Economists say this year's job cut fest has been inspired by a record number of corporate mergers and acquisitions. Merging companies often cut duplicate staff to make things more efficient. But economist Jared Bernstein at the Economic Policy Institute says this year's layoffs are driven by less long-term thinking as well. And in cases like that you often find firms cutting too close to the bone. Job cuts create what economists like to call 'labor liquidity'.
More people looking for jobs means less pressure on employers to raise wages.
And that is what inflation-fighters like the Fed want to see. I'm Sarah Gardner for Marketplace. And that's the top of our news for Tuesday. Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 118 points, or about one percent. The film chronicles start-ups in Silicon Valley.