Hey, let’s all point and laugh at the massive, dumb iceberg in the industry that was supposed to be unsinkable.
—Every laid-off tech worker right now

Over 3,000 Microsoft workers in Washington state have been laid off so far this year. 830 of those in July alone. You probably missed the announcement—because it dropped mid-summer, buried under headlines like "Record Profits" and "AI Gold Rush."

Let me be clear: this isn’t just a “normal business cycle.” This is a controlled demolition of middle-class tech labor, masked by corporate spin and smoothed over by official job numbers that fall apart on second glance.

📉 Behind the Curtain: The Jobs Report Sleight of Hand

Zoom out, bud.

  • The July 2025 Jobs Report shows slowing growth and rising unemployment.
  • 114 companies filed WARN notices in August 2025already—thousands of layoffs are in motion.
  • The BLS quietly revised May and June employment figures downward by 253,000.
  • People unemployed for at least 27 weeks are up 1.8 million

And they call it a rounding error.

This isn't a "normal business cycle." This is a deliberate reality shift: the kind of revision that rewrites economic history after it’s stopped trending.

Are We Really Okay With This?

I'm sorry but I am really paying rent for a windowless office while these headlines are making me feel like I'm not doing enough.

We’re normalizing mass layoffs in the same breath as historic profits.

Microsoft isn’t struggling. Neither are Google, Meta, or Amazon. Yet they’re shedding workers like ballast while riding the AI hype train to new stock market highs.

Satya Nadella called this the “enigma of success”—as if layoffs during record cashflow are some kind of philosophical paradox.

It’s not. It’s exploitation.
And we should call it what it is.

đź“ś Poem: "Last Measure"

I am the one
having these thoughts
about the capitalist (pigs)
who create (disease)
from the shit that they eat
in the food that they slave
to refine into slaves
from slaves they crave
from slaves they have made

🧭 If You Think This Isn’t Coming For You…

I don’t mean to sound alarmist, but if you’re still treating these headlines as someone else’s problem, you’re missing the signal.

This isn’t just about tech. It’s about what kind of jobs—if any—will be left after the AI dust settles.

If your role doesn’t sit at the intersection of:
• control over capital,
• access to infrastructure, or
• strategic leverage…

Then you’re already at risk.
Not because you failed. But because the game has changed—and the rules were never written for you.

đź’ˇ So What Do We Do?

I don’t have all the answers, but here’s where I’ve landed:

  • Start building signal now — portfolios, zines, blogs, anything that proves you’re still here and still building.
  • Stop trusting the headlines. Watch the revisions. Read past the executive memos.
  • Follow the incentives. Layoffs aren’t about your worth. They’re about shareholder returns.

If you’re seeing what I’m seeing, say something.

Write. Share. Build locally.

Because silence won’t save us—and the iceberg isn’t melting.

Originally published at watthem.blog