Derek Thompson

seeing that Applebee's down the street was paying $20 an hour and switching to that job.

So if you're TGA Fridays, it looks like your employee is quitting.

But if you're Applebee's, it looks like you're hiring.

So it's not about resignation.

It's about a reshuffling.

And this was a period where, as you said, the quitting rate was high.

The hiring rate was high.

Wage growth was high.

was high and employers felt like they didn't have power in the labor force.

Trump, not an agent of chaos, is simply going to deregulate and do nothing else to make sure the economy works as smoothly as possible.

I'm going to hang a shingle over all of this that just says, shit keeps happening.

Because that's fundamentally what you're describing, right?

Like 2021, you've got the great resignation.

2022, you've got inflation.

And the Federal Reserve jacks up interest rates faster than any period on record.

2023, 2024, there's still an inflation phenomenon, a cost of living phenomenon.

And the economy...

keeps being predicted to fall into recession, but keeps somehow avoiding a recession.

2025, you have Liberation Day and all the Trump chaos.

2026, you have a war in Iran.