How a December 2024 Congressional Report Predicted the Labor Shortages, Food Price Spikes, and Construction Collapse We’re Seeing Today
In my four decades of emergency management and disaster response, I’ve learned one critical lesson: when multiple expert analyses point to the same catastrophic outcome, you don’t wait for the disaster to hit before you start planning. You act on the data. In December 2024, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee released a report titled “Mass Deportations Would Deliver a Catastrophic Blow to the U.S. Economy.” It wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t hedging. It laid out, in precise detail, what would happen if the incoming Trump administration followed through on its promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Now, nearly a year into the administration, we’re watching those predictions materialize in real time. Construction employment is dropping where it should be growing. Agricultural payrolls are collapsing. Food prices are climbing. And Trump’s own Labor Department has quietly admitted what the data showed all along: we’re heading toward “supply shock-induced food shortages.” Th...