More signs of Economic Trouble for the US!

Paul

More Retail stores are closing!

Family Dollar and Dollar Tree are to close nearly a 1,000 stores and that will equal out to almost 5,000 people who will be laid off and without a job.   I don’t say that lightly, you have at the minium about 3 to 5 people working either full time or part time at the store and that is just a guess but I also know this will not just affect the workers of the stores but transportation of goods to the stores and warehouse people.   That’s why I suspect it will be 5,000 people will most likely be affected if not more people due to not having these stores be open.   I don’t know the exact number but that is the economic troubles in the US right now and that isn’t the only thing.

Joan’s Fabric Files for Chapter 11

Well it’s official Joan’s Fabric just files for Chapter 11 protection, but that isn’t all.  This is all do people not spending money on luxury items and other things that isn’t essential to living such as rent, food, gas, and power for the home.   It however doesn’t mean that Joan’s will close up shop but I suspect they will do some people reduction and decide what they are going to change in the stores.  They will become a private owned store again and that will likely drop the stocks of the Joan’s and make it even harder for them to continue their business.  We will have to wait and see but this is something that will cause more economic turmoil in the US.

Key Indicators for a Recession

There are few indicators that I would like to point out that show we might be going into a recession even more.

  1. Lay offs — The first one is of course people getting laid off more than the jobs are being created.  If people aren’t working that just brings us down a spiral of people not being able to pay for the extra stuff in their lives.  That will also affect other industries such as retail and gasoline/OIL.
  2. Retail Stores —  As you can see there are some major stores having issues being open and this is another key indicator that we are in a recession due to the amount of news around stores closing or that they are filing for bankruptcy.
  3. Oil / Gasoline — Since people aren’t driving more or traveling more the Gas Prices and oil prices aren’t going up in fact mostly going down.   If you really think about it, it was much higher last year compared to this year and it seems to be either leveling off or might just be going down even more.
  4. Unemployment Rate — This is the last key factor that I’ve been watching but it suggest that unemployment will start to go up in the coming months.  I suspect it will get above 6 or 7% at the minium and that isn’t going to look good for Biden Administration.

As you can see these are just a few indicators that we will not have a light landing or even a landing at all but a hard reset is probably coming in the coming months and that will cause a lot of turmoil in peoples lives.  I really don’t want to think about what will come our way but this isn’t looking good either way.    We will see other retailers have issues in the coming months I am almost sure of it, but who I don’t know we could keep watch on the stocks of certain retailers but that will only show us which stores are having problems or how confident the share holders are at keeping those businesses going.   I suspect this will bring the stock prices of most retailers down some, don’t know how much but this is just a guess.

Want to say thank you — Why not buymeacoffee:

Confirmed : A large amount of Lay offs in April and May!

Paul

Hired & Laid off within 2 hours! Help me efreshin, recession Lemonade $1

It’s looking like a big problem coming our way!

  • Gulf Stevedoring Services, LLC  – 11 to 50 People –  4/30/2024
  • Safran Cabin, Inc. – 251 -500 People –  4/30/2024
  • Denbury Inc – 101 – 250 People –  4/30/204
  • Expedia – 101 – 250 People – 4/30/2024
  • BuzzFeed – 51 to 100 People – 4/30/2024
  • Levi Strauss & Co. – 101 to 250 People – 4/27/2024
  • Del Monte Foods, Inc. – 101 to 250 People – 4/26/2024
  • UPS – 251 to 500 People – 4/27/2024
  • Rio Grand Valley Sugar Growers – 251 to 500 People – 4/29/2024 (*)
  • AVMAC LLC – 101 to 250 People – 4/30/2024
  • RaterLabs – 2501 to 5,000 People – 4/6/2024
  • Walmart – 101 – 250 People – 5/31/2024
  • Cisco –  451 to 1000 People – 4/15/2024

I perused the Warntracker and got some of the data to show you just how much this might a be problem coming to all of us.    As of writing this today 3/12/2024, this could become even more people who will be told they are laid off.   The real question is, are you keeping track of your own company that you are working for to help you prevent yourself from getting laid off.   If you are in a big company and you are worried you might be next the best thing I can tell you to do is create alerts for you using Google and have them be sent to you as soon as Google finds out about it.  Google will send that to your email when and how often you tell it to.   As of right now Q1 is almost to the 50,000 employees who have been laid off.

Picture from Layoffs.fyi

My thoughts

Other than Rio Grand Valley Sugar Growers, All the other ones are probably not normal.   I don’t know about Rio Grand and if they are laying people off due to growing seasons but I do not think this is going to end well for the industry as a whole.  Each one of these are not just tech but are in the Retail, Technology, food, and other areas.  So you can see this will impact a lot of people around the US and the world to be able to find a job.   I’ve talked about finding a job is hard right now, this will make even harder for everyone to do so many people will be looking for work if they don’t get severance pay or some kind of pay.   They will not be able to get unemployment for a while if they are claiming severance and that could cause problems down the road for other workers.  What we will see in the coming months are people working harder for less pay, I am almost sure of that, if something isn’t done and the Fed will probably not cut interest rates right now due to down turn of the economy.  This will be a short blog post but it should show you to at least be watchful of what to come.

Does President Elect Joe Biden have the Mental Facilities to go another 4 years?

Paul

Joe Bidens wanders behind podium looking for his Spot!

Is Joe Biden capable of doing another four years?  There have numerous times when we wonder if he is taking Adderall or if he doesn’t have something like Dementia.  I know personally I can’t understand, why no one has said anything about his attitudes towards people asking him questions like this.  Joe Biden is in his 80’s from what I see on Wikipedia.  There have been numerous clips of him being confused and disoriented.   You can search YouTube and see them but my point is this, should we give someone who may have a mental issue the power to be president?   I don’t know how well that will come across to some of you or if it even makes a difference.   People all around the world probably already know that the Democratic Party is probably the ones in control.  I’m sure I am sure people will think I am over exaggerating the issue but It does make me wonder who really is controlling the US, Media, and Military and Even the economy.

It’s a Bit Concerning

Who’s going to be in the rase for the democratic party now If Biden isn’t mentally capable to be the president and why hasn’t someone made an effort to get Joe Biden checked out and the Doctor reporting that Joe Biden is fine or something like that?   I can only think of it being a HIPPA issue or something like that but at least that would show us that he has the right mind and not one of a confused and lost soul.  Even PBS has some concerns over Joe Biden’s Age and mental focus and how that can be a problem in the coming election or the coming years if he is elected president for another term.  Now let’s not just say it is Joe we should only be worried about but also we should Worry about Trumps mental capacity also.   I don’t know if Trump should be allowed to run again due to his age also but at least he isn’t showing the signs we are seeing from the President Elect Joe Biden.

What’s next for the American People?

I don’t know how who will win but it could be a very close race for one of the Independent Nominees who might win this year.   I personally don’t know and will not say who is better but it does make you wonder what we will see and who will win.   Hopefully we don’t see Biden re-elected because that would be something I just couldn’t see happening.   He should just step down and let someone else run for the democratic party even though I doubt they would win unless something really changes.    Just my thoughts on this .   Do you think Biden should be allowed to run?  or should he have some doctor tell us he is physically fit to run?  Something to ask yourself in the coming months.   Just keep you eyes open you will see other things that will make you wonder if you should vote for someone else this time around.

Is the 9 to 5 Work day obsolete or is it still in Demand?

Paul

Are you working 9 to 5?

That’s the real question right now for most people, I don’t say that lightly either.   I am seeing more and more Jobs that are either to0 popular or are wanting to only work part time.   This seems to be an ever evolving scenario.  I’ve been looking for jobs the last few weeks and it just seems daunting and that brings even more problems to finding a job.   Usually I don’t get to the interview process or I get to the first phone interview and have yet to get to the video interview where they want to ask even more questions that you can talk about what you know and what you’ve done to show them you have the qualifications to get the job.

GIG Economy

Is that really a thing, working as a freelancer or even someone who is only working for a certain amount of time?  That seems to be where I’m seeing more and more jobs being posted and people applying to those types of jobs and hoping they get some kind of income to help them pay jobs.   I’ve talked about this in previous blog posts but I am really curious as to what people are doing to bring in the money to pay bills and do what is needed to survive.  Is this just going to be more and more people being homeless or people taking any jobs they can to survive and get by with.

Are we 90 days away from a recession?

If interests rates start to show we are going into a recession than we may also show we are also going into a depression.   Even though United Kingdom has already stated they are in a recession and I can only imagine that Germany is going into the recession also.  Are we eating like we are in a depression era?  I am curious about that also are people eating foods that are cheap and trying to get as much out of the food than we used like Mac & cheese dinners and even Beanie Weenies, or even food that can be easily reheated and served multiple times that can help drag out the cost of the food in question.

Getting ahead of the Game

Even if we try to get ahead of this recession in the US it is bound to happen because of all that is going on.  I am sure Biden administration and others in the government are keeping this public due to the coming elections and we will see this continue all the way up and past the election to make it look like we aren’t having issues but I’ve see others say the same thing, that it will happen and we may already be in recession.  I can’t answer that right now but I do feel like I am trying to do what is needed but nothing seems to be happening as to finding a job.   Are you having the same issues as I am?  Finding a job is way harder than it used be the last few years.  Is there anything we can do about it?  Probably not no matter how hard we try or maybe we need to listen to more experts on how to get the job because they obviously know something we don’t know.   it all means the same thing we can’t just wait and see what others are doing to survive.   No matter what we are all here for the same reason to find a job and keep bringing in the money to support our family and ourselves.

Beyond Bits and Bytes: The Art of Pivoting Away from Tech

Paul
Photo by Junior Developer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-traditional-hat-working-on-computer-5415443/

Is it time to Pivot to another Industry?

First question we must ask what do when pivoting in another industry? The short answer is choicing to leave the an industry because of no success or too many people are trying to get for the same types of jobs. It is sometimes even scary and uncertain to most people because it is something that you have never done. This is where it can be challenging and new to most people. The other questions I usually get from people and from myself when asking this question is “Where do I start at and what areas am I good at that would get me a job?”  These are the questions that I would be asking myself while thinking about pivoting away from the current Technology industry and I am sure I am not the only one when it comes to this idea or thoughts.

Have you recognized the Signs?

The real question is, why has it been so hard to find a job in the tech industry that you want to find a new job that might work for you to bring in the money that you might need to keep paying those bills.   The underlying questions is usually how many applications have you applied for and got turned down?  Has this been something that seems to be a repeatively being turned down for getting those interviews.  The ultimate signs you could need to pivot is burnout of applying for jobs to a lack of passion to keep applying for those types that seem to not even be interested in your skill set.   We may need to acknowledge that we may not have enough experience or that there are too many people trying to get the same job to even have a chance to land a job to bring in the money we may need to pay bills.

What is the Motiviation behind this?

Ultimately the main motivation is probably to keep food on the table and be able to pay the bills that much is what everyone is wanting to do in the end.  We need to identify other motiviations that you might been considering as you are considering changing directions.   Is because you like People, or are you looking for new challenges that may interest you.   Knowing what your motivation might be will help you know how well you will do when you pivot.   Clarifying your strong motiviations and knowing what you are good at will help you to identify which industries you might be able to pivot to help you get those jobs that might be interested in applying for.  While you consider your motivations, go ahead and consider your transferrable skills that you might also have to use in other industries and that might help you identify where you might be good at.  Write these skills down and start considering who might need them and you will be better off finding area’s to apply for.  Leverage those skills while you modify your resume to help show the potential employer that you are good fit can bring even more jobs and job offers.   I am sure that knowing these skills will help you get that job you probably are wanting and needing in this uncertain time.

Can you Embrace the Journey?

You should embrace the journey as you transistion from Technology industry to another industry where you can learn new talents and learn things to bring you on your journey to better you.   Nothing is set in stone and that much is where we need to learn from the life.   Resiliencey is key to this journey you might be considering and you should have a support system available to help encourage you and show you even mroe skills you might be able to bring to any jobs.  Seek people who might have gotten jobs like the ones you are looking to apply for and have them mentor you in what it might be like to learn even more about if this would be a good fit for you.   You will need to learn new skills but while learning them you might find that the job is more enjoyable than you thought it would be.

Finally, I could talk even more about this but I thought we should at least consider the idea of maybe people needing to move away from the technology sector and find other jobs to help support their needs to pay off bills while they can still use the time to look for jobs in the industry.  It is much easier to have a job to find a job then to be unemployed and looking for a job.  Either way you can be sure whatever you decide to do will help guide you.   You should sit down with friends and family and discuss this as much as possible to help you understand the potential pro’s and con’s of the industry and be open to listening to their thoughts on the subject.  They might be able to help identify where you should apply to get that job.   You aren’t alone in this like everyone else this is a journey for sure.