Marketplace A small town's fight against ICE
21 snips
Mar 19, 2026 Nita Crawford, international relations professor studying the environmental and climate costs of war. Julie Perkins, rural pharmacist keeping a Kansas drugstore open amid pharmacy deserts. Megan McCarty Carino, reporter and labor-market analyst tracking jobless claims and housing trends. They discuss a coastal town's fight over federal immigration plans, labor market signals, plunging new-home sales, rural pharmacy survival, and war-related environmental damage.
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Jobless Claims Hide Broader Labor Market Nuance
- Weekly jobless claims are low, signaling a stable "boring" labor market rather than a surge in layoffs.
- Big tech layoff headlines don't show in claims because severance or non-claims paths hide job losses from that metric.
Home Sales Slump Forces Builder Incentives
- January new home sales plunged over 17% month-to-month, hitting the lowest level since October 2022.
- Builders are offering incentives and below-market mortgage rates while agents lower asking prices amid higher rates and job worries.
Mortgage Deserts Shift Homeownership Toward Cash Buyers
- Mortgage deserts occur where mortgages are scarce and many homes sell for cash or to investors, reducing local homeownership.
- Low-value markets and second-home or investor-heavy areas leave lenders uninterested due to low origination revenue.