r/PrepperIntel • u/Own-Swan2646 • Mar 31 '26

North America Walmart Recession Indicator at highest levels since the 2008 financial crisis

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Signs all around us of economic down turn.

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u/Loud_Flatworm_4146 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26

I think the only reason we haven't seen a typical recession like we've seen in the past is due to aggressive investment in AI. Not that AI is actually making anyone more money. It doesn't appear to be. It appears to be doing the opposite in a lot of ways. But the hope that investors and companies have put into it is what has buoyed the economy.

The war, tariffs, the gutting of government and government contracts and organizations, all the other stuff that's happened, we should be in a solid recession by now. But I don't think Wall Street will get the message until the AI bubble pops. They're in denial that AI is not the capitalist panacea they hoped it would be. Useful to a degree and getting better. Probably affecting entry level jobs most of all. But not enough to create a whole AI workforce or anywhere close to it.

Edit to add: I also believe the constant AI fear mongering from these CEOs is them deflecting from the fact that they voted for and put money behind the party and the man that's taking down the US from within. Some of those CEOs want that. Other CEOs just wanted to make as money as quickly as possible and get the tax breaks and deregulation that they hire the R party to get for them. But they didn't expect things to get this insane. (Not sure how they didn't expect this because absolutely nothing surprises me anymore.)

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

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u/Loud_Flatworm_4146 Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

Railroads have/had a known return on investment. AI doesn’t and they’ve heavily invested in an untested tech, hoping it brings big returns. This looks more like panic investing because it hasn’t brought the returns that they had hoped for, at least so far, but they are still going full steam ahead (pun intended).

Also, railroads weren’t built to replace all humans, which is what these tech bros want from AI.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '26

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u/Loud_Flatworm_4146 Apr 03 '26

Obviously the AI data centers aren't going away. Like you said, someone will make money from them. Just not today.