FEB. 10TH.....focus on finding kindness....DRAGON wisdom

www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/lunar...ne-how-to-rcna135558

The upcoming year’s dragon sign is perhaps the most popular zodiac creature, associated with a host of positive qualities such as nobility, wealth and wisdom.

The year’s dragon sign is, more specifically, a wood dragon. The element of wood is seen in Daoist tradition as a return to the natural state of being, which in the dragon’s case, points to a return to kindness. And Confucian thought interprets wood as a symbol of unlimited potential.

“I’m seeing this wood Dragon year as a year of unlimited potential in terms of prosperity. Long-term, it could also be the year in which major conflict can be resolved, if people can focus on empathy,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, a professor of Chinese folklore and religion at San Francisco State University. “If we continue our tribal thinking and selfish thinking, we’re not going to achieve it.”

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.....DRAGON days ahead.

Bidenomics prosperity?

no...A. I. and normal re org....happens every 1st Q....new C.E.O.'s COME IN AND DECIDED they HAVE A BRILLIANT PLAN. A. I. is part of that plan now.

Or higher wages have affected profitability? Or consumers are winding down spending after their Covid funds are declining? Could be a whole bunch of reasons for all the new layoffs. Might even be businesses choosing to eliminate their least productive employees.

ALL of those factors come into play....Q1 is always re assessment ritual.

www.cbsnews.com/news/layoffs-economy-202...-job-cuts-happening/

Is the job market in bad shape?

Not according to economists, who point to the nation's relatively low jobless rate and ongoing hiring.

Even so, the job market has definitely cooled from the hiring frenzy that occurred in 2021 and 2022. During those years, businesses snapped up workers as the economy began to recover from the initial shock of the pandemic, leading to a job market so tight it spurred millions of Americans to switch jobs in search of better pay and working conditions — a trend dubbed the "Great Resignation."

Americans may be comparing the unusually strong job market in those years with today's cooler hiring. The U.S. economy added 4.8 million jobs in 2022, with that pace slowing to 2.7 million new jobs in 2023 — the latter is still higher than hiring in years prior to the pandemic, according to JPMorgan Wealth Management.

JUST A READJUSTMENT......market is leveling out.

One thing I learned in my economics classes was as unemployment went down, the quality of new hires tended to fall off. Employers are figuratively scrapping the bottom of the barrel to fill positions. It is a good problem to have initially but you know many of these people will not work out and they will get let go and employers will have to start raising wages and salaries to attract higher tier talent.

Once again, good for workers, until employers have to raise prices to pay for talent. More inflation.