Amazon announces layoffs after Biden admin links ‘recession’ to low unemployment | The Post Millennial
News Analysis
Amazon announces layoffs after Biden admin links ‘recession’ to low unemployment
This comes as inflation hit a 40-year high, Biden’s promise to not raise taxes on those earning less that $400,000 annually has been nullified, and consumer prices surge.
While the Biden administration has declared outright that the US economy is not in a recession, citing low unemployment numbers as a balance for the two straight quarters of declining GDP growth, Amazon has let 100,000 employees go in a single quarter.
"Amazon," Zero Hedge reports, "one of the largest tech employers in the world, has revealed that it is now hiring tat the slowest pace since 2019." The reason for the 100,000 jobs cut is undoubtedly due to the economic slow down, which Biden says for sure does not indicate a recession.
Amazon's ledgers predict third quarter profits, but lost $2 billion net for the second quarter of 2022. "There have been over 30,000 job cuts by tech companies in the US in the past few months alone, and unemployment claims have climbed to 8-month highs," Zero Hedge reports.
Amazon is not the only tech giant to rethink hiring. Alphabet, owner of Google, implemented a hiring freeze, while Apple is slowing down their hiring, Coinbase is cutting, and Microsoft has also announced plans to slow hiring.
"Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we’ve seen are — were expected and expected to be temporary," said Biden in July 2021. That has proven to not be the case as supply chain crunches have continued to plague the US.
The nation saw two straight quarters of declining GDP growth, as well, and while that is known to be the standard evidence of a recession, the Biden administration changed the definition of the word to be more reflective of low unemployment numbers.
After that change in definition, the AP issued an explainer as to why the standard economic definition of a recession was not longer applicable, and Facebook's fact-checkers took aim at top economists on Twitter who held to the old definition as opposed to the one created to benefit the Biden administration's self-image.
The tech industry, however, is already feeling the crunch. In June, Amazon's Jeff Bezos slammed the Biden administration for their claims that it was corporate greed that was keeping prices high, specifically those at the gas pump.
Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics. https://t.co/XgKfEICZpk
"Ouch," Bezos said in response to Biden's accusation. "Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics."
Libby’s Desk
Commentary and must-reads from Libby’s desk, straight to your inbox.
TPM Newsletter
The Post Millennial’s top stories, delivered to your inbox.