Stop Believing these People and Milton Friedman Says we are Drunk

<p>Stripe is laying off 14% of its staff. Lyft has cut 13% of its workforce, and Opendoor has slashed its team by 18% after posting a $1 billion dollar loss. Bad news for those companies, but they aren't alone. Many tech companies have been announcing layoffs and hiring freezes while moving to cut costs. Amazon, Google's parent company Alphabet and Facebook's owner Meta have all taken steps to rein in expenses. Companies including Netflix, Spotify, Coinbase and Shopify have also announced layoffs.</p><p>In today's episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied dive into this new economic reality and offer some insights about where it came from, as well as where it may be leading.</p><p><br></p><p>They discuss Dave Ramsey's inexplicable shift in rhetoric from "home prices are not going down" to, "house prices are never going down" despite the fact that they are, in fact, going down as we speak.</p><p><br></p><p>Chris and Saied look at Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman's tremendously accurate (if slightly disturbing) analogy comparing inflation to alcoholism.</p><p><br></p><p>They also discuss why, with hiring on track for its second-strongest year since 1940, the economy looks healthy - however, appearances can be deceiving, and that can lead to trouble.</p><p><br></p><p>Join Chris and Saied for this fascinating conversation.</p><p><br></p><p>Enjoy!</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>What You’ll Learn in this Show:</strong></p><ul><li>Why tech companies are posting losses and shedding staff at an increasingly alarming rate.</li><li>Why a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell from a coalition of Democratic lawmakers raising concerns warning of impending job losses as a result of the Fed's tighter monetary policy is going to accomplish nothing.</li><li>The effects of mortgage applications falling 42% compared to the same time last year and what that means for lenders such as Wells Fargo.</li><li>The reasons why so many very smart people were in denial for so long about the Fed's attempts to fight inflation