Hacker News: toomuchtodo

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:50:43 +0000

If you're tired, learn to rest, not quit. Success is a long way off, and the work ahead is measured in decades. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 03:55:51 +0000

I suppose the lost generation Wikipedia page will write itself then.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/style/marriage-decline-de...

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/28/a-record-...

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/08/for-valen...

https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/womens-impact-on-the-eco...

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:50:34 +0000

Organizing and unionizing, focusing on affordability, etc are what I’m referring to. “Good manufacturing jobs” ain’t coming back. If you want a good job today, it’s only coming through collective action to push wages up to living wages. There won’t be some magic that instantiates millions of good jobs for young men needing them, and even those with degrees are facing peril and economic insecurity. The jobs that exist are the jobs young men have to crank towards livability. Universal healthcare is a component of affordability, especially as it relates to family forming and the cost of US healthcare.

With structural demographics what they are, and labor slowly becoming more scarce year after year, the time is right. They took their chance on the Right, and polling shows some amount of buyer’s remorse.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/economy/young-men-joblessness

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US Electricity Price Heat Map"

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:41:39 +0000

Data Collection and Estimation Methodology: https://electricity.heatmap.news/methodology

US Electricity Price Heat Map

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:40:47 +0000

Article URL: https://electricity.heatmap.news/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47684320

Points: 1

# Comments: 2

Maine Is About to Become the First State to Ban New Data Centers

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:37:11 +0000

Article URL: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/maine-data-center-ban-e768fb18

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47684276

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:31:24 +0000

Will young men support progressive policy? Their only chance at economic success in a punishing macro? To be determined.

New comment by toomuchtodo in "Project Glasswing: Securing critical software for the AI era"

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:25:12 +0000

It doesn’t surprise me at all. Show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcome. Security is simply not valued, in many cases.

The Wealthy Investors That Powered Private Credit Are Rushing for the Exits

toomuchtodo — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:24:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-wealthy-investors-that-powered-private-credit-are-rushing-for-the-exits-7a3db81e

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47683091

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by toomuchtodo in "Project Glasswing: Securing critical software for the AI era"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 23:52:59 +0000

To my knowledge, not yet. The attack surface in question is extensive, and in my opinion, targets are likely unprepared for a determined and sophisticated attacker.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/07/iranian-hackers-ene...

New comment by toomuchtodo in "Project Glasswing: Securing critical software for the AI era"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 23:43:07 +0000

Iranian-Affiliated Cyber Actors Exploit Programmable Logic Controllers Across US Critical Infrastructure - https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa... - April 7th, 2026

New comment by toomuchtodo in "Can India Afford to Quit Coal?"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 23:04:15 +0000

Battery storage is now cheap enough to unleash India’s full solar potential - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/battery-storage-is-... - April 7th, 2026

https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Battery-storage...

New comment by toomuchtodo in "A fire sale has U.S. office buildings going for 90% off"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:46:40 +0000

> Surely it wasn't the proliferation of government regulation of the development process (and the financials thereof) that caused developers to optimize for greenfield sprawl crap that could most cheaply check the boxes, get the cheap money, get the approvals, be compliant, etc, etc.

I'm sure white flight was a component, as well as subsidizing the auto manufacturing industry and a car centric planning model with federally funded highways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight

https://nlihc.org/resource/myth-white-suburb-and-suburban-in...

https://www.governance.fyi/i/191825260/the-money-problem-is-...

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-end-of-suburban-white...

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:34:36 +0000

Total Boomer cohort doesn't reach at least 65 until 2029-2030 per the US Census. One does not qualify for Medicare until 65. It matters because 55+ working age population cohort is load bearing in the US labor force at the moment.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/12/by-2030-all-b...

https://www.accurate.com/blog/how-the-retirement-boom-has-im...

Are Older Workers Propping Up The U.S. Economy? - https://seekingalpha.com/article/4531829-older-workers-propp... | https://archive.today/sKeyE - August 9th, 2022

> There are now 20 million more 55+ employed than there were in 2000, an equivalent of the entire workforce of Spain. This unprecedented demographic / employment transition is worth a closer look. As the second chart shows, some of this increase is due to the rising population of Americans over 55 years of age - an increase of 42 million. In 2000, 30% of those 55 and older were employed. Today, over 37% are employed - a significant increase in the percentage of 55+ people who are working. In 2000, only 17.6% of the 55 and older populace had a job. Now the percentage is 37.5% A 20% increase in the percentage of 55+ who are employed in a 20-year span is unprecedented. If the percentage of employed 55+ had stayed the same, there would only be 17 million 55+ workers today. Instead, there are over 37 million. This raises a question: why are so many older workers continuing to work longer than they did in 1990 and 2000?

(obviously, older workers are continuing to work because they cannot afford not to, although I'm sure there is some amount of folks who continue to work despite not financially needing to)

New comment by toomuchtodo in "Move Detroit"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:32:32 +0000

https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/cost-to-move-across-the...

The Biggest Oil Disruption in History Is Accelerating the Energy Transition

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:54:33 +0000

Article URL: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Biggest-Oil-Disruption-in-History-Is-Accelerating-the-Energy-Transition.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47681831

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:14:56 +0000

> The US labor force is quietly shrinking, not because of a weak economy, but because of a demographic squeeze. The population is aging, fewer younger workers are entering the workforce, and relative stability amongst prime-age workers (aged 25-54) can’t fully offset the gap. The result, according to the BLS projections, will be roughly 4.3 million fewer workers by 2034 than would be expected if participation rates held steady.

> Each year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) develops 10-year projections about the labor market. The latest projections for the decade stretching from 2024 to 2034 show a steady decline of the overall labor force participation rate (LFPR), from 62.6% in 2024 to 61.1% by 2034, a 1.5 percentage point drop over a decade. Given the size of the US labor market, that 1.5 percentage point decline represents roughly 4.3 million fewer people who are either employed or actively seeking work, relative to 2024 participation levels.

> The projections point to a demographic squeeze on the US labor market. As the population ages, workers move into older age groups where participation is lower. At the same time, fewer younger workers are entering the labor market, and prime-age participation rates decline slightly. Even with strong participation among prime-age workers and later retirements among older adults, the population is gradually shifting toward age groups with lower structural participation. The result is a slow but persistent decline in the overall LFPR.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260407201640/https://d341ezm4i...

The Demographic Squeeze: Why Labor Force Participation is Projected to Fall Through 2034 - https://www.hiringlab.org/2026/04/07/why-labor-force-partici... - April 7th, 2026

Our Labor Force Demographics Are Getting Worse - https://www.aei.org/domestic-policy/our-labor-force-demograp... - January 23rd, 2026

The Rising Storm: One Year Later - https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/the-rising-storm-one-yea... - Published on Jan 15, 2026, Updated on Mar 6, 2026

The Rising Storm: Building a Future-Ready Workforce to Withstand the Looming Labor Shortage [pdf] - https://www.datocms-assets.com/62658/1761154208-the_rising_s... - 2024

(think in systems)

New comment by toomuchtodo in "US labor force participation continues to slide"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:08:45 +0000

Submitter here, I posted because I think there is a confluence of interesting macroeconomic factors at work here. Certainly, immigration policy is factoring into this, as the restaurant industry is highly dependent on such labor. At the same time, we're still seeing 55+ leave the labor force rapidly (~4M Boomers continue to retire per year, ~330k/month), leaving only younger prime working age cohort, which continues to shrink. At the same time, we're seeing youth unemployment around 6%, including those with a college degree [1].

As the piece mentions, young men are "staying on the sidelines" versus engage in low wage, low status restaurant work (in this context). So, who can hold out longer: businesses and industries historically underpaying workers but "desperate for them"? Or potential workers? Because as long as US immigration is constrained, as a business, you get to pick from who is on the soil at whatever that market clearing price for labor is.

[1] Young men are struggling in a slowing job market, even if they have college degrees - https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/young-men-strugglin... - August 13th, 2025 ("Men ages 23 to 30 are discovering that a bachelor's degree doesn't offer the same protection from unemployment that it used to")

New comment by toomuchtodo in "A fire sale has U.S. office buildings going for 90% off"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:30:24 +0000

Why is public housing in Vienna not slums?

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

New comment by toomuchtodo in "A fire sale has U.S. office buildings going for 90% off"

toomuchtodo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:16 +0000

Debt funded sprawl.

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020-8-28-the-growth-pon...

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020-5-14-americas-growt...

https://archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2025/4/14/cities-are...