February 10 2025

1. Trump Announces 25% Tariff on Foreign Metals
2. Americans Show 7-Year High Economic Optimism
3. **CANARY ALERT**: Tech Unemployment Surges as AI Impact Grows
4. Trump Orders Halt to Penny Production
5. Nuclear Industry Standardizes To Control Costs, Delays
6. Eagles Steamroll Chiefs In Super Bowl LIX 40-22
February 10, 1996: World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses game to computer

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1. Trump Announces 25% Tariff on Foreign Metals

President Trump on Sunday said that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all foreign steel and aluminum imports into the United States as of Monday and would soon announce reciprocal tariffs on America’s trading partners. Speaking from Air Force One en route to the Super Bowl, the president said his metal tariffs would apply to “everybody,” including Canada and Mexico, America’s allies and its largest trading partners. “Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff,” Mr. Trump said. “Aluminum, too.” Mr. Trump’s decision to tax foreign metals and impose reciprocal tariffs comes in the wake of several other trade threats he has made since winning the White House.  

Editors note: Excerpts from my article on the topic 

Today, US steel production is down 62% from its peak in 1973 to 86 million metric ton per year. By contrast, China produces 1,030 million metric tons per year, 57% of global steel production.

Today, US aluminum production is down 81% from its peak in 1980 to 0.86 million metric tons per year. By contrast, China produces 40 million metric tons per year, 58% of global production. 

Article Source: NYT

2. Americans Show 7-Year High Economic Optimism

Americans are the most optimistic they have been in the past seven years about several aspects of the U.S. economy, particularly economic growth and the stock market. Majorities of Americans expect both indicators of economic health to go up this year, while 41% are hopeful that interest rates will fall, exceeding the 35% saying interest rates will rise.  

Article Source: Gallup

3. **CANARY ALERT**: Tech Unemployment Surges as AI Impact Grows

The unemployment rate in the information technology sector rose from 3.9% in December to 5.7% in January, well above last month’s overall jobless rate of 4%, in the latest sign of how automation and the increasing use of artificial intelligence are having a negative impact on the tech labor market.   The number of unemployed IT workers rose from 98,000 in December to 152,000 last month, according to a report from consulting firm Janco Associates based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor.  

Editors note: The real danger of AI isn’t some digital super intelligence that enslaves us, its mass unemployment and economic dislocation. AI is coming for white-collar workers, how will we respond? We can’t and should not try to stop AI progress, but we should plan for the fallout.

Article Source: WSJ

4. Trump Orders Halt to Penny Production

Since taking office, President Trump has set his sights on big targets, like Greenland. But he has also taken aim at small ones, like paper straws. And pennies. On Sunday night, Mr. Trump said he had ordered the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, to stop producing new pennies, a move that he said would help reduce unnecessary government spending. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump has the power to do this. It is Congress, not the Treasury or the Federal Reserve, that authorizes the manufacture of the nation’s coins, according to the U.S. Mint. But he is right that pennies cost more than they are worth. For years, experts and government officials have called for eliminating the penny, whose purchasing power has fallen because of inflation even as its production costs have risen. It cost 3.69 cents to produce and distribute a penny last year, according to the U.S. Mint’s annual report. This means that, accounting for their face value, each penny made a loss of 2.69 cents.

Article Source: NYT

5. Nuclear Industry Standardizes To Control Costs, Delays

for an industry that has become infamous for massive cost overruns and endless delays, maybe the solution is just to build exact copies of established reactors. “The more we’ve learnt about how to do nuclear power, the more expensive it’s got,” Flyvbjerg says. “That’s the opposite of what usually happens.” According to the IEA, there are 63 reactors, with a total output capacity of 70 gigawatts, under construction worldwide, one of the highest levels in the last 30 years. But that will require defeating the cost and timeline problems that have long plagued the industry. The IEA has also found that nuclear plants delivered since 2000 in the US and Europe were on average eight years late and cost two-and-a-half times their original budget. Flyvbjerg…says that, compared with other megaprojects, nuclear power plants are “more expensive”, “much slower” and “much more complicated”.  there are widespread hopes that standardisation…might be key to resolving the challenge.

Article Source: FT

6. Eagles Steamroll Chiefs In Super Bowl LIX 40-22

On Sunday night, Kansas City watched its historic bid succumb to disaster. The Chiefs met a force that they could not outwit. They were shoved into a fight that they couldn’t win with clever strategies and championship moxie. The Eagles weren’t here to play chess and hope to be the rare team to survive a close game against a team that has profited from narrow-margin drama. During their 40-22 victory in Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles overthrew the two-time defending champions with the kind of force that only they are powerful enough to marshal. The Chiefs hadn’t seen anything close to what the Eagles threw at them since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stomped them, 31-9, in the title game four years ago. In many ways, Philadelphia is more dominant than those Bucs were. The Chiefs are wiser and healthier, more versatile and adorned with more jewelry than they had back then. Still, the Eagles made them look like skittish novices.

Article Source: WaPo

February 10, 1996: World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses game to computer

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Sources

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/business/economy/trump-tariff-foreign-metals.html

2. https://news.gallup.com/poll/655877/americans-offer-upbeat-outlook-key-economic-factors.aspx

3. https://www.wsj.com/articles/it-unemployment-rises-to-5-7-as-ai-hits-tech-jobs-7726bb1b?st=EcpWqk&reflink=article_copyURL_share

4. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/us/politics/trump-stop-minting-pennies.html

5. https://www.ft.com/content/5e563e3f-575d-4a90-bd46-4d0a3083f707

6. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/02/10/chiefs-dynasty-ends-super-bowl-lix-eagles/