By many measures, we are currently heading towards or are already in a recession (https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-a-recession/). Institutions are starting to recognize this and shore up against the coming headwinds (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/business/imf-world-economy.html). This includes layoffs (https://finance.yahoo.com/video/job-layoffs-circulate-throughout-tech-203938180.html), with a sharp rise in unemployment historically being one the last indicators (https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/960×0/https://blogs-images.forbes.com/jessecolombo/files/2018/09/UnemploymentRateRecessions-1.jpg).
For those of us that were around in 2008, you know what that means: job elimination, a tighter market, and workers that are forced to take lower pay and more job duties to stave off firing and replacement by desperate peers (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennial-burnout-cant-even-anne-helen-petersen , https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43661423). At least, that's the story we've been told: austerity as a natural and necessary consequence of economic contraction, existing wealth be damned. If you're on this subreddit, though, odds are that you recognize that it doesn't have to be this way. People can come together and reject the machinations of the well-to-do and avaricious who would seek to exploit us in a moment of weakness. Success in this endeavor is about knowledge, and communication, and solidarity, and cold awareness of where the lines actually lay.
I know I'm not saying anything we all haven't thought or felt lately, but I hope for this to be an articulation that spurs purposeful planning and action as the situation develops. Start here. Godspeed.