I'm old enough to remember when "layoffs" were generally temporary measures to ride out business dips, at least ideally. Now it's not even a question: layoffs are just mass firings. Of course, many companies were bullshitting and never intended to rehire people, but that was still the norm.

I was just becoming an adult for the devastating recessions of the late '70s and early '80s, and living in the "steel belt," watching all this happen. The theme of the sitcom "Good Times" bemoaned "temporary layoffs." But at least they were (often) only temporary.

The notion of corporate loyalty to workers was actually a thing. It was a social norm that was enforced. Companies suffered reputational damage when they did shitty stuff. That all started to change in the '80s, when America began its final slide, both politically and culturally.

And in the 80’ the media idolized CEOs who did shitty stuff.