Nothing has moved in there since April 2026. My production has been dormant. Here we are in the US and have always done everything we can to develop, manufacture and support our own products.

My supply chain has disintegrated. My customers have been struggling. My team has dwindled. We are counting our days.

I figure that tariffs have taken about $60K right out of my personal pocket. Wasn't this supposed to support US manufacturing? Instead it might just be costing me everything. I do not get it.

Worse, I have two machines sitting like that. I am pleased that the spiders haven't yet found safe haven in there. That machine would complete a board every 5 minutes and ran regularly before this.

The reality is even more depressing. The camera has brightened this image up substantially.

Please get out and vote. And if you are responsible for this, and that pleases you, don't bother voting.

Saw this at my local Tractor Supply store the other day when I was buying feed for my horses and chickens. Perhaps it is just me, but I have not seen layaway since the Great Recession era. A sign of the (ever unaffordable) times perhaps? Has anyone else not seen layaway since the era of the Great Recession, or am I tripping?

I feel like I have seen A LOT of evidence of consumers at their breaking point simply by shopping my local Tractor Supply over the last few months. I'll explain below if you're curious to hear of my observations just in my local area:

I have noticed Tractor Supply dropping prices on a ton of their livestock feed, since that's usually what I'm shopping for. Chicken feed I typically buy was around $20-$22 per 50lb bag in the spring and summer (and last year or two), but has been lowered the last few months to around $18 for the same bag. The feed I buy for my senior horse has been on sale more often than not the last few months, when it typically costs about $35 per 50lb bag. The alfalfa pellets I buy (50lb bag) keep having $2 or $5 off sales each time I go in, whereas the last few years, I have rarely seen them on sale.

I've seen more "discount" and "on sale" yellow signs and stickers posted all over products in the store just over the last 2 months than I ever have before in my last 8+ years of regularly shopping their stores. It seems like nearly everything is on sale in the stores, or that prices have been dropped.

Ever since the pandemic, everyone and their neighbor seemed to be chicken crazy, and the Tractor Supply live chicks that they sell were typically sold out within the same day that they arrived, or at the least, within two days of arrival. Over this past spring and summer, I noticed they were not selling chicks as quickly, as each time I went in, all the live chick bins were completely full of those little adorable fuzz balls, filling the store with a chorus of peeps. They also seemed to continue selling their chicks later into the season this year, as normally it seems like they stop selling chicks in the late summer. This year, my local store had chicks all the way up until just the beginning of this month (October). To add a bonus point of discovery not necessarily related to TS chicks: local independent chicken breeders and farmers around me also noted that they were not selling nearly as many chicks this year, and had many leftover that they were trying desperately to sell. Many breeders I have also noticed downsizing their flocks and breeding stock, with many nice hens and roosters being listed for sale in my local poultry groups.

I read a Wall Street Journal news article about a month or two ago that Tractor Supply has noticed a significant decrease in "discretionary spending" at their stores, and is dropping prices as a result. I, as a livestock owner and consumer of TS products, have definitely noticed their price-drops. Here's the article if you're curious to read:

https://www.wsj.com/cfo-journal/tractor-supply-retrenches-as-it-looks-for-a-rebound-6176b357

One final interesting observation over my local area and evidence of consumers being crushed the last few months: the small business/independent used auto sales lot right next to my local TS store used to be barely full. They had a back lot that was always empty, and they often mainly just had crossovers and sedans for sale. Now? Just over the last 3-4 months? Both front and back lots are stuffed to the brim, but all with very large (fairly new, maybe 2-3 years old at most) trucks, some SUVs, and a few camping trailers. There are VERY FEW sedans and small cars for sale on the lot anymore. It's really just gas guzzlers and diesel hogs for sale, all lined up shiny and sparkling along the edges of the lot, packed in line sardines. They haven't really been moving either. It's very interesting to see every time I drive by it on my way to pick up more animal feed.

Anyways. Just some interesting things I've noticed over just the last few months that make it ever more glaringly apparent that consumers are being crushed, and the evidence is stark. We're all hitting our breaking point, at least those of us normal folk just trying to work and survive.

Imagine what government programs could be funded by the $1 trillion being spent on interest. it is time we get our deficit under control.

We need to start decreasing the deficit and will need to be done in multiple ways:

Decrease government spending, decrease government waste, increase taxes (especially on wealthy), grow the economy, and reduce inflation.

We as a county are in trouble once a growing economy does not cover the increased interest payments.