The Bloodletting Has Begun: 172,017 Laid Off in a Month as the American Economy Bleeds Out

Welcome to the culling. In February alone, U.S.-based employers announced a jaw-dropping 172,017 job cuts—the kind of carnage we haven’t seen since the darkest days of the Great Recession in 2009. Back then, the financial elite detonated the global economy with toxic mortgage-backed securities and walked away with bonuses. Now in 2025, it’s déjà vu—but this time, the collapse is systemic, planned, and perhaps, permanent. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, this marks a 245% increase from January, and a 103% spike year-over-year. That isn’t a “correction.” That’s an economic purge. And if you’re still clinging to the fantasy that this is just a “soft landing,” it’s time to wake up: the plane’s on fire, the landing gear is gone, and Wall Street's already parachuted out. 🧨 The Warning Shots: Layoffs Signal a System Ripping at the Seams Let’s put it in perspective. In just the first two months of 2025, employers have slashed 221,812 jobs—a 33% increase over last year. That’s the highest year-to-date layoff figure since 2009, when the nation was still reeling from Wall Street’s mortgage massacre. And yet, our so-called leaders assure us this is just a “temporary market correction.” Nonsense. These layoffs are the canaries in the coal mine—and the air’s full of gas. Historically, mass layoffs are a harbinger of economic collapse. In 2007, employment started to quietly decline just months before the financial world imploded. Today, we’re watching the same movie—only this time, we know how it ends. 🏚️ Main Street Is Being Mowed Down This is not just about pink slips and unemployment lines. It’s about entire towns hollowing out. When the likes of Kohl's And Macy’s start shuttering dozens of locations—permanently—that’s a signal that consumer demand has collapsed. If these corporate behemoths can’t stay afloat, what do you think is happening to your local hardware store or mom-and-pop bakery? Let’s talk small businesses, the so-called “engine of American employment.” According to Gregory Mannarino, a stunning 90% of U.S. small business startups are now failing—the highest rate in history. Let that sink in. Small business owners are crushed under the boot of: Absurd regulations, Predatory tax regimes, Sky-high credit costs due to Fed policy, And rent-seeking corporate monopolies that drain every drop of market competition. This isn’t capitalism. This is cartel economics, enforced by bureaucrats and central bankers, for the benefit of multinational parasites. 🏠 The Housing Illusion: Paper Wealth, Real Misery If you’re betting on real estate, you’re gambling with a house of cards. Home sales in January dropped to 4.7 million—barely above the troughs of 2008–2010. And that’s with millions of Americans locked into pandemic-era mortgages they can’t afford to walk away from. They’re trapped. The Fed’s high-rate regime has frozen the market in place, with buyers sidelined and sellers handcuffed to low-rate loans. We’re entering an era where asset illiquidity will become the new contagion. Houses, stocks, even businesses—they’ll exist on paper, but you won’t be able to sell them without bleeding out. Welcome to the zombie economy. 📉 The Crashing Market and a Faithless Public 51% of Americans believe the stock market could crash soon. Only 26% are still willing to invest under these conditions. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are already in correction territory. This isn’t a dip. It’s a collapse in public faith—and once confidence dies, it drags the entire financial system into the abyss. What we are witnessing is a slow-motion bank run on trust itself. 🧠 Counterarguments... Crushed “But unemployment is still low!” Temporarily. The U-3 number is a manipulated relic. It doesn’t count discouraged workers, part-timers wanting full-time jobs, or those working three gigs to make rent. Real unemployment? Closer to 10-12% by honest standards. “The market always bounces back.” Sure. If you’re a trillion-dollar hedge fund front-running Fed policy. For the average American? Try bouncing back from foreclosure, bankruptcy, and a $17 Big Mac. “It’s just a cycle.” No. This isn’t cyclical. It’s structural decay. Offshored manufacturing, algorithmic labor displacement, financialization of every aspect of life—these are not temporary blips. They’re fatal wounds inflicted by a ruling class drunk on debt and delusion. ⚠️ Historical Echoes: We’ve Been Here Before—But This Time, It’s Worse In 1929, the market crashed, but we still had industrial capacity. In 2008, we crashed again, but at least the central banks still had some powder left. Now? The Fed’s balance sheet is bloated. Rates are high. Trust is gone. We’re running out of exits. Like Rome before its fall, we’ve inflated the currency, hollowed out the middle class, and handed the empire over to corporate patricians. And the people? They’re sedated by streaming apps and $2,000 iPhones they financed on credit. 🛠️ What Comes Next? Here’s what’s on deck if this trajectory continues: Widespread homelessness in urban centers, A national credit contraction worse than 2008, Food insecurity surging as prices outpace wages, A sovereign debt reckoning—because yes, Uncle Sam is broke too. And with more Americans believing we’re already in a recession—and half expecting a crash—a psychological collapse is well underway.

The Bloodletting Has Begun: 172,017 Laid Off in a Month as the American Economy Bleeds Out

Bill Brocius Mar 31

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