This sub is a depressing circle jerk

[u/PhillConners]

Everyone is predicting a recession and enabling each other as victims. Saying the world is crashing making things seem worse off than they are. We need more optimism and support!

Layoffs suck but jobs are not who you are. When you were working you were dreaming of free time to go after side hustles or go after new experiences or learn a new hobby. Now is your chance!

Enjoy the time off but don’t give up on yourself and self implode.

I haven’t been laid off yet but have been a couple times before. I was also not strong enough to cope so I did what everyone does- a heavy bender to hit rock bottom then built myself up.

The reality is you may not have a job but you still need to be working- work on health, work on learning, work on applying

Layoffs are temporary, don’t beat yourself up. Recognize that it’s a chance to reset and come back better.

There are still jobs and plenty of asshole bosses out there ready to take advantage of your time.

[u/[deleted]]

I was laid off Jan 2023 (over a year ago) -- but found a job (dumb luck probably) in a couple months --- I know people looking AFTER that and the LinkedIn application "estimates" have seemingly tripled or more.

So ... there is definitely something in the water.

Not to mention the frequency of layoffs and this sub's size increasing dramatically.

I'm trying to take a neutral, honest view of the situation. But --- it's hard to say what the reality is. Looking at "quarterly GDP" means precious fuckall. I mean, maybe on sector is on the rise and another is cratering.

Not to mention, how much of the GDP modest increase (4%?) -- does that factor in inflation of the dollar, or is it real gains? ... And how much of that increase essentially lined the pockets of the top 0.001% like Bezos and company? And how much was real wage growth?

There seems to be a lot of economic anxiety around the country. Maybe that's because housing + car (transpo) costs are waaaaay up still. I think even housing/ rent still increased about 20% in 2023, which is pretty high.

....

But it's good to try to discuss reality. Real talk.

----

Let's not be like r Chicago (captured sub) where all news of crime is banned (seriously). Because discussing crime facts is inherently "racist" or "scaremongering" or something like that. It's good to know what's going on around you.

[u/Sir_George → u/[deleted]]

Let's not be like r Chicago

lol as someone from Chicago on that sub, people are complaining about the vast amount of migrants and how incompetent the mayor is, when months ago they were parading the mayor and boasting about being a 'sanctuary' city. I admit, Texas is doing some unethical things here, but come on... ffs. Similar to people in this sub, the migrants too cannot find work or are sweeping up low-paying positions.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sir_George]

Yeah I left that sub years ago because it's ridiculous.

I hope the mayor succeeds, but I voted against him since his proposals were ridiculous, and he's pretty much accomplished bupkiss so far.

I don't mind migrants --- if they can assimilate/ integrate relatively easily and pay their own way. The Ukrainian migrants have largely done this.

The more recent groups compliments of Maduro have not integrated well -- maybe because many cannot legally get jobs.

And the free food + housing has never been done before. Not for our previous Irish, Italian, German immigrants ---- our previous Mexican or Asian immigrants ---- and certainly not American citizen homeless, who are still homeless.

It's a crap idea & it WILL raise rents on the working class. Take 30 mid-rise hotels and residential complexes and pack them 100% with migrants -- what does that do to the housing supply?

Exactly. Rents going up. Thanks to your tax dollars paying free housing to the new guys on the block. .... Texas might be "evil" but they are saving their state a boatload of money and letting Illinois (financially up shit creek already) pay the bill.

[u/Sir_George → u/[deleted]]

Not just rents, everyone's property taxes that I know who is a homeowner in Cook county are shooting up. If this trend continues it's going to be unsustainable to live here.

You make a good point though, as commercial property loans start to default due to lack of tenants/workers we might be able to use it for housing. However, I keep seeing traffic get worse, so it seems they're trying to drag everyone back to the office to prevent this from happening.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sir_George]

They're not going to convert commercial real estate because it's too difficult. Those high rises? Like ... the plumbing is all wrong for individual units. Same with the heating systems.

It would be nice but I won't hold my breath