They started cutting because broad economic growth was softening noticeably. The labor market was extremely tight though, which was pushing wages up at an acce

They started cutting because broad economic growth was softening noticeably. The labor market was extremely tight though, which was pushing wages up at an accelerating rate. Most of the slack in the labor market was gone. GDP growth had been grinding lower for multiple years, the very long economic expansion was probably increasingly due for a recession (which we have now gotten out of the way). If a more natural recession had occurred circa 2020 or 2021 (without the pandemic), it likely would have been shallow, with the Fed always guns-ready to pump (since the great recession). The economy was strong in the sense that there wasn't anything major structurally wrong with it such that it was about to implode, however growth was not anything to write home about leading up to the pandemic.