Despite the clear desire to see mass layoffs and unemployment so we will slow all our damn spending, the usual club to make that happen isn’t working. Labor is strong. Support for unions is strong.
To explain this, I’d look at what has changed. I believe stock buybacks have been extremely high of late and that would be my guess. The big companies aren’t leveraged so, just like how the rates aren’t affecting recent home buyers who bought before the hike, they also aren’t hurting companies as much as would normally be the case.
Another possibility is lingering effects of boomers taking COVID as a sign to retire, creating a labor shortage and putting pressure on companies not to have a layoff because they are worried they might have trouble re-hiring folks when the economy cools off.
If anyone else has ideas, I’d be curious. I might not be right about the cause, but I’m right about looking at what is different right now.