This week alone, companies have announced thousands of layoffs: electric car maker Rivian and Facebook parent company Meta are each cutting 600 jobs, Charter communication is slashing 1,200 roles, and Paramount is eliminating 1,000 employees.
Amazon, for its part, blamed the layoffs on artificial intelligence, writing in a memo to staff, "This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones). We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business."
However, it's worth noting that Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, who has cozied up to President Donald Trump and done his best not to anger the retributive leader.
Given that Amazon is in the retail business—which is majorly impacted by Trump's tariffs that force companies to either raise their prices or cut costs to make up for decreased profit margins—tariffs cannot be ruled out as responsible for at least some of the cuts.
Ultimately, the large number of layoffs this week is yet another troubling sign for the economy, which is facing dual crises of high inflation and a weakening labor market—with economists blaming Trump's idiotic tariffs for the perilous economic conditions. |
