Submitted by Brook030 t3_zxuu3e in technology
dungone t1_j234g30 wrote
Reply to comment by Ronbergs in Google Employees Brace for a Cost-Cutting Drive as Anxiety Mounts by Brook030
Economy is seeing strong job growth, wage growth, and record profits, while inflation is slowly getting under control.
Ronbergs t1_j239als wrote
The economy is starting to improve, but its still much worse than it was not long ago. Wages are NOT growing and the cost of living has gone through the roof. Americans have no spending money. Many companies are seeing record profits, but many others are seeing record lows.
The tech industry is having a bit of a stumble. Amazon, Meta, and Twitter have had big layoffs for various reasons. In googles case, i dont think job cuts are certain yet, but theyve been trying to cut costs like crazy lately. Im not an expert so i cant say why for sure, but the economy is not doing great.
You can trace our current economic issues to GOP handling of the pandemic, and more importantly, the constant harm they cause it through bad policies.
dungone t1_j23b0f6 wrote
You've got to look at the facts. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/business/economy/jobs-report-november.html
Wages are 5% higher than this time a year ago. GDP growth last quarter was 2.9%, which is healthy.
The tech layoffs are FUD. There were 260,000 unfilled tech jobs this year even after 90 thousand layoffs. The national average unemployment rate is 3.7% but for software engineers it's been 2.3%. And that doesn't even begin to describe the growing skills gap, with the most highly skilled engineers being in more demand than ever.
Your concerns about high prices come down to two basic things: energy and housing. Both of them are best addressed by dealing with the supply side. No amount of wage growth will ever make housing affordable - only more houses can do that. For energy it's the same - we have chronically under-invested in renewable energy and are now paying the price.
Ronbergs t1_j23dlx4 wrote
The economy is getting better, but youre only looking at a few parts of the whole picture. Inflation is huge right now and even that is eclipsed by the greed of the wealthy, which has massively increased the cost of living. The gas price spike and cost of meds like insulin are a good example of the greed.
And that wage increase doesnt mean much. Its just an average. Many peoples wage increases yearly to accout for inflation, but thats lagging behind inflation quite a bit. Min wage workers didnt see much wage increase at all. The wealthy certainly raised the average for themselves tho.
tickleMyBigPoop t1_j24ighl wrote
> greed of the wealthy, which has massively increased the cost of living.
lol wut
Bro housing costs are because susan doesn't want the new builds to block her view. Rich people don't lobby cities to implement harsher zoning laws, that shit happened in the 1970s because white people are scared of black people living near them.
tickleMyBigPoop t1_j24i6yc wrote
> Wages are NOT growing
over the past few decades total compensation has been going up.
>Americans have no spending money.
lol what, compared to who? Americans moreso than anyone else on earth have the most spending money. Maybe the swiss have more.
>Amazon, Meta
Their layoffs have been fat trimming of non essentials. unemployment for software engineers is 2.3%
We want companies to run as lean and as efficient as possible...that's a good thing.
>You can trace our current economic issues to GOP handling of the pandemic
Not really actually. Controlling for age deaths from covid are pretty equal, with some lockdowns states doing worse that states that didn't lock down. Dems controlling the white house would have been in the same shit position.....being the president lacks the power to enforce a national lockdown.
JWM1115 t1_j25vqg3 wrote
How the fuck can you say it’s the GOP pandemic policy? If my memory lasts a couple years then the GOP was against all the lockdowns, quarentines, and extreme bs involved with the pandemic. If they had control at the time the economy would not be much different than it was pre-pandemic.
Ronbergs t1_j25zo85 wrote
Yea thats the problem... theyre against lockdowns and vaccines and masks??? and they deny the existence of covid, claiming its a left wing hoax. That made covid spread out of control, obviously, just like they knew it would. They just wanted a political tool and now covid will probably never go away. If they were in control we'd just have more needless covid deaths. Their president wanted us to inject bleach. FUCKING BLEACH.
I had to quit my job because people in my area keep going crazy when i wear a mask. Theyre almost ready to swing on people if they see them wear a mask.
JWM1115 t1_j260471 wrote
Nice story about your personal life. But it was pandemic policies that fucked the economy. We are talking about the economy here.
Ronbergs t1_j261w3o wrote
Workers are not part of the economy. Got it. Impressive insight.
JWM1115 t1_j26qf8e wrote
They contribute but are not decision makers. That comes from the C suite. But there was not much they could do with governors who would rather kiss government ass and declare lockdowns or whatever.
JWM1115 t1_j25uxm5 wrote
As long as wages are rising inflation isn’t going anywhere. Higher wages are what’s driving inflation not the CPI.
dungone t1_j25wyli wrote
That's just not true for a ton of different reasons. First of all, labor costs themselves are only responsible for a small fraction of prices, meaning that production costs will never go up as fast as wages. Second of all, increasing wages results in lower debt and higher savings rates, not just higher spending levels. So once again, higher wages will never cause inflation that is higher than the wages themselves. I can’t emphasize this enough. Whatever “inflation” that is created by higher wages is absolutely 100% worth it.
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