Tech's Filthy Rich Signal That Recession is Incoming
Everyone that makes a living from being some sort of financial prophet has a bevy of indices that they love to gather when it’s time to suggest something to the nation at large. CNBC is lousy with the lingo most mornings, as Jim Cramer continues to play his strange, wry character day day-in and day-out, trying to convince the world that he knows something that the rest of us don’t.
And while there is surely some value to the analysis of the usual suspects within the economy, taking the temperature of the general sentiment of the wealthy will often provide some wonderful data as well.
After a decade of feeling invincible, the tech industry is suddenly facing something new: financial insecurity. Valuations are down, layoffs are up, startup funding no longer feels limitless, and an air of fear has started to permeate the sector, as bosses and workers alike adjust to a harsher version of reality.
Advertisement - story continues belowIn cities like San Francisco, New York, and Miami, luxury real estate agents are starting to notice the effects of the tech downturn on their business, they tell Motherboard, as wealthy tech clients grapple with the fact that raises, bonuses, and job offers no longer seem as inevitable as they did a few months ago.
Some are fairly sure that trouble is inevitable.
“The elephant in the room these days is that there’s a recession coming,” said Karley Chynces, a blockchain-focused real estate agent at Sotheby’s International Realty in Miami.
The Biden administration has been widely criticized for their inability, (or perhaps unwillingness), to address this elephant, and there are fears that any further lack of discipline could turn this elephant in the room into a stampeding herd.
