What if Sen. Bernie Sanders is right and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is wrong?

What if the AI revolution causes mass layoffs of American workers, as the Vermont senator warned in a recent Fox News op-ed? And what if Powell is wrong that the softening labor market is due primarily to supply issues — lower immigration and a lower labor participation rate — rather than AI-produced ‘efficiencies’?

What will be the response of policymakers? What should it be?

AI will soon become a political battleground. Democratic socialist Sanders, ever the class warrior, has already questioned whether AI will help all Americans or only ‘a handful of billionaires.’ Like the trade deals that sent millions of jobs overseas, Sanders worries that the massive investment flowing into AI could result in up to 100 million Americans losing their jobs over the next decade. He could be right; imagine the repercussions.

Young people are already losing faith in capitalism and cozying up to socialism. Two-thirds of Democrats now view socialism more positively than capitalism. Nothing could undermine our capitalist system faster than widespread job losses stemming from a tech breakthrough cheered by the investor class.

This is the critical issue of our day — one getting scant attention, even from self-described ‘data-driven’ Powell, who is perennially looking backward rather than forward. In his latest press conference, Powell answered one question about employment by saying, ‘The supply of workers has dropped very, very sharply due to mainly immigration, but also lower labor force participation. So, and that means there’s less need for new jobs, because there’s — there isn’t this flow into the pool of labor where people need jobs.’ Excuse me, what?

The economy is growing, yet hiring is declining. Though the government shutdown has blocked the usual monthly labor reports, plenty of data suggests the job market is weakening. Companies are increasingly citing AI investment as a factor in lower headcounts.

Corporate America is spending tens of billions of dollars on AI, promising shareholders great gains in productivity. But where will that productivity come from, other than reducing headcounts? Certainly, people armed with artificial intelligence can deliver information and analyses more rapidly, making themselves and their organizations more productive. But ultimately, it will also make some people redundant and slow new hiring. The impact on America’s labor market will be profound — and is largely being ignored.

Amazon recently announced it was laying off 14,000 employees. A top human resources official at the firm sent a note titled ‘Staying nimble and continuing to strengthen our organizations.’ She wrote that ‘the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.’

What kinds of workers are at risk? Factory workers and truck drivers, for sure, who are already being replaced by robots and AI — but also white-collar employees. Fortune notes that the Amazon layoffs ‘show it’s coming for middle management first.’ The world’s largest retailer employs about 1.5 million people; 14,000 is a drop in the bucket. But the trend is worrisome — and for those 14,000 people, devastating.

Amazon is not alone. UPS recently announced it has cut 48,000 jobs this year — 14,000 management positions and 34,000 in operations. UPS started the year with about 500,000 employees. Target also made headlines recently, saying it will cut 8% of its corporate workforce — its first significant layoffs in a decade.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas cites market and economic conditions as the main reason for most corporate layoffs to date but also points to AI. That makes sense. After all, the economy is growing briskly — second-quarter real GDP growth was 3.8%, and it looks like we’ll see robust expansion for the third quarter as well.

There has never been a faster adoption of new technology. Already, an estimated one-third of Americans use AI; ChatGPT receives 5.4 billion visits per month. Global AI revenues are expected to total $391 billion this year and could reach $3.5 trillion by 2033. These estimates may be optimistic, but top tech firms are investing about $400 billion this year alone to expand capacity, according to The Wall Street Journal. They clearly believe the projections.

Bernie Sanders aside, no one should want to halt the AI revolution. Artificial intelligence promises extraordinary advances in medicine and other sciences — and could radically improve education for America’s children.

It’s also largely American companies that will benefit from the explosion in AI spending, reaping the profits and influence that come with global dominance of a new technology. Rising productivity will spur hiring in certain industries and boost real wages. It will also allow for the retirement of the 20-plus million baby boomers still working.

But there may well be a period of adjustment when layoffs exceed job creation. Unemployment may rise, fueling anger at the innovations producing more out-of-work Americans and resentment toward the companies behind the disruptions.

Lawmakers and financial leaders need to be prepared for this possibility — one that could deepen voters’ growing affection for socialism and rejection of capitalism. That would be a disaster for a country that has outperformed every other nation on Earth, producing unprecedented opportunity and wealth.

Otherwise, it will be Bernie Sanders and his left-wing colleagues dictating the response. Sanders advocates a 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay, giving workers significantly more power and imposing a ‘robot tax’ on big tech companies. Such measures would slow American competitiveness and growth, as they have in Europe.

We cannot allow that to happen.

President Donald Trump publicly endorsed Andrew Cuomo on Monday while threatening to withhold federal funding from New York City if Zohran Mamdani, who he labeled a ‘Communist’, wins the mayoral election.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social, he also warned that the city would face ‘total economic and social disaster’ under Mamdani’s leadership.

‘If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!’ he wrote in the post.

‘It can only get worse with a Communist at the helm, and I don’t want to send, as President, good money after bad. It is my obligation to run the Nation, and it is my strong conviction that New York City will be a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster should Mamdani win,’ he added before claiming a win for Mamdani would be a ‘Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster.’

The president’s post also marked his latest attempt to guide New Yorkers at the polls.

‘A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani,’ Trump added.

‘Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!’

Speaking at a press event in New York on the eve of the election, Mamdani responded to the president’s Truth Social post.

‘The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him,’ he said.

‘Not the best mayor for New York City, not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration.’

Mamdani also responded to Elon Musk supporting Cuomo on Monday, saying ‘the reason that the President of the United States of America, the reason that one of the wealthiest men in the world are both trying to get involved at the last minute, is that they know we will accomplish everything we have run on.’

The socialist mayoral candidate spoke out about Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding from the city, and labeled it unlawful.

‘It is not the law,’ Mamdani told reporters. ‘And too often we treat everything that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth as if it is already legal, just by virtue of who is saying it.’

European left-wing politicians are crossing the Atlantic to study a campaign model they see as a blueprint for revival — the campaign of New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist whose grassroots machine has captured attention far beyond his Queens district.

According to a Politico Europe report on Monday, far-left delegations from France, Germany and the U.K. visited New York this week to observe Mamdani’s operation firsthand. Among them were the deputy leader of the U.K. Green Party; a parliamentary officer for Germany’s Left (Die Linke) Party; as well as a French member of the European Parliament, with the goal of translating what they see as a successful campaign into more victories for Europe’s hard-left parties.

Alan Mendoza, executive director of the London-based Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital, ‘Nobody would have thought New York would succumb to this five years ago. But there are certain conditions — a problematic economy, cost-of-living issues, and weak opposition — that make it fertile ground. Those conditions certainly exist in many European cities, so you can see an immediate crossover.’

Mendoza added, ‘It’s no surprise they’re coming to study Mamdani’s campaign,’ he said. ‘It looks like it’s going to be a very successful one, and the fact that somebody with his views and policies looks like they’re about to be elected as mayor of one of the most famous cities in the world is a boon to all those who share his politics internationally.’

Mendoza described Mamdani as a ‘trailblazer’ for hard-left movements that have often struggled to win major offices in Western democracies. ‘He’s bringing victory where there has always previously been defeat for politicians of the far left,’ he said. ‘His tactics, his style, his pronouncements — his form of forging a governing coalition, are going to be of keen interest to similar hard leftists around the world.’

In New York, Mamdani has built his base through neighborhood-level activism, which European politicians see as a path to reenergize voters. The former leader of the U.K.’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, who now leads the upstart Your Party, said on social media that he and his team phone banked for Mamdani.

Corbyn shared the phone-banking link which leads a website organized by the Democratic Socialists of America’s NYC chapter which is urging volunteers to mobilize voters for Mamdani.

Mendoza warned that replicating Mamdani’s ideological platform could deepen polarization. ‘Europe is already more statist and more left-wing as a rule than America anyway,’ he said. ‘So if he can win in New York, why can’t a hard leftist win in Europe? The question is whether those policies would actually work — and history shows they don’t.’

Mendoza dismissed identity as a driving factor behind Mamdani’s success, despite debates over his immigrant background. ‘It’s not an ethnicity question,’ he said. ‘It’s a question of what his ideology is — and that can be shared by people whether they’re born in a country or not.’

Fox News’ Emma Bussey contributed to this report.

Denmark on Monday ramped up its military presence in Greenland, deploying extra troops to the strategic Arctic territory amid escalating tensions with President Donald Trump.

Local Danish broadcaster TV 2 said the Danish Armed Forces confirmed a new contingent of troops, described as ‘a substantial contribution,’ were arriving at Greenland’s main international airport Monday night.

Maj. Gen. Søren Andersen, head of Denmark’s Arctic Command, said about 100 Danish soldiers have already arrived in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, with others later deployed to Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland.

The new military move comes in the wake of comments made by Trump over the region’s strategic and military importance. 

In a Truth Social post Jan. 18, Trump warned that Denmark had failed to secure Greenland against foreign threats.

‘NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that ‘you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland,’’ Trump wrote. 

‘Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!!’ he said.

On Monday, a text message exchange between Trump and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre over Greenland and the Nobel Peace Prize was released in a statement.

‘Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?’ Trump said before adding that there were ‘no written documents; it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also,’ he said in part of the exchange.

‘I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT,’ he added.

Before now, according to Reuters, Andersen had said that Danish troop deployment was driven by broader security concerns, not by Trump’s statements.

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen also said that Denmark has begun increasing its military footprint in and around Greenland in cooperation with its NATO allies and as part of efforts to strengthen Arctic defense, Reuters reported.

Danish forces already stationed in Greenland could remain for a year or more, with additional rotations planned in the coming years.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Jan. 15 the presence of European troops would not affect Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland.

‘I don’t think troops from Europe impact the president’s decision-making process, nor does it impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all,’ she told reporters.

The additional Danish troop deployment also came following Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would impose a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from countries that have supported Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

King Charles III will reflect on ‘the increasing pressures of conflict’ across the world in a ‘time of great challenge’ during a speech planned for Monday, according to multiple reports. 

‘We join together on this Commonwealth Day at a time of great challenge and great possibility,’ a preview of the 77-year-old’s Commonwealth Day speech says.

The king’s speech continued: ‘Across our world, communities and nations face the increasing pressures of conflict, climate change and rapid transformation. Yet it is often in such testing moments that the enduring spirit of the Commonwealth is most clearly revealed.’

The speech will come a little more than a week after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran, which British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom didn’t take part in for the sake of their national interest.

‘This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,’ President Donald Trump said earlier this week in a criticism of Starmer amid a perceived lack of support for the U.S. and Israel’s joint military operation against Iran.

‘By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,’ the president said, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of U.K. bases to launch attacks on Iran.

Britain has since allowed the U.S. to use its bases in the region for defensive purposes against Iran’s retaliatory strikes. It has also mobilized fighter jets and plans to send a destroyer and possibly an aircraft carrier. 

The president referenced the Chagos Islands Tuesday, which are British territories in the Indian Ocean, saying it has taken ‘three, four days for us to work out where we can land there.’

‘It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised,’ he said.

Later, the president said the United Kingdom has been ‘very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.’ 

‘It’s a shame,’ Trump said. ‘That country, the U.K., and I love that country, I love it.’

‘This is not the age of Churchill,’ he added.

Trump slammed Starmer again on Saturday, accusing the prime minister of joining the war after the U.S. had ‘already won.’

‘The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’

Starmer has defended his decision to stay out of the conflict, saying the U.K. was ‘not involved in the ​initial strikes against Iran, and we will not join offensive action now.’

‘But in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and ⁠drones, we will protect our people in the region,’ Starmer said in an address Monday to Parliament. ‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the ​initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.’

The king and other senior royals will gather at Westminster Abbey on Monday for the annual Commonwealth Day celebration, which recognizes the 56 countries voluntarily connected to the U.K., many of which were once part of the British Empire.

The preview of the speech continues: ‘Working together, we can ensure that the Commonwealth continues to stand as a force for good — grounded in community, committed to the kind of restorative sustainability that has a return on investment, enriched by culture, steadfast in its care for our planet, and united in friendship and in the service of its people.’

Charles’ speech at the abbey will also be the largest gathering of the royal family since former Prince Andrew was arrested on Feb. 19.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.