One hundred percent of the failed state of South Dakota is under some level of drought.
A cynical observer might suspect bankers provided gloomy outlooks to the Rural Mainstreet Index during the Biden years especially in midwestern swing states to sink Democratic Party prospects. But today, Creighton University's Ernie Goss and supply managers are sounding the alarm again about the Trump tariffs, economic uncertainty and the potential for retaliation.
The RMI fell for the 17th time in 18 months and a survey of bankers in ten Midwestern states revealed a dismal outlook after the February score fell to 38 on a zero to 100 scale where 50 is growth neutral. Only nine percent of bankers see a potential of growth in the coming six months and economic optimism plummeted to 45.7 in February from 61.4 in January over concerns about global economic tensions and rising tariffs. Farmland prices sank again, farm equipment sales fell for the eighteenth straight month and retail sales are at the lowest levels since the pandemic.
Until now Republicans weren't anxious to write a new farm bill because the agriculture recession made the Biden/Harris administration look bad. And, Republicans in congress stalled immigration reform because it makes sense to Earth haters that after he was elected again the Orange Julius Fat Nixon would run America into the dirt so banks can foreclose on the whole dealio to massage auction price points.
Beekeepers, including some in South Dakota, are facing devastating losses due mostly to insecticides while Bayer might even pull Roundup® over cancer concerns and mounting losses to lawsuits.
Learn more at NPR.
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