A year ago getting workers was very nearly impossible because easy credit was flowing like water and capital was abundant. In addition, historical level of retirement was bringing available, knowledgeable workers out of the market. Anyone who drove workers away was shooting themselves in the foot since those workers were very difficult to get back.

Today, the labor market is rougher for employees and easier for employers - credit is drying up and many projects that were employing workers are dying. More workers are competing for fewer positions and even some workers that thought they would retire are coming back after losing money in the markets has made retirement less viable.

I think parent post is saying that musk is a (somewhat) rational actor - when labor was scarce he would have been more careful not to offend. While labor is plentiful he doesn't care how badly he treats his employees because they don't have a better option.

Not sure I agree with that point - musk seems like an even mix of carnival barker and bipolar to me, but I think that's the idea.