This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batchel. Lancaster County. Jim McTague, former Washington editor of

Barron's Magazine, now a novelist in the best county in the Keystone State, weathering the week of tariffs

and the promise or threat or prediction of a recession near at hand unless Jim a very good evening to you

you watch the market for years as a pro now you watch one watch the market as an amateur

you're outside of the game but you've been a perma bear for two years does Does this week, the last month, the last three months

since the high of January, does this satisfy the perma bear? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John. Now, you know, I was looking for a recession in the fourth quarter of this

year, and now I'm not so sure. And the reason is payrolls

continue to expand. Companies are still hiring. The man in the street, you know, I go out all week and talk to people who own businesses and people

who shop and they are all worried about the tariffs, but they all say, universally, I have

not been impacted yet by the tariffs. So the fear of what might happen is restricting

their spending,

which is bad for Main Street.

So I was in beautiful Littitz, Pennsylvania,

cute tourist town, lots of upscale shops.

And one of the shopkeepers, Michael,

who has a tattered t-shirt, tells me that the foot traffic

has been miserable.

The tourists have not showed up yet.

He said the Hail Mary passed for downtown Littitz is the pretzel festival on April 26th.

That's a big deal.

So he's hoping that the pretzel festival finally attracts some shoppers.

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