#economicdownturn

Been thinking about this recently. What do you think? Has private MA Health Insurance plans being run by an Oligolopy?

Also, I imagine if the Federal Reserve does not cut interest as originally planned, more layoffs may be planned for 1st quarter 2026.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IBM/comments/1ownc23/between_the_hire_act_and_ibms_new_100k_visa_fee/

A few commonalities between the penny (1 cent) and Penny:

• The penny is 232 years old, Penny’s reign feels just as long.
• The first penny had a woman, free flowing hair, symbolizing liberty. This Penny symbolizes tyranny.
• A “penny for her thoughts” is worth the same.
• Her “two cents” isn’t worth much as it used to…inflationary talking points.
• The U.S. Mint’s fiscal year 2024 report said the one-cent coin cost 3.7 cents to produce, a 20% increase from the year before. Penny’s yearly pay increases mimics the same increase.

Remember “a penny saved is a penny earned” and a “Penny saved is a lesson learned”

Federal-Mogul laid off 80+ people in Boaz.

• Federal-Mogul Closure: Federal-Mogul Motorparts announced it will close its Boaz, Alabama manufacturing plant on September 25, 2025, impacting 82 employees.

• Economic Reasons: The company cited economic pressures as the primary reason for the shutdown, despite efforts to maintain operations.

• Employee Support: Affected workers will receive severance packages and outplacement assistance, according to the company’s statement.

• Corporate Background: Federal-Mogul, acquired by Tenneco in 2018 and now operating under DRiV, is headquartered in Michigan with facilities across multiple U.S. states and 13 other countries.

The Boaz closure adds to a string of recent layoffs in Alabama, including workforce reductions at Boeing Huntsville and AT&T Alabama.

Layoffs in the United States exceeded 1 million in a single year during several periods, notably during the following years leading to a recession, except for 2020 due to Covid. US companies see the storm coming next year and are preparing for it by tightening the belt.

1. 2001: The dot-com bubble burst and a subsequent recession led to significant layoffs, with over 1 million jobs lost.
2. 2008: The financial crisis resulted in widespread layoffs as the economy entered a deep recession. Job losses exceeded 1 million during this year.
3. 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered mass layoffs, with more than 20 million jobs lost in the early months.
4. 2025: October marked the 1 million mark and the year is not even over.

Across corporate and in the stores too. This Christmas is going to be a flop. People are broke, some can’t even afford food, and plenty aren’t getting paid because of the government shutdown. With the prices up, expect spending to drop hard this holiday season. Mark my words, the results will be brutal, and we all know what comes next.

The economy is worse than it was in 2009, and there are very few jobs available in the market. Yet, the current administration does not send H-1B workers back or prioritize American citizens in hiring decisions. President Obama handled the 2009 recession more effectively; he ensured that H-1B workers remained in India by denying visa approvals.

According to this >>

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/06/ford-f-150-lightning-ev.html

...if this is true, what a sorry state of affairs Ford has going....so many PD ICE layoffs , other related layoffs, etc....for this outcome?

• Corporate giants Amazon, UPS and Target each announced layoffs in recent weeks totaling more than 60,000 jobs cut this year.
• In the absence of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report, the layoff announcements have raised questions about the strength of the labor market and if it’s the start of an AI-driven, white-collar recession.
• While some companies investing in AI are looking to cut costs elsewhere, the layoffs more likely signal concerns about the economy and a slowdown in consumer spending, according to experts.
  https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/04/white-collar-layoffs-ai-cost-cutting-tariffs.html

Trumponomics making pensions great again.

If you as a US Citizen Worker cannot see this now (yet) and think this is all jargon talking points or fear mongering, I think you probably need to think about it.

Just spend an hour or two doing some internet searches on the subject matter. This will not only effect you but your children and grandchildren’s economic futures.

How much is the loss in SNAP benefits going to hurt Walmart?

Due to the current economic climate and the future efficiency of AI all major companies are making cuts to keep up with the rising costs to do business. Even if AI isn't a realistic strategy companies are all in because the potential is too great to ignore. Vote for leadership not party affiliation. We are experiencing the impacts of almost 10 years of horrible leadership decisions at the top that trickle down to companies across America.

It is hard to believe that Alaska has much potential left due to high operating expenses.

And layoffs are rampant. The demand is tapering off and customers/clients are asking for more with less people and $$$. So, that'd be the environment right now. Things will continue to trend down and it's so hard to find jobs nowdays with everyone laying off people, budgets goin down, etc. Plus tariffs plus geo-political instability plus AI - you get what I am trying to say...

Good luck no matter what!!!!!

I will start: C-level folks like $$$, pumping up their bonuses. China and tariffs and all other competition. The analog semi market is in shambles, demand is down and wafer starts are down - this will persist for a while. Meanwhile, we'll keep cutting but this will turn at some point.

Car sales to follow.

Get out now voluntarily while you can.

White-collar workers across the U.S. are facing mass layoffs as companies such as Amazon, UPS, and Target cut thousands of corporate jobs while embracing AI and cost-saving measures. Tens of thousands of office workers, from new graduates to seasoned professionals, are entering a stagnant job market with fewer opportunities and increasing competition.

Companies are automating white-collar tasks through AI, driving investor-backed efficiency but leaving fewer managerial and midlevel roles. Nearly two million people have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more, and confidence in finding good jobs has dropped sharply.

While blue-collar fields like construction, healthcare, and trades face labor shortages, white-collar employees are being displaced, overworked, or forced into unrelated jobs. Many laid-off professionals report draining savings and facing housing insecurity, while employers demand increasingly specific qualifications from fewer hires.

Economists warn that AI-driven restructuring is reshaping the nature of office work, eroding stability for middle- and upper-income earners, and deepening inequality in the U.S. labor market.

Source:

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/white-collar-jobs-ai-324b749c

Analysts predict up to 500,000 white-collar software jobs could be lost in the next few years, mostly among mid-level employees:

https://www.thestreet.com/employment/white-collar-workers-should-worry-about-this-concerning-trend

• AI and automation: AI is beginning to handle tasks once performed by humans, leading companies to re-evaluate their staffing needs and reduce reliance on large corporate teams. Companies like IBM have stated that AI could replace a significant percentage of non-customer-facing roles, say The New York State Society of CPAs.
• Corporate restructuring and efficiency: Companies are restructuring to become more efficient and are under pressure from investors to cut costs. This has led to significant layoffs, particularly in large corporations like Amazon, UPS, and Target, as reported by AllSides and The Wall Street Journal.
• Post-pandemic market normalization: The period of explosive growth in some sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic has cooled, leading to a slowdown and increased layoffs in industries like tech, communications, and media, according to Newsweek.
  Economic and political uncertainty: Factors like political uncertainty and higher costs are also contributing to slower hiring and job cuts.

Massive layoffs are sweeping across the U.S. — Target, GM, and Ford are among major companies cutting jobs, pushing total layoffs near one million this year.
Despite record profits and strong Wall Street gains, corporations are slashing workforces, blaming automation and “restructuring.”
Critics say it’s a coordinated move to suppress wages and weaken workers’ job security as the economy edges toward recession.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/25/jobs-o25.html

The absurd gifts and celebrities for the holiday gala can't overtake the news...we still aren't paying vendors even after a 600 million bucks cash infusion..With sales down so drastic it may be time to throw in the towel..

With SAP and almost every other company flushing billions down the toilet chasing a phony dream, what happens after the crash?

https://www.commondreams.org/news/artificial-intelligence-bubble

MarketWatch reported on Friday that the MacroStrategy Partnership, an independent research firm, has published a new note claiming that the bubble generated by AI is now 17 times larger than the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, and four times bigger than the global real-estate bubble that crashed the economy in 2008.

Perkins told Axios that he’s particularly wary because the big tech companies are claiming “they don’t care whether the investment has any return, because they’re in a race.”
“Surely that in itself is a red flag,” he added.

“I think that there will be a lot of capital that’s deployed that will turn out to not deliver returns, and when that happens, people won’t feel good,” he said.

so do not complain here, just go and see what other companies are doing.

it's rough.

How many of us believe this? Let me know your thoughts. I think the pie is shrinking and we are going through a structural change. Since the pie is shrinking, there will be many people who will not get a slice of the pie by the sheer fact that there is not enough slices. Once can 'kick a ss' all day, if there is nothing to be given you'll get nother (or it'll be taken away from you as we are witnessing right now. Just my two very modest cents.

This is why finding a job is so difficult: over 800,000 layoffs have been announced in the U.S. so far in 2025, making it the worst year for job cuts since the pandemic peak in 2020, and the year isn't even over yet.

The causes include:
Impact of DOGE 289,000 layoffs
Tariffs and Market Volatility
AI and Automation
Farmers are unable to sell their crops due to a collapse in commodity prices, skyrocketing costs, a debt crisis, labor shortages, and the fallout from the trade wars.

So, start blaming the corporations, not the little guy who is just trying to survive like you.

absolutely brutal news out of pwc middle east this morning. they’ve announced that 66 zero partners and about 1,500 staff are being let go immediately.

the knee-je-k reaction is that it’s because of the pif ban. people assume that restriction is the trigger. but i believe it’s more complicated. yes, pif matters for every major management consulting firm. but the real story is about the market changing.

the market is contracting. clients are realizing what ai can do. broadly speaking, clients now want to build their own in-house consulting capacity. the cost difference between hiring someone internally versus using an external consultant is massive. they know they need those skills on their own teams. so why keep hiring outside help?

there is a definite shift. on paper, the advisory market in the middle east should be growing. i did a video recently pointing out that the projection was roughly 13 % year-on-year growth. last year saudi spent about 4 billion on consultants. this year should be 4 billion plus 13 %. something never quite added up, and this feels like validation.

pwc grew rapidly from around 2015 to 2025. they won nearly every big transformation project tied to vision 2030. but nobody thought that kind of scale would be sustainable forever. you can’t run project management offices for a decade and expect everything to stay the same.

now pwc is being forced to pull back. the layoffs are brutal, and i deeply sympathize with everyone affected. but cutting that many people is not done lightly or cheaply. clearly they’ve run the numbers: weigh the cost of layoffs now against the upside of operating leaner during slower growth.

i’ve also heard a rumor that another big four firm is going to announce something similar very soon. i won’t name names, but expect this wave to spread. it’s not just the big four—more consulting firms will feel this squeeze.

crazy times. if you’re being affected or know people who are, reach out. maybe we can build a group to help each other through this. i’d love to hear your take.

Nearly half of US companies have slowed or frozen hiring in 2025, with 39% already laying off workers and 35% planning more cuts before year-end.

Looking ahead, about 60% of businesses expect layoffs in 2026, citing trade policy, tariffs, economic uncertainty, and AI adoption.

High earners, employees without AI skills, recent hires, entry-level workers, and certain age groups are most at risk.

Almost 30% of companies have already replaced roles with AI in 2025, and 37% expect to do so by 2026.

68% of firms increased AI investment this year, accelerating workforce automation.

Jobs with repetitive or administrative tasks are being automated first, while new opportunities are emerging in AI oversight, compliance, and human-AI collaboration.

Workers who combine digital fluency, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence will remain in highest demand.

https://allwork.space/2025/09/6-in-10-businesses-plan-2026-layoffs-fueled-by-ai-and-economic-fears/

• John Deere is laying off 141 employees at its Waterloo and Ankeny plants due to decreased demand for agricultural equipment.
• These layoffs are in addition to previous workforce reductions in Waterloo and Illinois announced in August.
• The company has laid off about 2,200 employees in Iowa since April 2024 amid a struggling farm economy.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/2025/09/17/john-deere-layoffs-ankeny-waterloo/86203753007/

Keep an eye on the waning demand for Labor generally and be prepared eg with resumes and maybe even retraining.

Bloomberg today:

It’s only the third day of a much-feared month of September and sobering US economic news is already piling up.

Yesterday it was six straight months of shrinking manufacturing. Today it’s job openings falling in July to the lowest in 10 months, adding to other employment data (including a report last month that caused Donald Trump to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics) showing America’s once-robust post-pandemic jobs landscape continues to darken.

Even worse, the sectors most responsible for the new numbers aren’t cyclical and had been recent drivers of growth. Available positions decreased to 7.18 million from a downwardly revised 7.36 million in June, according to data published Wednesday by the BLS, a division of the US Department of Labor. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 7.38 million openings.

Struggling economy

https://news.yahoo.com/finance/news/quiet-cracking-dangerous-trend-affecting-133300885.html
quiet cracking refers to those who “gradually become mired in feeling both unappreciated by managers and closed off from career advancement while doing work they otherwise like

Economic uncertainty

Workload and job expectations

Poor leadership or uncertain company direction

Layoffs or restructuring

Lack of career advancement opportunities