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Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#441
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats completely true, tho a peasent was working for his master a lot less than we currently do for our masters. When we get 3days work week and 4 days of „time for my stuff” we can go back to discussing that.

The subsistence farm does not wait for your days off. You will live your life according to its schedule, and it does not care about sick days or vacation. To claim that an impoverished serf working land "had 4 days off a week" is nonsense. They worked hard af for all sunlight hours for some seasons, and had plenty of leisure in times like the winter. On average, maybe that's 4 days off, but let's not pretend that wor…

> To claim that an impoverished serf working land "had 4 days off a week"

Well.. noone said that. If you mind reading the comment again.

But its true that peasents had a lot more time to work on their own stuff than on what master told them to do.

Either way most peasents worked for higher tier peasent because landlord often has hubdreds of hectars of land.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#442

I think if employees feel slighted by being fired, they're fooling themselves. The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. It gives you clarity and purpose. It also happens to be the truth. Coinbase was also extremely generous with severance. 12 weeks plus two for every one year at the company, I think. I've had the experience of being let go without notice and without severance. Devs seem a little more griz…

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So here is the thing. Your rock, your wish. It is wierd when you get to take interest free lines of credit on the 1B valuation on the rock and never pay the 500m in taxes :)

Either the rock gets sold and the income is realized and the taxes are paid then, or the rock ends up being worthless and the loan margin called for possession of the rock and the remaining value is taxed as income. Either way the taxes get paid in the end. Tax deference is not tax avoidance.

So taking the avoidance vs deference analogy. If I borrow money for car, house, boat, plane tickets, but never have to pay it back where does that leave my obligations?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#444
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worry about the unaccounted soft power of someone with that much money. Through lobbying and market consolidation, the extremely wealthy hold disproportionate political and economic power. At least with corrupt politicians, in a liberal democracy there is some amount to which they are accountable to the people. The power of the wealthy is without account except through government action. laisse-faire capitalists li…

How much money should people be allowed to have?

No more than it would make others envy you, no less than it would make them pity you.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#445
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billionaires are highly correlated with millionaires, which don't seem to be beyond the pale for critics of wealth inequality. Countries with billionaires rank much higher on quality of life than those without. It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts but the side effect of their wealth is companies like Amazon and Tesla that have a net positive effect on society in terms of products and employment.

I'm not as wealthy as them but I have never, ever had this feeling: "It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts" Why does that hurt anyone? Doesn't it just help the people that make yachts and work on them?

Some people are different than others. Some more so.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#446
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep pointing to Armstrong's $110M house like it's some sort of injustice. If you think billionaires should exist at all, then that's one of the least-bad injustices imaginable Ok, I'll admit it, billionaires should not exist at all, there should be a heavy wealth tax that makes it hard to become a billionaire. Will a CEO work less hard if he (and his peers) can only ever gain $100M in net worth before a wealt…

There are plenty of people in the world who would think that anything over $500/month is way more than enough for one person. Should your compensation be reduced to that amount? Does someone earning more than you hurt you? Also… do billionaires employ people? Do you want their employees to have their jobs seized from them when the johny555 tax goes into effect?

Awful comparison. Your number of $500 isn’t possible to live on in much of the world. It’s an artificial floor - a fair comparison would be one that everyone could live off with ease, not just your false dichotomy few.

Never mind that a billionaire could live anywhere and literally couldn’t spend all of their money if they tried.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, billionaires' wealth isn't parked in a vault, right? It's invested in companies, so it's working in the economy whereas it would otherwise go to the government. It's not obvious to me that the government is going to provide more value for the public in general than industry, but I would like for that to be the case (an easy solution for inequality that doesn't shrink our economy overall).

A wealth tax wouldn't change that. No billionaire is going to sit around and watch his $1B fortune be whittled away in 5 years by a 20% tax. Instead he's going to divest -- he'll put the money into other companies or charitable foundations.

You statement makes it sound like they aren't currently doing those things already. Can you point to some data that shows they aren't donating to charities and aren't diversified? I can understand if someone like Bezos is highly invested in the company he founded but overtime he will be like Gates and hold a small portion of his portfolio in Amazon and the rest broke up across many companies and charities.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#448
post #316

I think if employees feel slighted by being fired, they're fooling themselves. The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. It gives you clarity and purpose. It also happens to be the truth. Coinbase was also extremely generous with severance. 12 weeks plus two for every one year at the company, I think. I've had the experience of being let go without notice and without severance. Devs seem a little more griz…

>I think if employees feel slighted by being fired, they're fooling themselves. The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. It gives you clarity and purpose. It also happens to be the truth. sorry but this reads like you drank the whole bowl of US corporate kool-aid. the insecurity and stress the comes from not knowing if you'll have a job tomorrow in literal insanity. 14 weeks severance shouldn't be seen an…

Sincere question: would you give up your right to quit "on a whim" if your employer gave up their right to fire you "on a whim"?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#449
post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

c) European.

According to this[0], the absolute most generous package is the Netherlands, which offers 1/3 of your monthly salary for each year of employment. To receive 14 weeks of salary, you'd need to work at a company for 10 years. Coinbase was founded in 2012. Other "European" countries have much worse severance packages. So what Coinbase offered seems to be better than even the best country in Europe. 0. https://www.claimsa…

Don’t mistake the legal statutory minimums with normal practice.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#450
post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not btw? I mean, why is it worse for somebody to have power because he worked and invested for decades and made optimal decisions (and probably some luck) than for somebody to have power because he was born into the right family, knows all the right people in The Machine, has nice hair and is able to conceal his rampaging cocaine habit long enough to make himself too big to fail? I get that "wealth gets power" is…

There's no such thing as too big to fail in democratic politics and it is not a deterministic process of knowing people in "The Machine." FWIW, most wealthy people are wealthy because of inherited holdings and 60% of all wealth in the US is inherited.

> 60% of all wealth in the US is inherited

Source? This fails the sniff test, as the amount of wealth has grown at such a rapid rate this seems almost impossible.

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