notes and Bonds.

Year over year in May the value of what is owned by foreigners is up a whopping 11.25%. 

Many people in addition to governments around the world are banking on the full faith and credit of the United States because they can't really bank on their own governments.

And that's a fact, Jack. 

 

 

The Fed was right yesterday, voting 9-2 to make no change to interest rates, as core pce inflation comes in at 2.79% year over year in June, a tick up from May's 2.75%

 Core personal consumption expenditures year over year have been stuck in a range of 2.78% year over year for eighteen long months.

This is shaping up to become the regrettable new normal.

Core pce had averaged just 1.50% year over year for twelve years from 2009-2020 inclusive. The rate has been 85% higher than that for a year and a half now on an average basis.

The 2.78% rate is but little lower than the 2024 average of 2.81%, and the 2.75% average for the first six months of 2025 still rounds up to 2.8%.

You remember 2024. Joe Biden was president, and so far in 2025 he might as well still be.

Inflation is the worst tax. Unfortunately it's the Uniparty's policy.

 

  

Trump's $170 billion tax hike on the American consumer

 The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of Trump's tariffs leaped from $96 billion in 1Q to $266 billion in 2Q.

The federal government farts through $20 billion every day, so this annualized tariff revenue goes Poof in less than two weeks, matching just 3.6% of federal outlays.

The numbskulls in the US Senate like Josh Hawley want to redistribute these tax revenues in the form of rebate checks to the taxpayers.

Wouldn't it have been easier and more efficient and more fair not to have taxed us in the first place?

Note that Donald Trump's Bureau of Economic Analysis, run by Howard Lutnick, still must call this what it is, taxes on imports lol, despite what his Treasury Secretary was still saying in June:

Bessent claims tariffs aren’t taxes.

 

 

 

America still isn't booming

 

 The real GDP report is out and it looks pretty good at 3% for the first estimate for 2Q2025, especially in comparison with the -0.5% result for 1Q.

If only it were so.

From the second quarter of 2017, the year when Trump's tax reform became law on December 22nd, until now real GDP has grown at a compound annual rate of just 2.456%. For the seventy years before that, the compound annual rate of growth was 3.182%.

Trump's so-called pro-growth tax reform fell short by almost 23%. 

The problem remains the lingering after effects of the Great Recession, the Great Financial Crisis, the Housing Bubble, whatever you want to call it. The Trump tax reform of 2017 didn't really do anything to address it meaningfully, just as Obama didn't, and also Biden in his turn.

From 2Q2008 to 2Q2025, the compound annual rate of real GDP growth has been just 1.99% vs. 3.421% for the sixty-one years prior to that, starting in 2Q1947.

America remains 42% behind its old self.

That's why everyone is unhappy, but especially the young. They desperately feel the futility of the situation, encumbered as so many of them are with student loan debt for the degrees which are not translating into the key to the future. 

That's the sad reality of where we are, and where we are likely to stay for the foreseeable future.

But as always, the first step is admitting you have a problem instead of trying to put lipstick on that pig.

 

 

 

The trend for earthquakes 7.0+ in the post-war is definitely up

 

I stayed up late in the eastern time zone to watch a tsunami in Hawaii, and all I got was a lousy flooded parking lot

 

... The 9:25 p.m. update listed a 5.7 feet wave in Kahului, 4.9 feet in Hilo, 3.9 feet in Hanalei, 2.3 feet in Makapuu, 1.2 feet in Waianae and 1.1 feet in Honolulu. Other Hawaii areas listed were about 1 foot or less.

Television footage showed some flooding in parking lots in Hilo Bay and Hanalei, but no significant damage has been reported. ...

More. 

GOP U.S. Senate: Feckless lickspittles without two brain cells to rub together propose rebates of surpluses WE DO NOT HAVE

 

The goods trade deficit in May was $96 billion, in June $85 billion.

The only thing that's changed is consumers are now being taxed on those trade deficits. The numbskulls of the GOP U. S. Senate are proposing rebates of these taxes to the people paying them.

It's all completely ludicrous.

It would have been easier simply not to have imposed the taxes in the first place.

If there's a way to lower the standard of living of American consumers, Mad King Ludwig is sure to find it.  

 

Senate introduces bill for tariff rebate checks after Trump suggestion 

 

... The Treasury Department reported an unexpected surplus for June, with a boost from tariff revenue. Customs duties totaled roughly $27 billion for the month, compared to $23 billion in May. The duties reflect a 301% gain from June 2024. ... 

 

 

 

Drudge was ungreatful last night, but by morning he is ungrateful lol

 

Two Weeks Trump be back dawg

 

Trump gives Russia less than two weeks to reach peace deal with Ukraine

President Donald Trump on Monday reduced to less than two weeks his deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to either reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face massive “secondary tariffs” on Moscow’s trade partners.

Trump previously gave Putin a 50-day deadline, which was set to expire in early September.

But he said Monday that the U.S. does not see “any progress being made.” ...

LOL the Wall Street Journal found experts to say dynamic grocery pricing will never go up during the day between the aisle and the register

I remember the days when every grocery item came with a price tag. 

When those went away there was an outcry, saying shelf pricing would be manipulated to get you to buy the item at a lower displayed price but charge you more for it at the register because the price displayed was wrong.

You used to get the item for free if that happened.

Now it happens all the time, but all you get is a refund for the difference, IF YOU STAND IN LINE AT CUSTOMER SERVICE TO GET IT.

Every transaction is going to become a negotiation like we're a goddamn third world country. 

 

 Welcome to the Grocery Store Where Prices Change 100 Times a Day: Electronic shelf labels are spreading at grocery chains in Europe and the U.S., enabling instant price drops—and raising fears of surge pricing

... Prices can change up to 100 times a day at Reitan’s REMA 1000-branded grocery stores across Norway—and more often during holidays. The idea is to match or beat the competition with the touch of a button, says REMA 1000’s head of pricing, Partap Sandhu. “We lower the prices maybe 10 cents and then our competitors do the same, and it kind of gets to [be] a race to the bottom.”

 

It is a matter of time before Americans also see dynamic pricing on groceries, industry experts say. “All one has to do is visit the Netherlands or Norway,” says Ioannis Stamatopoulos, an associate professor who studies retail technology at the University of Texas at Austin’s business school. “That’s a window to the future.”

 

The prospect has raised alarms among U.S. lawmakers and consumers who fear electronic shelf labels in grocery stores will open the way for prices to go up as well as down—and even unleash surge pricing in the aisles. ...

 

As digital labels spread to U.S. stores, American consumers will likely see price changes as they shop in the future, says David Bellinger, a senior analyst at Mizuho Financial Group who covers retailers. He expects the changes will be infrequent or outside of store hours to avoid confusing or upsetting shoppers, and says they should primarily only go down: “Up would probably cause a lot of problems.” ...

I wonder how much Heritage Foundation paid National Review to publish this populist-conservative fusionist screed in the pages of the magazine infamous for purging dissenters

 ... As Heritage Board Chairman Barb Gaby and President Kevin Roberts wrote in their note to staff, alumni, and the many friends gained over the past 52 years:

Ed believed in addition, not subtraction. Unity, not uniformity. One of his favorite mantras was ‘You win through multiplication and addition, not through division and subtraction.’ His legacy is not just the institution he built, but the movement he helped grow — a movement rooted in faith, family, freedom, and the Founding.

Feulner’s words contain practical wisdom. In this era of political polarization and cultural fragmentation, they continue to serve us as a powerful tactical roadmap. In the spirit of self-governance, they call for a movement that grows by building coalitions, not by purging dissent; that persuades rather than polarizes; and that unites Americans around shared values rather than dividing them by ideology. ...

More. 

 

The Detroit News: Harvest of hand-picked crops in Michigan in immediate peril due to Trump deportation program, prices set to rocket higher

 Editorial: Trump must act quickly to avert a harvest crisis

The immigration crisis at the southern border has been replaced by one in America's orchards and farm fields.

With harvest season about to begin in earnest, farmers are desperate for laborers to pick their fruit and vegetables. Already in the Pacific Northwest, much of the cherry crop was left to rot because of the shortage of agricultural workers.

The crisis will soon roll into Michigan, where apples, cherries, blueberries, asparagus and other crops are rapidly ripening. Hand-picked specialty crops are a $6.3 billion industry in Michigan, supporting 41,000 jobs.

The shortage of farm workers has been building for years, due to an aging agricultural workforce, competition from more lucrative and less grueling jobs and restrictions on immigrant labor.

This year, it is exacerbated by the Trump administration's crackdown on unauthorized immigrants and the deportation of those who have entered the country illegally.

Estimates are that 42% of farm workers are undocumented migrants. Recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on farms employing migrants have frightened away many of those workers from the fields where they had been working.

But the work they do hasn't gone away. Fruit and vegetables still need to be harvested. If they're not, it will lead to food waste, shortages and higher prices on the grocery shelves.

When asked about the worker shortage, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the solution lies in greater mechanization of farms and matching the 34 million able bodied Americans who must find jobs or lose their Medicaid benefits with farmers who need workers.

While Rollins is correct that those who can work should be expected to, it's doubtful even the risk of losing health care benefits will coax the jobless into hot, backbreaking farm work.

Her solutions will take time and large capital investments. They won't save this year's harvest.

The Trump administration must take emergency action to assure there are enough workers to bring in the crops this summer and fall.

Rather than deporting migrants willing to fill essential jobs such as harvesting, the administration should grant them seasonal visas and a no-deportation guarantee as long as they are working on farms.

Beyond that, reform is needed for the H-2A visa program that allows farmers to legally employ temporary workers from another country. The application process is too complex and time-consuming. It must be simplified; farmers need help now.

Also at issue is the federal mandatory minimum wage for H-2A visa holders, now set at $18.50 an hour. That's nearly $8 an hour higher than the state minimum wage in Michigan. When added to housing and other costs for these workers, many farmers have to limit their use of the visas.

Longer term, resources should be devoted to recruiting domestic workers for the agriculture industry. Farmers are also being encouraged to raise wages for native-born workers, add benefits and improve working conditions.

All of that is expensive and will inevitably show up in grocery prices. But so will the shortages caused by allowing crops to rot in fields.

The most sensible option for this season is to back off deportation of farm workers while solutions are pursued for either replacing them or giving them legal status.