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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep111: HEADLINE: Mixed US Economic Signals: Strong GDP Contrasts Low Consumer Sentiment; AI Adoption Increases GUEST: Gene Marks

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.5 β€’ 2.8K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Gene Marks discusses the US economy, noting that third-quarter GDP growth is estimated near 4%, contrasting sharply with record-low consumer sentiment in a "tale of two economies" where salaried workers receiving pay raises of 5–7% are outpacing 3% inflation and continuing to spend, while hourly workers struggle. Despite job growth in construction, leading indicators like the architectural billings index show contraction for 11 months. In technology, 88% of major companies are adopting artificial intelligence, though scaling remains limited, with AI already replacing low-level programmers and enhancing customer service. Agentic AI, capable of performing complex tasks, is predicted to impact fields like accounting and marketing by 2027–2028. However, Marks argues that most current major corporate layoffs stem from typical corporate bloat and mismanagement rather than AI, at least not yet.
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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:27.8

The Home of Homes.

0:31.2

This is CBSI and the World. I'm John Batchel.

0:34.3

I welcome my good colleague, Jean Marks, Small Business Columnist, Guardian Paper,

0:38.8

fill out of Inquire paper, other distinguished publications, a man who travels the land

0:42.8

watching for signs of up or down for the economy, the American economy. Right now we have a GDP number

0:49.8

estimated on the combination of a number of expert eyes, including the Fed itself out of Atlanta.

0:56.2

It is surprising to me. Gene, this is the surprising number. Were you surprised? Good evening to you.

1:02.4

Hi, John. Yeah, I really was. You know, one of the many economic sites I love to follow, and I'll give a

1:06.6

shout out, is a site called Calculated Risk. It's Calculated Risk Blog.com, the guy that runs

1:13.0

in his guy named Bill McBride, and he tracks lots of economic data. He's a big fan, John,

1:17.5

of the architectural billings index, you know, like I am. He, but anyway, so he just posted just

1:25.5

today, you know, sort of a roundup of GDP predictions.

1:30.2

He included Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, the Atlanta Fed.

1:34.5

You know, those predictions for the third quarter ended, you know, September 30th,

1:39.8

they're coming in close to 4%, John, 4% GDP growth in the third quarter you know couple with the

1:46.2

fact that you know we added you know 170 some thousand new jobs and uh you know the unemployment

1:53.3

rates staying mostly steady and uh you know there's you do understand why jerome powell is is is

2:00.3

hesitant to lower interest rates because you despite what you you're There's, you do understand why Jerome Powell is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is

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