The job market is teetering despite — and perhaps in part because of — the onset of advanced AI. A huge political question for the coming years will be what, if anything, government ought to do about it, Axios chief economic correspondent Neil Irwin writes.

• Why it matters: The unemployment rate is low for now. But job creation has ground to a near-halt.

🤖 Zoom out: Much of the economy is treading water, barely growing but for AI-related investments. Those require compute power, high-end software engineering, and electricity — but not great masses of workers.

• The result: the apparent paradox of solid topline economic growth and booming financial markets, paired with a weak job market.

"While it takes a lot of people to build a new data center, it takes relatively few to operate one," Minneapolis Federal Reserve president Neel Kashkari wrote in a new essay.

• "Thus the labor market and the stock market could both be right: Technology is driving rapid growth of industries that don't require as much labor, resulting in a booming stock market and sluggish hiring environment," Kashkari added.

💼 By the numbers: The U.S. labor market isn't in full-on recession mode — the 4.3% unemployment rate is low by historical standards and has only ticked up slightly this year. But under the hood, warning signs abound.

• Employers added only 27,000 jobs a month between May and August, far below the 168,000 a month last year.
• Workers see only a 45% chance of finding a new job within a year if they lose their job, the lowest on record in a New York Fed survey conducted since 2013.

🪧 Sign of the times: A survey of big-company CEOs by the Business Roundtable showed 38% plan to cut their employment over the next six months. But 89% see stable or increased capital spending in that time.

🔮 What to watch: If AI investment generates the productivity gains that its enthusiasts expect, it would be expected to generate higher real incomes over time and more prosperity.

• But that process of reallocating labor — moving people from the jobs available now toward those needed by an AI-for-everything future — could turn out to be extraordinarily painful.

Share this story.

Several powerful allies of President Trump say the FCC was wrong to bully ABC stations over a Jimmy Kimmel monologue — showing that alarm over the comedian's suspension transcends the partisan split.

Why it matters: These prominent Republicans recognize, as Jim VandeHei and I wrote in a "Behind the Curtain" column in June, that the GOP may come to regret some of Trump's precedents when Democrats regain power.

• As we wrote back then: New precedents are exhilarating when you're in power — and excruciating when you're not.

What they're saying: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on his podcast, "Verdict with Ted Cruz," that FCC chair Brendan Carr's warning to Disney, ABC's parent, was "dangerous as hell ... right out of 'Goodfellas.' That's right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going: 'Nice bar you have here, it'd be a shame if something happened to it.'"

• Cruz — chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC — invoked the point from our column about retaliation by Democrats. "They will silence us," Cruz said. "They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous." (via NYT)

Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) tweeted agreement with Cruz: "Good riddance to Jimmy Kimmel and his disgusting rhetoric. Ted also raises important concerns about the comments of the FCC chairman."

🎙️ Two top MAGA-world podcasters made similar points:

• Tucker Carlson, a speaker at tomorrow's Charlie Kirk memorial service in Arizona, said he hopes his friend's assassination won't be used as a pretext for hate-speech laws: "[I]f that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience than that."
• Ben Shapiro: "I do not want the FCC in the business of telling local affiliates that their licenses will be removed if they broadcast material that the FCC deems to be informationally false ... Why? Because one day the shoe will be on the other foot."

Go deeper: Conservative podcasters react to Kimmel suspension (NYT gift link)

Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney investigating New York's attorney general, Letitia James, and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey who resigned yesterday, was actually fired, President Trump wrote in a late-night Truth Social post.

• Siebert had recently told Justice Department officials that investigators found insufficient evidence to bring charges against James, who won a civil fraud trial against the president, for mortgage fraud, The New York Times reports (gift link).

Siebert submitted his resignation amid pressure from the Trump administration over that decision, ABC News reports. He had also declined to prosecute Comey based on allegations brought by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to the Washington Post (gift link).

• Trump provided a different, unrelated rationale for Siebert's ouster on Truth Social and to reporters in the Oval Office yesterday: "When I saw that he got two senators, two gentlemen that are bad news as far as I'm concerned — when I saw that he got approved by those two men, I said, pull it, because he can't be any good," referring to that fact that Siebert was backed by Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia.

But the administration's effort to oust him is likely to deepen concerns that the Justice Department — already investigating other public figures Trump regards as foes — is being weaponized by a White House seeking to have its prosecutorial powers used for purposes of retribution, AP reports.

Illinois is far and away America's pumpkin-growing king.

• Illinois' climate, soil and location — in what some call the "orange belt" — make it ideal for growing pumpkins, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.

As much as 95% of the U.S. canned pumpkin supply comes from Morton, Ill., home to the Nestlé-owned Libby's plant, reports Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest.

• Share this story.

The Pentagon — newly rebranded as the Department of War — announced new restrictions for journalists yesterday.

• Reporters will have to sign a pledge not to gather any information that hasn't been officially authorized for release. If they do so, they risk losing credentials to cover the Pentagon.

"DoW remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust. However, DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified," a Pentagon document sent to media companies yesterday reads.

• The new rules also place restrictions on where journalists can go within the building, designating large areas of the Pentagon off-limits to reporters without escorts, The New York Times notes.

Though many rooms and offices had previously been restricted, the press corps was granted unescorted access to much of the building

• Read the Pentagon document.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the Trump administration to press Egypt to scale down a recent military build-up in the Sinai Peninsula, one U.S. official and two Israeli officials tell Axios' Barak Ravid.

• Why it matters: Israeli officials say the Egyptian military build-up in Sinai has become another significant point of tension between the countries as the war in Gaza continues.

Behind the scenes: During their meeting in Jerusalem on Monday, Netanyahu presented Secretary of State Marco Rubio with a list of activities in Sinai that he claimed were substantial violations by Egypt of its 1979 peace agreement with Israel, for which the U.S. serves as guarantor.

• Two Israeli officials claimed the Egyptians extended runways at air bases in Sinai so that they could be used by fighter jets, and built underground facilities which Israeli intelligence believes could be used for storing missiles.

There's no evidence the Egyptians are actually storing missiles in those facilities, the officials say.

• But they claim the Egyptians did not provide a reasonable explanation as to their purpose when asked by Israel through diplomatic and military channels.

The big picture: Tensions between Israel and Egypt have been rising since the Netanyahu government was formed in late 2022.

• The Egyptians have grown increasingly worried during Israel's war in Gaza that Netanyahu and his government want to push some or all of the two million Palestinians in Gaza into Sinai.

Keep reading.

Airports are adding more and more luxurious lounges, featuring raw bars, cheesemongers, spa-like showers and private security lines.

• The big picture: "Exclusive lounges — one of the few aspects of flying that travelers seem to enjoy — are driving increased loyalty for credit-card companies and airlines," WSJ's Alison Sider writes.

Case in point: Terminal 4 at New York's JFK airport is a lounge battleground. It has more than 135,000 square feet of lounge space, half of which was added since 2023.

• Even Southwest Airlines, which used to be all about no-frills travel, is considering building lounges. "The lounge access as a card benefit is what allows you to offer a $495-, $595-a-year card," Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said this month.

Richmond is trying to set the record for the largest goat yoga class in the world.

• Why it matters: That means getting more than 501 people to The Diamond, Richmond's baseball stadium, today to beat the last Guinness World Record — set just outside Tampa in 2019, Axios Richmond's Sabrina Moreno writes.

🧘 The big picture: Goat yoga has gained popularity across America over the last several years as a way to have fun and destress in the presence of cute animals.

• Goats are typically chilled out and friendly, taking little to no time to warm up to people and approach them for pets and cuddles — making them ideal yoga companions.

Proceeds from Richmond's record attempt will go to Pactamere Cares, a local nonprofit that offers animal-assisted therapy.

• Share this story.