Yes, agreed, but… they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do!

12 Aug Yes, agreed, but… they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do!

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash. Also, a real-time depiction of the Toxic Positivity / Toxic Optimism crowd who are not ready for the economic poop storm a’brewing.

I agree with the sentiment here, but I fear it’s overly optimistic:

I read this post on LI last weekend and, as you can see, the algorithm must have clearly liked it.

I wonder why that might be…?

Doesn’t that seem contradictory? I mean, if Corporate America wants people back butt-in-seat and LI is owned by MS, let us never forget that, then why is this blowing up?

Allow me a little leeway here:

–https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/05/credit-card-usage-surges-amid-record-inflation.html

From the same article:

“The number of people with credit cards and personal loans hit record highs in the second quarter of 2022, according to TransUnion’s latest credit industry insights report released Thursday…

Credit card balances also jumped 13% during the second quarter, the largest year-over-year increase in more than 20 years. Still, experts say the jump in usage alone isn’t a sign of trouble.

‘I’m not seeing anything that I would really declare as a red flag,’ according to Michele Raneri, TransUnion’s vice president of U.S. research and consulting.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. Nothing to see here, people. Move along, move along.

Aside from this being, IMO, more fodder for the job market being used as a false sign of loveliness in the economy, it feels to me like being gaslit with toxic positivity / toxic optimism. “Oh well, yes, more people are getting credit cards and yes, debt is higher, but hey – lookee lookee over here at the stellar job market!” 😖 How many of these supposedly readily available jobs will someone need to work to survive? Jeez.

The reason why I titled this post, “Yes, agreed, but… they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do!” is because that’s what I think is coming. So sorry, but that’s what I think we will see. Hell, we’re already seeing it!

+ Elon has already said people can pretend to work somewhere else. (https://electrek.co/2022/06/01/elon-musk-tesla-employees-come-back-office-or-quit/)

+ Zuck has already said some people prolly don’t need to be here and can self-select out. (https://nypost.com/2022/07/01/mark-zuckerberg-meta-wants-to-oust-workers-who-shouldnt-be-here/)

+ Pichai talking about improving performance and slowing down hiring. (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-chief-warns-bloated-staff-151416718.html)

–https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2022/08/03/how-things-can-change/

Do these executives and pundits want to regress to the past? Yes, I’m sure a lot of them do. It’s not buried info:

–https://theintercept.com/2022/07/29/bank-of-america-worker-conditions-worse/

Where I disagree with the LI post above is that it’s only a “handful” of people who want to go back to the 2019 status quo. I suspect probably a large number of executives want to go back to 2019 where people commute, sit in a cube, and are more easily controlled/surveilled in the Digital Panopticon. The C Suite could breeze through, watch the plebs toiling away, and then breeze out for long lunches and golf games whenever they wanted to. Ahhh, yes. Grandpa, tell me ’bout the good ole days. 😒 None of this is buried information either!

–https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/04/jamie-dimon-fed-up-with-zoom-calls-and-remote-work-says-commuting-to-offices-will-make-a-comeback.html

And this was last year! He wanted a return to 2019 in 2021… do you think that desire has abated within Corpo America? I HIGHLY DOUBT IT.

Also, please note the attitude there: “You know people don’t like commuting, but so what?”

BINGO. 

Let them get back in their cars and let them eat cake, those dirty little peons!

Please, please be careful with clickbait and feel-good viral posts. Will they be of great help to you in a recession? I can’t give you advice, but speaking for myself and my family: hell no.

Wishing that companies had learned more lessons from The Great Resignation will not make it so. And that’s why I am telling you that IMO, Corpo America is gonna do what it is gonna do. If that includes things like:

-Hiring freezes, layoffs, and rescinded offers
-Demanding RTO / making it more difficult or costly to WFH
-Cutting their budgets
-Increasing surveillance

then that’s how it’s gonna be. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m not saying it is right and I am not saying I agree with it because I don’t. I’m telling you from my perspective what I see coming down the road and it’s not hearts, flowers, and unicorns.

There seems to be a clear “nothing to see here people, move along” theme whether it’s related to the job market, the stonk market, personal debt, etc. Now, I’m not saying the powers-that-be are hoping you’ll be blindsided by a “sudden” recession or economic depression and then be unprepared and relatively powerless when it occurs so they are telling you not to worry and they are promoting fluff pieces and toxic positivity/toxic optimism.

No, no. I’m not saying that at all!

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