These people don't seem to be grasping that a recession is the GOAL to push inflation down
"You can't fix the economy by hurting people—but that's exactly what the Fed chose today," Groundwork Collaborative added. "Throwing millions out of work won't address the root causes of inflation and we implore policymakers to remember that #WeAreTheEconomy—not Wall Street and wealthy corporations."
'The economy' as far as much of the US knows or cares is the DOW. Joe Biden and Jerome Powell would step over you if you were dying on the sidewalk.
Biden thinks this idiotic system truly works, so good luck convincing him to do anything that would subvert it, and Powell is a central banker who is pulling the most obvious lever he has.
Many of these people seem to be operating under the misapprehension that this is ACCIDENTAL. "Oh no Jerome, you'll make people unemployed" THAT'S THE POINT, they plan on driving down spending by making everyone too goddamn poor to buy shit. Fucking stop playing nice with these ghouls, they would fucking flay the skin off of you if they could do it legally and sell it
what's crazy is it will technically hurt businesses too but i think this is also intentional. the big businesses with the big donors and megabilloniares will be fine in fact will come out on top as usual. plus this is telegraphed so far ahead they have plenty of time to reshuffle now and prepare for controlled layoffs to keep those shareholder dividends flowing. small busineses and corps will shutter, exactly as planned, proletarianizing more petty boug and leaving plenty of discount assets for the big players to scoop up. i wonder if recessions have been scary for these guys at all in the last 70 years now or just seen as opportunities.
Depends on the sector and impact. Companies which make items/services that are largely inelastic can see it as a boon; and ones which are looking to 'diversify their portfolio' would certainly see it that way, since any companies they'd be trying to acquire would have lower price tags due to deflated stock prices+lowered asset values.
On the other hand, higher interest rates makes borrowing harder, and a lot of companies saw loans as (nearly) free money for ages, since interest rates have been so low for so long; some companies would just borrow money and then simply beat the (low) interest rate for free money. So I'm sure quite a few are pissed those money pools are drying up.
This was a really interesting comment thread, btw. Can you recommend some additional reading/videos/podcasts etc. to learn more?
Unfortunately not from my personal experience; I had the misfortune of getting an advanced degree as a bean counter, so I was taught much of this, and textbooks are extremely dry and neglect to connect much of the reasoning behind the framework, or for that matter even having examples outside of a vacuum with 'completely elastic supply and demand' (l m a o) as it were for things such as econ.
I have heard good things about some of Richard Wolff's work, in particular "Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian", but I'll leave it to others to comment on that particular piece.
Aside from Richard Wolff who is mentioned below, I recommend Michael Roberts (https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/) and Michael Hudson (https://michael-hudson.com/). None of them are perfect but they all have interesting takes on economics.
‘The economy’ as far as much of the US knows or cares is the DOW.
I remember back in 2006, when everyone on TV was singing Bush's praises for boosting the economy despite the net jobs added per year being below the population growth rate.
We've come so far from the glorious Jobless Recovery. Now we're actively trying to sabotage the jobs market at the cost of recession.
I was listening to Powell answer questions yesterday and many of the questions were complaining about how resilient the economy is and also mutual complaining about how resilient the labor market is. Profits went way up and they're trying to pull the ladder up.
There's just not enough warm bodies to do the labor that the economy demands. Like, this isn't something the Fed can necessarily fix with interest rates, because raising interest rates does nothing to increase the gross supply of labor.
The sectors that are going to get smacked hardest by rising interest rates are, ultimately, FIRE sector shit. Crypto's turned out to be the first big sacrifice to the Fed Gods. But I wouldn't be surprised if the big hedge funds and investment groups are the next to go, simply because there's no way to deliver your 30% APY growth without all the new free money. Real Estate is going to suffer as well, as we won't see big banks with endless cash able to just gobble up huge sections of real estate on credit.
Meanwhile, demand for agriculture and manufacturing is at least as high as its ever been. Arguably more so, as the proletariat aren't reproducing and nobody wants to work outside or in a sweltering factory when global temperatures are rising. We're in a labor crunch and the Fed can't change that, no matter how expensive money gets. Same with service sector work. I don't think its a coincidence that contractions in the labor market are pairing with unionization.
I love that there's an unelected non-government organization that's not accountable to anyone that just decided "you know what we should destroy the economy" and this is just how things work.
That’s freedom and democracy sweaty. If you don’t like it then why don’t you go to no food vuvuzeula
I love that there’s an unelected non-government organization that’s not accountable to anyone
I guarantee you that every single member in that board room wears a choke collar on a short leash. Never mind how many times they had to suck down some JP Morgan VP or Tech Giant or Car Dealership Chain Owner's piss and shit just to have the opportunity to be in the room.
This isn't ideology. They're following some very explicit orders and working right alongside the ghouls at NPR who blare "Inflation Cycles need to be stopped! If you pay people more then prices will go up!"
As supply chain collapses and foreign import channels dry up, we're going to see increased pressure placed on domestic labor to churn out new goods and services. The Fed's the first line in the fight to keep labor down. But this doesn't end with a recession. We're going to see a spike in crime as people struggle to survive. And that's going to justify a new generation of Wars on Crime, which will put more people into the carceral system. And that's the real future of labor in America.
This is absolutely the result of organized leadership holding people to account. There is a plan. And we're seeing both the elected and unelected play their own roles in fulfilling it.
don't worry folks lyin' liz is on the case
"i told you so" says seated senator, shrugging
