Free Republic

Overstocking at Target, Walmart, Amazon, and other big retailers are the latest unexpected red flag for what’s happening in the economy. It’s an about-face from the beginning of 2022, when things were economically pretty peachy. Too peachy, one could argue: People were buying so much stuff that our ports and terminals could barely handle the massive import volume. Companies were desperate for someone, anyone, to come work for them. And movie theaters, offices, planes and other locales many eschewed during the pandemic were poised to bounce back; ... The vibes were good. Now, the vibes are completely terrible. More and...

When the robots came to online retailer Boxed, dread came, too: The familiar fear that the machines would take over, leaving a trail of unemployed humans in their wake. "I had a lot of people asking me, 'What is going to happen to us?'" says Veronica Mena, a trainer for the e-commerce startup, recalling the anxiety that rippled through her co-workers after company executives announced plans to open an automated warehouse in nearby Union, N. J. Yet their fears didn't come to pass. When the new warehouse opened this spring, workers found that their jobs were less physically demanding than...

Just a few miles off Route 22 in Allen Township, quarter horses gallop through a pasture and farmers tend to soil that will soon sprout corn. By summer, fields of wildflowers will bloom, giving motorists off the beaten path a pleasing dose of nature. That scene will soon be harder to find as a township blanketed with farmland and green open space becomes the Lehigh Valley's epicenter for warehouse development. Plans are in the works for 6.5 million square feet of the kind of massive distribution centers that line Interstate 78 and Route 100 — imagine warehouses stretching across more...