The Lowry Letter® - 8/16/2025

If you missed Tuesday’s webinar, we will have the replay available next week on our Youtube channel and will send the link with next week’s letter.

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• We thought this was a really interesting look at the US auto industry, especially how it dispels some popular myths.

• It is easy to forget that many large corporations have the economic heft of major countries. For example, Google will pay more for physical projects like datacenters than the United Kingdom will spend on their entire national defense!

• One of the most important articles this week is this breakdown of Gainesville’s donut shops. We’re still mourning the loss of Halo Potato, but need to visit a couple of these.

• There is a strong correlation between lower crime and the option to sell plasma. Economic incentives matter!

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Q: What is really going on in the job market?

A: Like most parts of the economy, employment is affected by many different factors over a long period of time. It is never just ONE thing. The recent jobs update, political arguments aside, shows some weakness in hiring beyond what had been understood. It makes sense that companies would be careful with hiring due to uncertainty in tariff policy, among other things. There are a lot of variables, known and unknown, and that is why predictions about jobs are complicated. For example, it seems that artificial intelligence has not affected tech job hiring in the way some predicted, at least so far. As those tools improve, it may become an issue. In the meantime, we can remember that predictions will always be complicated by what ACTUALLY happens in the world.