Economic Chaos Created by DOGE, Tariffs; If You’re Older, You May Need a Measles Booster–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: March 6, 2025

Indy Digest: March 6, 2025

Chaos.

That’s the best word I can think of to describe what’s being inflicted upon the economy right now by the haphazard actions being taken by the Trump administration. Just two (of many) examples:

• Layoffs are surging—thanks to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE And layoffs are very, very bad for the economy. LinkedIn says:

Layoffs rose 245% in February compared to the month prior, according to data released Thursday by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Of the roughly 172,000 people who were let go last month, more than one-third, or 62,000, lost their jobs to cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk. The monthly total is the highest since July 2020, and also the highest figure for February since 2009, when the country was grappling with the global financial crisis.

When an economic story includes references to the height of the pandemic and the Great Recession, you know that’s not good.

Second up: Tariffs. Earlier this week, they were on. Now, they’re temporarily off … mostly, for “goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).”

(As for what exactly is and is not in the USMCA, feel free to do a little light reading here.)

Here’s just one example of an impact that emerged in between the tariffs being on and (mostly) off: Newspapers around the country began receiving price-increase notices from their printers—usually of at least 15 percent, and in many cases more. Why? As explained by the News/Media Alliance:

Imposing tariffs on paper supply would imperil our news-gathering missions and put jobs in jeopardy in communities that rely upon a healthy newspaper. Newsprint is the second largest expense for small newspapers after human resource costs, and there is not enough capacity for the U.S. to produce the paper quantities needed. In 2023, Canada produced approximately 80% of newsprint, 2.1 metric tons, while the United States produced only 421,000 metric tons. U.S. companies do not even supply certain types of newsprint paper, where it can only be sourced in Canada. Tariffs will harm many other businesses, including printers, forcing closures which will cause even more strain as some printers are already several hours away from where newspapers need to be delivered.

For what it’s worth, we have not yet received a cost-increase notice from our printer—but if there end up being tariffs on newsprint, it’s only a matter of time.

Chaos.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Related to the aforementioned chaos: For the first time, Stater Bros. is laying off clerks. The Los Angeles Times reports: “Stater Bros. Markets has laid off dozens of clerks in its Southern California stores for the first time in its 89-year history, blaming inflation and tariffs for its decision. ‘I don’t think it’s any secret that in the last four years, we’ve seen significant inflation, more than I’ve ever seen in my career,’ Chief Executive Pete Van Helden said in a video explaining the move to lay off 63 clerks among four Southern California stores, announced Feb. 17. ‘With the recent announcements of new tariffs and probably more tariffs to come, it’s quite likely that inflation is going to take off even above the 4.5% we’re seeing now. I’m very worried about that,’ he said. … Retail prices at the San Bernardino-based grocery chain went up by about 30% in the last four years, Van Helden said, leading customers to choose lower-cost grocery stores like Walmart, Aldi, Target, Sprouts and Dollar Tree. ‘The other common thing is that they’re all non-union, and frankly, that’s how they sell their products at a lower price. They pay their teammates less. They pay less benefits and they take that savings and they plow it into pricing,’ Van Helden said.”

• And here’s more chaos: It’s clear to anyone watching that DOGE really has no idea what in the hell they’re doing. The New York Times says: “The Department of Government Efficiency has deleted one of its more bizarre claims: that it had saved taxpayers $53.7 million by ‘canceling’ a federal contract that had actually ended in 2005. The New York Times reported on that mistake last week. It was part of a pattern at DOGE, which has repeatedly posted errors on its ‘wall of receipts’ that inflated its success—and seemed to demonstrate a basic unfamiliarity with the machinery of government. On Wednesday, DOGE removed any mention of the long-dead contract from its website. But, at the same time, the group resurrected one of the largest errors it has made so far—claiming that it had saved $1.9 billion by canceling an Internal Revenue Service contract for tech help with a Northern Virginia company. That company’s contract was actually canceled in November, under President Joseph R. Biden. DOGE posted that error last week. Then, it deleted it on Sunday. Then, on Wednesday, the group put it back up.”

• Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom just made some rather surprising—and, in the eyes of LGBTQ+ groups, terrible—remarks about trans athletes. Our partners at CalMatters report: “Gov. Gavin Newsom called it ‘deeply unfair’ for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports today—a notable change in his position that thrust the Democratic governor into the center of a national maelstrom. It was unclear whether he will act on his new position as Republicans urged him to follow conservative states in banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports. The comments came on the first episode of Newsom’s new podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, on which the governor has said he plans to interview political figures he disagrees with about the major issues of the day. In a chummy conversation with Charlie Kirk, the Donald Trump-aligned conservative activist, Newsom repeatedly conceded to criticisms of a transgender high school track athlete who recently won a regional meet. ‘I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair,’ he said. ‘I’m not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.’” Who gave Newsom a podcast? Why?!

• This sounds like a mediocre headline from The Onion—because it’s weird, but not really funny: “Secretive D.C. Influence Project Appears to Be Running a Group House for Right-Wing Lawmakers.” Well, the headline is actually from ProPublica, and the story is dead freaking serious. The lede: “For a project explicitly designed to influence Congress, Steve Berger’s operation has left a scant paper trail. The archconservative evangelical pastor, who started a D.C. nonprofit a few years ago to shape national policy, does not file lobbying reports. His group does not show up in campaign finance records. There is a simple way to glimpse his effort’s expanding reach in Washington, however: Pay attention to who is walking out the front door of his Capitol Hill townhouse. New evidence suggests Berger may be running what amounts to a group house for conservative lawmakers, with multiple members of Congress living with him at his organization’s headquarters. The six-bedroom, $3.7 million home is owned by a multimillion-dollar Republican donor. Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican who is among President Donald Trump’s most aggressive allies in Congress, has been at the house on multiple days over the past two weeks, according to people who live in the area. … As ProPublica reported last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson is living in the townhouse. And Dan Bishop, a former congressman from North Carolina now nominated for a powerful post in Trump’s White House, appears to have lived there until recently as well. Berger has said his goal is to ‘disciple’ members of Congress so what ‘they learn is then translated into policy.’ He has claimed to have personally spurred legislation, saying a senator privately credited him with inspiring a bill.” “Disciple”?!

• Down pretty low in an Associated Press explainer about the recent measles cases all around the U.S.—I can’t believe I am writing this sentence in 2025, but here we are—is a tidbit that older readers should know, in a section headlined “Do you need a booster if you got the MMR vaccine a while ago?” The details: “Health care professionals are sometimes tested for antibodies to measles and given boosters if necessary, Weaver said—even if they’ve already had the standard two doses as a child. Adults with ‘presumptive evidence of immunity’ generally don’t need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or being born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally. Also, people with documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, the CDC added. However, those immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from ‘killed’ virus—or people who don’t know which type they got—should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.”

• And finally … here’s our twice-yearly reminder, as if you needed one, that time changes—such as the one we’ll all endure this weekend, when clocks “spring forward” and we “lose an hour”—suck. Time magazine says: “Experts say the time change does more than just make the mornings a little tougher, it impacts our health. ‘The spring time change leads to society-wide sleep deprivation,’ says Jennifer Martin, former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. While losing an hour of sleep might not sound like a major change, Martin says it has a big impact on our health—in large part because most Americans are already not getting enough sleep. ‘Many Americans are already chronically sleep deprived or suffering from sleep disorders,’ she says. ‘This extra disruption amplifies any of the symptoms that they’re already having.’ The time change also brings with it other adverse health impacts due to changes in our circadian rhythm. ‘Our circadian rhythm is our internal clock, and it is very tightly linked to the 24 hour day,’ Martin says. ‘(Daylight saving) actually alters the relationship between our internal clock and the external environment.’”

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