Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more • Hacker News Board

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#221

Post by wpietri » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:34 PM UTC

tenpies wrote: post #193

Loughla wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real questions. I'm not a history buff. Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? Current question - what is the endgame for those who what blue states to go bankrupt? What do they get if that happens, outside of talking points?…

> Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? To be honest the most interesting thing to me is the US media. I don't think it has ever been so openly hostile towards one party and so hungry to cause a civil war. They're not even h…

I don't think that's the case at all. If there's any problem with the media, it has been overly deferential to power.

That's always been the case. But whatever one thinks of Trump, it's pretty obvious that his campaign and post-election behavior is fundamentally different than presidents in living memory. He has rewritten the rules. The media just hasn't been able to adapt successfully to that, and still often writes about him and his administration as if they're covering things in a different era.

Among many others, journalism professor Jay Rosen has long been making this point, and made it again recently on his blog: https://pressthink.org/2020/04/a-current-list-of-my-top-prob...

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#222

Post by lacker » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #157

wonderwonder wrote: post #121

Layoffs are mounting, alternative work is limited, and the unemployment systems in many states are either broken or running out of funding. Add the federal governments indicated desire to let blue states go bankrupt and we are looking at a good combination to enter a depression. Its a pretty sobering time.

Real questions. I'm not a history buff. Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? Current question - what is the endgame for those who what blue states to go bankrupt? What do they get if that happens, outside of talking points?…

Well yes - there was a civil war! And more recently, the national guard was used to enforce school integration. Things have been much more antagonistic between the federal government and the states at times in the past.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#223

Post by Loughla » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:36 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #204

jagged-chisel wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those with pensions tend to be union members; the pension being a benefit insisted upon in negotiations between unions and their (government) employers. If a state declares bankruptcy, lists pensions as a debt, and the federal discharges the pension debt, the GOP can thumb their noses at unions in a very big way.

> Those with pensions tend to be union members I still don't understand. Surely almost every professional has a pension, but few people are in unions.

Very few people in the United States have pensions.

Mainly pensions are available for state employees, or union members. And for that matter, state employees tend to be part of a union.

Unions are responsible for pensions, and the only people who have held onto them as the 401k has taken over.

Edit: Because I apparently can't reply to chriseaton below - 401k is defined contribution, you contribute $x which is a set amount and non-taxable. Pension is defined benefit; you receive $x, guaranteed, after x,y,z parameters are met (age, years experience, etc). They are not even slightly the same thing. Not even close.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#224

Post by beefalo » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:36 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #192

ForHackernews wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically, pension benefits were one of the main benefits unions fought for (and won) so that their members could have an income in their old age and retire. Today, very few workers still have pensions, but the few that do tend to be those represented by a union. In many states, this includes government employees: teachers, firefighters, police, etc.

> Today, very few workers still have pensions I've never seen a professional job that didn't include a pension - certainly not in the tech industry.

Here have you seen a pension in the tech industry? 401ks are ubiquitous but no modern companies offer pensions

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#225

Post by clintonb » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

stephencoyner wrote: post #171

roosterdawn wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it probably would be a valuable to Amazon. So valuable, in fact, that it already[1] exists. [1] https://flex.amazon.com/

Yes, this exists today, but what Amazon would be buying is faster time to expansion. If they need drivers now (which is an assumption, I don't know this to be a fact) Lyft gives them an established network incredibly fast. So obviously the price would have to be right and of course Amazon wouldn't be paying a large premium.

An advertising campaign to attract drivers is probably a lot cheaper than buying Lyft.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#226

Post by chrisseaton » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #223

chrisseaton wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those with pensions tend to be union members I still don't understand. Surely almost every professional has a pension, but few people are in unions.

Very few people in the United States have pensions. Mainly pensions are available for state employees, or union members. And for that matter, state employees tend to be part of a union. Unions are responsible for pensions, and the only people who have held onto them as the 401k has taken over. Edit: Because I apparently can't reply to chriseaton below - 401k is defined contribution, you contribute $x which is a set a…

I think a 401(k) is a pension? Almost all companies offer a 401(k) for full-time employees.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#227

Post by matchbok » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

tenpies wrote: post #193

Loughla wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real questions. I'm not a history buff. Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? Current question - what is the endgame for those who what blue states to go bankrupt? What do they get if that happens, outside of talking points?…

> Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? To be honest the most interesting thing to me is the US media. I don't think it has ever been so openly hostile towards one party and so hungry to cause a civil war. They're not even h…

The media's job is not to fawn over the president, actually. They are to report the news and tell the people when the president lies.

Therefore, they are doing a great job.

By the way, the most watched cable news is Fox News. I assume you aren't talking about them?

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#228

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

beefalo wrote: post #224

chrisseaton wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today, very few workers still have pensions I've never seen a professional job that didn't include a pension - certainly not in the tech industry.

Here have you seen a pension in the tech industry? 401ks are ubiquitous but no modern companies offer pensions

[deleted]

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#229

Post by bilbo0s » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

Acrobatic_Road wrote: post #188

nightsd01 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The state of California is actually in a pretty decent financial position. In fact, the blue states are net contributors to the federal budget while red states are net negative (they take more resources than they provide back in federal taxes) If there weren’t any blue states around to sign the red state welfare checks, they’d be in a pretty poor position.

According to Mercatus Center fiscal rankings, 4 out of 5 of the bottom 5 fiscal performers are run by democrats: illinois, new jersey, conneticut and massachusets. Kansas, a red state, is the outlier. https://www.mercatus.org/publications/urban-economics/state-...

Your source has Massachusetts in the bottom 5, which lets you know right there it's laughable.

Never lived there myself, but I know for a fact they're consistently in the top 5 of contributors to the federal kitty of all states both nominally, and per-capita. They get almost nothing back compared to what they put in. They are, arguably, the largest contributor to the nation if we're considering individual burdens. And a top 5 contributor by outright total aggregate tax contribution.

Illinois and New Jersey, by total outright tax contribution, are also consistently in the top 5 of states that contribute to the federal government. (And I'm from Wisconsin. I hate Illinois. But facts are facts man.)

Hate to tell you, but your source is bogus as far as analyzing the biggest contributors to the national kitty.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#230

Post by wpietri » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

netcan wrote: post #103

stephencoyner wrote: post #19

This seems like a great time for Amazon or Google to buy Lyft. Amazon could bundle rides with package deliveries and get the pre-existing driver and passenger network from Lyft. Lyft was actually telling drivers to work with Amazon when the pandemic started (1). Waymo could take Lyft’s aggregated rider demand. They already have a partnership to transfer autonomous rides from Waymo to Lyft during bad weather situation…

a great time for Amazon or Google to buy Lyft ...What would they do with it? The business model (also uber) as-is makes a loss. Uber/Lyft's initial proposition was that once ride sharing incumbents were established, they'd have a software-ish monopoly and margins. This did not work out. Now the proposition is "When driverless cars get invented..." If google had a car that can drive itself, they can figure out an app.…

Exactly. Lyft doesn't have anything they can't create for a lot less money. And if they buy it, they get a lot of headaches: legacy code, legacy staff, legacy relationships to partner and drivers.