Bring back the cult of work.
Sunday, September 6, 2026
There were 25.89 million prime working age people 25-54 years of age in America just like Abdul who didn't work in August 2026, but Abdul says we have a cult of work
We have 11.76 million teenagers 16-19 years old, 7.45 million college kids 20-24 years old, 25.89 million core adults 25-54 years old, and 67.63 million people 55 or older, all of whom did not work in August 2026.
That's over 112 million eating but not working.
They can't all work, obviously, but if each group lived up to its own past peak performance, 13.27 million more across all groups could in fact be working who are not working.
That 13.27 million more working is just 11.8% more.
GDP sucks in part because we aren't working up to our past potential.
As I incessantly point out, the key to a happy life is a full time job, because it allows you to arbitrage it for a car, a home, a spouse, and children.
Peak full time in America was in July 2000 when 54.67% had a full time job. In August 2026 just 49.14% did. The difference between those two points at current population is an extra 15.2 million full time jobs which we don't presently have.
America is a much bigger place now than in July 2000, too, by 63 million in civilian non-institutional population. Shouldn't that also make us stronger?
Do we really think an extra 15 million out of 112 million is dreaming the impossible dream?
We need leaders who don't think so.
But this guy . . .
Saturday, September 5, 2026
Middle East tanker transits per UKMTO JMIC Update 093, August 27-September 2, 2026: Strait of Hormuz 1.0/day, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait 9.4/day
WTI: $91
BRENT: $96
GASOLINE USA: $4.12
Who's not working in August 2026?
Over 112 million, that's who:
67.2% of teenagers 16-19 years old: 11.8 million
33.7% of the college-aged 20-24 years old: 7.5 million
19.9% of prime working age adults 25-54 years old: 25.9 million
64.1% of the population 55 years old or older: 67.6 million.
Friday, September 4, 2026
Every age group in America has lost its worth ethic to one degree or another, for one reason or another
The percentage of each age group's population which works is in structural decline:
Teens since 1978 (get a haircut and get a real job);
College kids since 1989 (because they went to college more and more after that, duh);
Core adults 25-54 since the late 1990s (they keep getting knocked down but they mostly keep getting back up again 👍 -- this is a huge tranche with some people carrying the load more than others, and you know who you are);
Americans 55 and over since 2019 (the Great Recession didn't kill 'em, from which they made more than a nice recovery, but they are not going to recover from the pandemic era for decades to come because Peak Baby Boom turned 62 that year).
Trump's immigration policies have been all sound and fury, signifying nothing
All theatre.
Yes, very bad theatre, but theatre nonetheless.
The foreign born population in August 2026 is virtually unchanged from October 2024.
When yields were hopeful about federal spending cuts from DOGE and federal revenue increases from tariffs
"Fiscal discipline" from Mad King Ludwig:
Trump is too stupid to take the win handed to him by +162k payrolls in August
New York Fed’s Williams says yield surge due to strong economic prospects
Analysis: Lower Treasury yields could require a weaker economy. Trump won’t fix them
... The rise in real yields is “more of a reflection of the strength of the economy,” New York Federal Reserve President John Williams told CNBC Wednesday. Some people want to read the rise in yields as dragging on the economy, but that logic is backward, he said.
“It’s not really about financial conditions affecting the economy. It’s more about the economy affecting financial conditions,” Williams said.
The flip side of Williams’ analysis is that it may take an economic slowdown for borrowing costs to cool. But that isn’t a solution anyone would want to root for.
This will never not be funny
They hate you with the heat of 1,000 suns.
U.S. payrolls rose 162,000 in August, much more than expected; unemployment rate at 4.1%
I don't know how you crash something that was so tiny already, but Trump found a way
Manufacturing employment as a percentage of population:
Mad King Ludwig blows another gasket
Trump tells Fed to slash rates or he’ll end trade with countries with U.S. surpluses
If ever an act deserved the hook, this is it.
Golden Age NOT: Just 49.14% had a full time job in August 2026, the second lowest figure for an August in 11 years
Both Biden and Trump have had this figure above 50%, but even that has been pathetically weak.
Compared to the past, 50% should be the floor, not the ceiling.
I remain disgusted with the complacency of both political parties, as demonstrated by the complete absence of urgency about the one thing which is the very ticket to the middle class.
August 2016: 49.59%
August 2017: 49.87%
August 2018: 50.36%
August 2019: 50.94%
August 2020: 47.44%
August 2021: 49.18%
August 2022: 50.58%
August 2023: 50.68%
August 2024: 49.98%
August 2025: 49.44%
August 2026: 49.14%
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