"You can work remote forever" was a trend during Covid when it was hard to hire people. Like Yo Yos, Pet Rocks and fidget spinners, the fad has passed along with the leverage that developers had.
"We'll go back to hiring exclusively regional/in-state employees" isn't something these companies are champing at the bit to return to. It's fun to pretend that these lazy, slovenly employees were the only winners of the remote bonanza but access to 49 other states' worth of talent was a massive boon for companies and more than likely offset their imaginary productivity losses from WfH.
