Will Hollywood’s behind-the-scenes workers stay?

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All loans and amounts subject to lender approval. Anywhere else, Tuesday is just, well, Tuesday.
But if you're at KFC, Tuesday is $10 Tuesday, which means you can get eight hot, juicy drums and thighs for just $10. Let me say that again.
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Tax tips and fees extra. Well, that was a week, huh? From American Public Media, this is Marketplace.
In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. It is Friday today.
This one is the 28th of February. It is good, as always, to have you along, everybody.
In no particular order as we get going today, trade and tariffs, a little inflation and maybe some interest rates, and because we can't not, the politics of this economy. Catherine Rampell is at The Washington Post.
Anna Swanson is at The New York Times. Hey, you two.
Hey, Kai. Anna Swanson, we begin with you, and I offer my condolences as the person at The Times who has to cover trade and trade policy in this economy right now.
I'm not going to ask you where things stand. I'm not going to ask you what's going on.
I'm going to talk to you, or want you to talk to me, rather, about a great piece in the paper today that you and your colleagues had about how tariffs may not actually be able to do everything that Donald Trump wants them to do, everything everywhere all at once, you know? Thank you. Yeah, definitely.
So it's been sort of an unending parade of tariff threats, right? And the president has talked about a few different rationales for these tariffs. So he's talked about them bringing supply chains back to the United States, using them as a source of leverage against other countries, and then also always raising massive amounts of revenue for the United States.
And so my colleagues and I just pointed out that a lot of those goals just directly undermine and contradict each other. So, you know, for example, in raising revenue, if you want to collect revenue, you need people to continue buying imports, which means that they're not switching to buying American goods instead and helping American factories.
So, you know, it's a problem for the president's agenda. At some point, he is going to have to pick and choose.
And right now, I think, you know, he's able to have all these different kind of interests allied in favor of his tariff threats because he hasn't really had to pick and choose a goal yet. Right.
And, you know, those tariffs last we heard and it will change between now and then almost certainly there's related to start on Tuesday, the 4th. Ana, let me ask you this, though.
When you talk to practitioners in the art of global trade, as opposed to, you know, academics and practicing economists, when you talk to people who are doing it, are they bewildered? Are they resigned? What's the mood? Yeah, no, I think people are a bit bewildered. You know, many people did expect the president to double down on his tariff threats and go bigger than he did the first term.

But, you know, many people did expect the president to double down on his tariff threats and go bigger than he did the first term. But, you know, I think it's really important to note that the scale of what the president is doing with these tariffs and with these trade measures is really so much bigger than what he did before in a way that is really astonishing, even to the trade community.
So if all these tariffs would go into effect, it would be the most tariffs since Smoot-Hawley in the Great Depression. You know, even the China tariffs that he's considering on Tuesday, he's considering adding 10% to all imports coming from China, on top of another 10% that he did a month ago.
That's already roughly equivalent to all the tariffs that he did during the entire U.S.-China trade war in his first term, which took over a year to unfold. So it's really notable what is going on here in trade.
Yeah, size and speed. Speaking, Catherine Rimpel, of things he's doing this time bigger than he did last time, the defenestration of the federal government is, number one, still ongoing, and number two, hitting now economically critical areas.
I want to talk to you about the Internal Revenue Service. You did a lot of really cool reporting on that in the last 18 months, two years, about some of the modernizations that are desperately needed, which are now not happening.
This will play out in the larger economy. Yes? Absolutely.
Well, first of all, it'll play out in the federal government. This is a way to save money or reduce budgets.
Save it, save in air quotes there, right? Yes. Yes.
I'm, I'm, this is radio, so you can't see my air quote hand gestures, but I'm doing them. I promise.
Uh, it is completely the wrong way to go about doing it. You, if you are, you know, we like to talk about, or Trump likes to talk about running the government as a business.
If you are running a business, you do not shut down your accounts receivable department, right? The guys who take in the money. And he's essentially doing that.
So there's there's apparently shutting down taxpayer assistance centers, laying off people who work at these call centers, who help people who are trying to comply with our absurdly complicated tax code. They're laying off enforcement people.
There was a big investment in enforcement, and nobody likes to get audited, obviously, but audit rates, particularly of megacorporations and very high income Americans have plummeted or had plummeted in the years prior to the IRA passing. And that is a huge potential ROI if you invest in enforcement capabilities.
That's where the money is. And there's been a bunch of research looking at for every dollar spent on enforcement, how much comes back.
And for very high income people, it's something like $6 for every dollar spent. Much more than that, if you consider deterrence effects, that is not only the revenue that's captured after the audit when, you know, the IRS finds that you've been noncompliant in some way, but also the fact that people are more compliant, basically, in the year subsequent.
And there's a bunch of other stuff that they're doing that is likely to reduce compliance, not just on enforcement. There was reporting today by a colleague of mine at the Post that DHS is demanding that the Internal Revenue Service hand over information about undocumented immigrants who are paying their taxes.
And historically, there has been a very well-guarded divide because we want people, even those who may be working off the books in some respect, we want them to pay their taxes. So they're not going to pay either because why would you do anything to remain on the government's radar? So we're going to lose a lot of money throughout all of this.
There are real effects to what's happening. Speaking of real effects, Anna Swanson, can we detour here into what's actually happening in this economy? It is still, for now, strong.
PCE came in today, 2.5%, which was down just a hair. GDP came in this week.
It's growing a little slower, but it's growing. Consumers, though, may be getting a little tired.
Some things to watch, yes? Yeah, no, I agree. So inflation numbers looked a little bit better today.
But the problem was that the data showed a pullback in consumer spending, and that was somewhat unexpected. So January was a very cold month, and that always has a big impact because people are hibernating rather than spending.
And there were also wildfires in California. So it could be weather effects.
But it does raise a lot of questions about whether these are early signs of a bigger downturn. And certainly there's been some more nervousness recently in consumer confidence surveys about the economy and the effect of tariffs.
So the question is really, is this just a fluke or is this something more serious that we'll see develop? Right. Catherine, last question to you.
And it comes with a nod to what happened today in the Oval Office between President Zelensky and President Trump. Obviously, the Trump administration has decided to reorient America's place in the world and its reputation in the world.
And I guess my question to you, as we talk about the politics of this economy, right, is what does that change in reputation mean for the American economy,

you think, and the global economy, too?

I think the core question here is, will America be a reliable ally when we come to an agreement

with other countries, whether it's on security-related things, as in the Oval Office meeting

that you are referring to, or trade agreements, for that matter, will we stick to our word? And I think we've proven time and time again with this administration that that is not a reliable assumption. You know, Trump negotiated, for example, the current agreement with Canada and Mexico regarding trade, you know, the USMCA, the so-called new NAFTA.
And he's already ripping that up with tariffs, as we've discussed, expected next week. So what does that mean? It means that we are not a reliable place to invest in, per se, to have supply chains linked into.
I think it's quite likely that we will see kind of a cleavage in the world into countries that do business with China and countries that do business with us as well. That may have already been in the works, but we are driving more potential trading partners into the arms of China.
And, you know, just this general uncertainty over our commitment to free trade, to anti-corruption, I think is likely to drag on investment here, investment globally, and potentially global growth. Catherine Rampel at The Washington Post and Anna Swanson at The New York Times on a remarkable Friday, to be honest with you.
Have a nice weekend, you two. Thank you.
Wall Street

today to end the week and the month. Traders took a breather on this Friday.
That PCE for sure going to be a bit before we know what that's going to do to the economy. We'll get the February jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday next.
But because of the way that data is collected, it is unlikely to give us a good picture of what has been going on. Marketplace's Kristen Schwab explains.
It's sort of funny that we call the February jobs report the February jobs report because Harry Holzer, a former chief economist at the Department of Labor, says it doesn't really capture all of February. It's a snapshot of the month that occurs within a specific week.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys workers during the seven days that include the 12th day of the month. It's called the reference week.
And February's reference week happened before a lot of these recent federal cuts, which means they won't show up in the data until the March jobs report. Plus, it'll be a while before people who took buyouts show up at all.
Because they won't be looking for new jobs in most cases. They might wait a while to job hunt.
Others may have retired. Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale, says federal layoffs alone won't change the unemployment rate that much.
I think people have to keep in mind how big the United States economy is. There are more than 2 million federal employees.
The total U.S. labor force adds up to 170 million.
Just from a pure economy standpoint, the private sector can absorb those people. Of course, from a personal standpoint, job loss is difficult, especially for workers who've spent their careers with the government.
Big picture, federal cuts will ripple out beyond the federal workforce, says Aaron Sojourner, an economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Most of the federal spending is not spent on public employees, but spent on private sector employees through contracts.

And grants, which means it'll be months before we get a clearer picture of the full impact of these government cuts on the labor force.

I'm Kristen Schwab for Marketplace.

The wildfires here in Los Angeles last month were just the latest hurdle in a difficult four or five years for the biggest industry in town. The pandemic and then the writers and actors strike put Hollywood in a bit of a skid, with studios and streamers cutting back on local film and television production.
And now there are worries that the fires will accelerate that decline. There is a Stay in LA campaign, big name actors calling on those studios and streamers to keep production here.
And yes, us going to the multiplex or pulling up Netflix is a business for those companies, but it's a livelihood for the tens of thousands of Angelenos who work behind the scenes, the gaffers and location scouts and makeup artists you're not going to see at the Oscars on Sunday. And for them, the stakes are high, as Marketplace's Matt Levin explains.
Even if you haven't visited L.A., you probably know Randy's Donuts. Can I please do two plays? Two maple bars.
It's here at this noisy intersection in Englewood, just a few small traffic jams away from LAX. You're likely familiar with their plane donut, the 30-foot tall one on the roof.
I think it might have been the sequel, Iron Man 2, where Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr., is sitting in his Iron Man suit in the middle of that donut up there. Danny Finn is an L.A.
location scout for movies and TV shows. He says if a script calls for an authentic L.A.
landmark that's a little less on the nose than the Hollywood sign, Randy's Donuts is a popular go-to. It did make that cameo in Iron Man 2.
It's in the Ice Cube comedy Friday After Next and a bunch of other stuff, which is why Finn was taken aback when he saw the 2018 cult classic Den of Thieves. In the opening of Den of Thieves, there is a heat-style armored car robbery.
Take your foot off the gas, press the unlock button, and step out of the vehicle. That I believe is supposed to be right there, because it's in front of a walk-up style donut shop, and there is a little donut on the roof that looks like the size of a DirecTV satellite dish.
All of Den of Thieves is set in greater LA, and most of it was shot in Atlanta, Georgia. Finn didn't think it worked.
He could tell it wasn't Randy's. I felt validated as a Los Angeles location manager.
I felt like, yeah, you can't do it. Like, you really can't replicate LA.
Major studios are trying, though. Film, TV, and commercial shooting days in LA have dropped 39% since 2017.
Den of Thieves and The Walking Dead and the Avengers movies were filmed in Atlanta because it's cheaper there, mostly because of a very generous 20 percent state tax credit. Also cheaper in Georgia, a house.
Paul Audley is the head of the nonprofit group Film L.A. We did see some migration over the past 10 years of folks from here moving to other production centers.
He fears the roughly 13,000 homes lost in January's wildfires will only make Los Angeles even less affordable for below-the-line workers, an industry term for people behind the scenes. While most below-the-line workers are well-played middle class, that still isn't enough in many cases here.
Lighting technician Todd Brown moved to Atlanta from Los Angeles in the summer of 2022. He just wrapped work on the last season of Stranger Things, which was filmed in Jackson, Georgia.
He was able to buy a 2,400-square-foot house for less than a million dollars, which is basically impossible in LA. And Atlanta has other professional perks.
Quite frankly, there's just a little less competition. And so if you come with skills, it will be seen.
Brown says the workforce in Atlanta is younger. It's the next generation of behind the scenes talent from all over the country trying to break in where it's easier.
Like in Los Angeles, you'd have guys that are like gaffers, and that's because their father wasn't there, their mother wasn't, you know what I mean? It's a trade, and there's a legacy to that. The temptation to leave L.A.
is stronger now after those January fires. Jeremy Whalen gave it a passing thought.
So we're coming to my new apartment now. It's a converted garage that we found after the fires.
Whalen and his partner lost the home they owned in Altadena, where he lived for eight years. They're both drivers for film crews, ferrying equipment to and from sets and studios.
In a good year with steady work, he'll make about 150 grand, although lately it's been less. All the furniture he has right now has been donated from those Hollywood studios, including the 70s looking rug he hopes will be a conversation piece.
Yeah, it's cool. It's a fun rug that was on some set somewhere.
This could be the Three's company. Yes, absolutely.
You know it. And even if it's not, I'm going to pretend like it is.
Whelan says the below the line community here has really helped him recover after the fires. And that very brief flirtation with leaving L.A., well, that scene has been cut.
The thing about working in Hollywood is that you have generations of really skilled, talented

people that are here.

So we really

want to fight to stay here.

He hopes the movement to bring more movies and TV

back to LA will make that

fight easier. I'm Matt

Levin for Marketplace. coming up if i microwave this chicken nugget it was soggy and really sad but if i throw out my air fryer it's delicious a second act for frozen food believe it or not first though let's do the numbers.
Dow Industrial is up 601 today, 1.4%, 43,840. The Nasdaq added 302 points, 1.6%, 18,847.
The S&P 500 up 92 points, 1.6%, ended things at 59 and 54. For the five days gone by, the Dow up just under 1%.
The NASDAQ down 3.5%. The S&P 500 slipped 1% today.
Bonds went up. The yield on the 10-year T-note thus down 4.20%.
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This is Marketplace. I'm Kai Rizdahl.
Ana and I mentioned this a little bit earlier, that consumer spending slid in January on everything from cars to clothing. Makes sense, right? After the holidays.
One category went up a whole bunch last month, though. Twenty nine percent, according to the Department of Commerce.
Utilities, which have been a pain point for low and middle income consumers in particular, as Marketplace's Elizabeth Troval reports. January spending is often about essentials, says Morning Consult's Denny Cohen-Hempsey.
But utilities are subject to the weather. And we've had really cold temperatures on the southern United States and East Coast.
Like snow in Houston. And the cold has a double whammy effect on utilities, especially for natural gas heated homes, says David Tinsley with Bank of America Institute.
You've got the price of what they're paying for gas rising, but they're also having to burn more gas in order to counter this unseasonably cold weather. His review of electricity, gas and water payments showed a 6% year-on-year increase in January.
But households are feeling the pinch differently.

While richer people pay more for utilities, they often have bigger homes,

they don't pay a ton more than people who are poorer.

It's certainly tougher for people at the lower end of the income distribution.

That leads some families to make drastic decisions, according to a survey by the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute. Margo Weiss is their executive director.
A very high percentage of people leave their thermostats or their air conditioning at uncomfortable temperatures or even turn it off completely because of the fear of being shut off. She says households have also given up entertainment, medicine, and school supplies to pay their energy bills.
I'm Elizabeth Troval from Marketplace. Frozen foods, maybe throwing a frozen pizza or something in the microwave have long been a go to to get something on the table as fast as possible after a busy day though convenient frozen foods have gotten something of a bad rap they're not all that healthy and not all that tasty either but the freezer section has gotten something of a rebrand megan mccarran wrote it for The Atlantic the other day.
Megan, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me.
I am not alone, I'm sure, when I say frozen food. Ew.
But that's changing, you say? It is changing. And also, you're definitely not alone in that perception.
I think I haven't heard about how I shared that perception for a long time. Yeah.
I don't know how you grew up eating dinner, Kai, but I grew up eating a lot of frozen meals at times. And, you know, I was never mad about it.
There's like that one weirdly good fudgy brownie in kids' cuisine that I still think about sometimes. But yeah, it was, you know, it was a little mid.
um but yeah american perceptions are really changing about frozen food and some of it is that the pandemic led people to take a second look some of it is also that i think the options are getting better and also there's so much information online now about all these hacks to freeze you know food, food you've cooked yourself, that that's become like if you're a really nerdy, serious home cook, you're also getting into your freezer. Right, right.
All right. So let's go through a couple of those.
First of all, you point out that really the relationship that we have with our freezers began to change because of the pandemic. And, you know, certainly in my house, we were freezing a whole lot of food.
Yes. I feel one of the pandemic status accessories was the chest freezer, right? Right.
But there's more to it than just that, right? Well-known name brand cooks are saying, look, frozen food is now not only just acceptable, but actually good. I'm no fan of Gordon Ramsey, but you quote him in this piece.
Yeah, we didn't actually speak to Gordon, but there... But he has said, right? Yeah, he has said, you know, he was sort of, gave a couple quotes to the press over the years saying, you know, frozen food isn't very good.
Or, you know, in 2020, he disparaged microwaves. It's not really imparting any flavor for cooking.
And recently he launched his own line of frozen food. This is kind of a familiar move for chefs.
Wolfgang Puck has had a frozen line for a really long time. But I think what's really changing is that, you know, you don't just have to microwave frozen food anymore.
The air fryer has made frozen food, you know, a lot crispier and tastier. And so sort of air fryer mania is another thing that has made people say, like, wow, like, if I microwaved this chicken nugget, it was soggy and really sad.
But if I throw out my air fryer, it's delicious. You've been writing on food and culture for a good long while.
Has your relationship with your freezer changed? Most definitely. Yeah, I've been covering food for over 10 years.
And when I started, I would say I wasn't even freezing stuff I had made fresh. That was just not interesting to me.
But around that time, you know, I was like a canning hipster for a hot minute. And then I started, you know, reading these blogs about, you know, putting up your jam.
I know. Ah, youth.
Canning's hard, man. That's the beauty of the freezer, right? You wrap it up well, you pop it in the freezer and you're good to go.
Canning is just, that's a whole different thing. Yeah.
So that was my gateway. I was like, oh, well, I can make this jam and just put it in the freezer.
Or I made this stock. I can put it in the freezer.
Oh, I made this bread. I can put it in the freezer.
And then from there, you start saying, like, well, why am I so down on these frozen french fries? Like, sometimes you just want some french fries in the house. Totally.
Can I just say, I just discovered you could freeze bread, like, two years ago. It's embarrassing.
Truly. But once you figure it out, you're like, I'm a genius.
That's right. That's right.
That's right. Megan McCarron writes on food and a bunch of other stuff.
This one was in The Atlantic. Megan, thanks a lot.
I's right. Megan McCarron writes on food

and a bunch of other stuff. This one

was in The Atlantic. Megan, thanks a lot.
I appreciate

your time. Thanks so much for having me.
All right, we got to go.

No time for a final.

Too much talking up at the top of the program.

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Marketplace's executive producer is Nancy Fargali.

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I'm Kyle Rizdahl.

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