Amazon Forces Return to Office; NYC to Spend $5.76 Billion on Hotels for Immigrants

Daily Digest
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Originally published at: https://peakprosperity.com/daily-digest/amazon-forces-return-to-office-nyc-to-spend-5-76-billion-on-hotels-for-immigrants/

Economy

Producer Price Index (PPI) for September showed minimal overall change, primarily due to a significant drop in energy prices. However, underlying inflation pressures reportedly persist, particularly in the services sector. The core PPI, excluding food and energy, rose by 1.9% annualized from August, with upward revisions in previous months. The services PPI also saw revisions, rising by 2.0% annualized in September. These figures indicate ongoing inflation in services, despite the decline in energy prices. The overall PPI for final demand increased by 0.6% annualized in September, with revisions in previous months leading to a six-month average increase of 2.3%. This data suggests the need to examine inflation beyond energy prices, as services continue to contribute to overall inflation trends.

In the agricultural sector, Pure Prairie Poultry, a chicken processing plant in northern Iowa, has shut down less than two years after receiving $45.6 million in USDA loans and grants. The closure has left approximately 50 poultry growers across Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin unpaid and facing potential income loss. The USDA is investigating claims under the Packers and Stockyards Act and working with the company and its lender on a $38.7 million USDA-guaranteed loan and a $6.9 million grant. The plant’s bankruptcy filing in September 2024, citing liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, has led to objections from creditors. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship took emergency custody of 1.3 million chickens after Pure Prairie failed to provide feed, illustrating the challenges faced by independent meat processing facilities.

In other news, Amazon’s recent directive for employees to return to the office coincides with a new survey suggesting that hybrid workers may not be as productive as anticipated. This development comes amid ongoing debates about the efficacy of remote work and its impact on productivity. As companies navigate the post-pandemic work environment, the balance between in-office and remote work remains a topic of discussion.

US Politics

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to close the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center on Randall’s Island by the end of February. This tent shelter, which once housed up to 3,000 immigrants, has reportedly been a site of violence since its opening in August. The city has already reduced capacity and plans to restore athletic fields for community use. Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom reported that nearly a quarter-million immigrants have passed through the city’s shelter system since spring 2022, with most moving on to the next phase of their journey. Despite these developments, the city’s Department of Homeless Services is seeking a 14,000-room hotel contract to accommodate immigrants, with costs projected to reach $5.76 billion over three years. The New York City Hotel Association is involved in providing these accommodations, with current contracts costing $352 per night per room. These efforts reflect the city’s ongoing challenges in managing the influx of immigrants while balancing community needs.

Sources

Amazon’s Office Recall: Survey Suggests Hybrid Workers’ Productivity in Question

I’m sorry, but the content provided does not contain enough information to extract a representative quote.

Source | Submitted by Barbara

PPI Inflation: Energy Plunge Masks Rising Core and Services Cost

The plunge in energy prices caused the Producer Price Index to inch up by just 0.05% in September from August – rounded to “unchanged” – and this was the material today for the (AI-generated?) headlines.

Source | Submitted by rhollenb

USDA Scrambles as Pure Prairie Poultry Goes Fowl: Bankruptcy Leaves 1.6 Million Chickens in Limbo

Pure Prairie Poultry collapsed at the end of September and notified state officials that the company could not pay for feed for as many as 2 million chickens.

Source | Submitted by Barbara

New York City to Close Randall’s Island Migrant Shelter Amid Hotel Contract Expansion

“Over the coming months, the city will continue to gradually reduce the population on-site. Following the site’s closure in February, the city will invest in restoring the remaining impacted athletic fields and parkland,” the city reported.

Source | Submitted by AaronMcKeon

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I have a strong feeling companies are using these mandates to force resignations, a form of “soft layoffs” if you will. This has been happening a lot lately.

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And I think the push comes from the local politicians. The cities need office workers buying coffees and lunches while at the office.

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Exactly! You get to reduce staff without the negative PR or filings required of mass layoffs. Northwestern Mutual here in Milwaukee did the same thing when they required 3 days back in the office and lost a ton. This was about a year ago when jobs were plentiful, but things have tightened up now on the job market (except healthcare) so I believe companies have the power again. The employee had a brief period where they could write their own ticket on WFM, etc., but I believe that’s passed.

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When I view the source, I actually get:

Dell’s sudden 5-day return-to-office order leaves parents scrambling to find childcare

Sorry if the link doesn’t work for some people.

Control freaks are back in charge. Executives, many having a second young trophy wife and full time help at home with their kids, [like our elite politicians] haven’t a clue what life is like for young families.

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That’s strange. Is this the right one, @bj-brown ?

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/amazon-defends-full-return-to-office-mandate-amid-employee-pushback/ar-AA1rY9cL?ocid=BingNewsSerp

I’ve already updated the post but let me know if you have a different link that I can substitute.

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But what about climate change??? She says clutching her pearls. :smile:

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Try this link. I thought it was what I posted.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/content/ar-AA1rX7Xa

Regards,

Barbara

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That’s what was in there. When you click it, it goes to the Dell article. Strange that it’s different now.

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Cities are then “in bed” with local business owners(usually biggest ones, not mom n pop) demanding this while using cheapest labor available to run those places… to suck up all hard work gained cash to those coffees and whatnot. This is 1984 or New Brave World… totally contrary to what this community is about (prosperity, not slaving off and working hard to have nothing to show for it).

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double standard… “climate change” only applies to people and companies living in countryside or smaller towns, I never see brutal giant wasteful construction projects challenged in big cities (big $$$ ie big corruption, bribery, big taxes). Yet they measure every ounce of CO2 a cow or chicken supposedly breathes out in homebrew ranch/cottage.

Saw link to RFK Jr 1min clip which is relevant to this (Davos people)… I’ll add link here to that post.

Rules for thee, not for me.
https://tribe.peakprosperity.com/t/rfk-on-glenn-beck-the-wef-is-a-billionaire-boys-club-positioned-to-rule-the-world-and-take-away-our-freedoms/42648?u=th1

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That is totally strange. I have no clue. I think there was a link to the Amazon article on the Dell page. I thought the daycare problem was much more significant than the Amazon stuff.

Regards,

Barbara

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I’m now retired. For two years, I really enjoyed working from home, but I was rare in the sense, I worked more hours working from home than I did in the office. I saw lots and lots of people we couldn’t reach, because they were off doing something other than working. For me working in the office, I took a hard line on how many hours I spent in the office… When home, I would still do some occasional work, the joy of working for a multi national corp. It literally would take my wife walking into my home office with a glass of wine and say that’s enough for today. On a side note, I would get between 300-500 emails PER DAY. I went on vacation for three weeks over one Christmas, and had over 2500 emails. I called my corporate partner, on my way home and said, what do I need to deal with. He gave me a dozen or so emails that required my attention. I was nothing more than a high functioning engineer, no management duties.

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I cant think how to concentrate when anyone can come over at any time demand attention. Let alone almost 2hour lunches and whatnot. Yet natural that remote workers are under more paranoia, as illusion is they are “at office” albeit who knows what doing(some used to go smoking for many times a day, in urban places that is made very difficult and antisocial event now). High concentration, lot of details, errors are extremely bad situation WFH seems almost only solution. Idk what brain diseases some will get later in life burning 200% in job like that when 20-35 yo. Brain is in huge overdrive load with constant interruptions and having to “load” all that info back required to continue some task. I like Jim Keller, as he understands all of these aspects, not just hugely complex computer design but these more human aspects too in daily level. Also he always answers in interviews no matter how simple or dumb sounding question might be… that extends to interesting thought paths.

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I lived that. I have no idea why I {somewhat} succeeded in the corporate world. I’ve stated this before, one of my last performance reviews, my supv said I have no idea what you do, but nobody is complaining and the work is getting done, so keep it up. My prev supv was an epic micromanager. We tangled more than I cared to, and I set him up in front of a corporate VP. He wasn’t very bright, but was a great talker and spinner. He took the rope I gave him, wrapped it around his neck and took off running. VP was not amused and shortly after that transferred him to another division. I had the ability to simultaneously manage multiple complex projects. BUT, I was a terrible people manager. My last supv, basically left me alone, and it worked very well for me and the corporation. Getting my brain to slow down was a huge effort, and still is even today. Night time Gummies are my friend :).

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It sounds like a sweet deal for the hotels, with even sweeter kickback potential.

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Exactly.

Commercial real estate and tourism struggling in NYC
Plus
Lots of migrants without places to live

You do the math - who benefits? Sounds like lobbying by struggling hotels to me. Basically, another bailout.

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We’ll see if the immigrants turn out to be better for business than the domestic undomiciled, or if they end up stealing everything that can be taken, including copper pipes and wiring from the walls, before burning the places to the ground. P.S. Watch out for increasing insurance premiums.

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In europe thing is: they collect benefit checks, subsidized city housing and anything normies do + some ontop if granted (food stamps etc)
Then night time they can run drug trade and other illicit things to get extra income or work some geopolitical/country of origin cause, raising money for that.

Enough of south border illegals are hardcore gang members who do like extremes, they take everyone with them. As long as “racism” card is in play, it gets worse, double standard can thrive on. Europe is way more vulnerable than US but numbers are so big in key locations in US.

Evergreen human adage, why work hard if you can just steal it with gunpoint and violence.

Where police is well funded and does their job, net burden is still heavy dependence on welfare (tax dollars, euros) no practical payment to tax budget + any work can be done greek 2000s style grey market avoiding any taxes and other responsibilities, which over time drains public budgets everywhere stressing more debt leaning, and gripe on everyone else when NHS style taxes go up, service go down and salary gets you less and less. At some point there is tipping point in economy money simply runs out and people refuse to work as taxes take too much (gas cost is more than net income for day) and economy starts decay… way worse than Japan, current “bad economy” example western economists love to use.

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Chicago seems to be on that trajectory. The tax base is leaving, the city’s deficit is getting out of control, and now there is talk of suspending police academy classes to balance the budget. This will likely lead to more crime, more damage to the productive sector, less city income, and higher property taxes…

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