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Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

coindesk.com

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#551

Post by throwaway894345 »

shinryuu wrote: post #365
throwaway894345 wrote: post #336

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 lot of wealth is parked in shares of companies. I'm not sure to what extent that is actually productive...?

It's paying the salaries of those employees at those companies, so in what sense is it "parked"?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#552

Post by munificent »

tastyfreeze wrote: post #543
Johnny555 wrote: post #45

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…

I would like all levels of wealth to be treated the same. Why do we penalize people for being successful? If I knew you and, by some stroke of luck, you happened to become monocle and top hat wealthy I would congratulate you on your success. I would even buy you dinner to celebrate. I would not demand a share of your wealth just because you have a lot of money. There are some systemic issues that cause wealth inequal…

> Why do we penalize people for being successful?

I assume you mean "relative to people that are less successful". The answer is because the marginal value of wealth decreases the more you have.

If you're poor, $1,000 is the difference between your kid seeing the doctor or not. If you're rich, it's a nice meal out.

> There are some systemic issues that cause wealth inequality. We should focus on fixing those issue to enable more people to enjoy success.

The core systemic issue is that wealth is a positive feedback loop. The more you have, the more you can leverage it without losing it in order to get more.

Treating all levels of wealth the same is directly incompatible with resolving this positive feedback loop. You need a counterbalance that scales with the level of wealth, because the magnitive of the positive feedback loop does.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#553

Post by emptysongglass »

anotherfounder wrote: post #540
jerry1979 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not settled on this yet. I'm from the USA, and one thing that concerns me is the geopolitics of billionaires. What happens when USA taxes billionaires out of existence? Russia and China still have billionaires. Does that do something to the power relationships in the world? Is there such a thing as "our" billionaires? The other question I have has to do with feudalism. If we let "our" billionaires exist, does tha…

If there was fair taxation on billionaires, and there was a wage growth where all the productivity gains didn't only stay at the top, then I think folks would be less incensed at billionaires.

You don't even need to discuss billionaires though to get some very bad effects. Take Denmark for example that taxes software engineers 50 percent of their salary (it's not unique to SWEs it's just because nearly all SWEs will make enough to fall into this bracket). I'm thoroughly examining other lower tax bracket countries to move to because why do I want to pay half of my salary until I am enfeebled and the state lets me enjoy my enfeeblement?

Let's macrosize the perspective: why do you think Unity moved HQ from DK to the USA? Could it be the crushing taxes here?

This is the issue. You really can't have it both ways. Yet many Americans love to fetishize a hatred for few very specific individuals without thinking through the whole causal chain that girds their economy.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#554

Post by simonsarris »

Johnny555 wrote: post #45
sillysaurusx wrote: post #15

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…

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…

Why shouldn't they exist, exactly? I think we should want more billionaires, ten times as many, at least!

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#555

Post by throwaway894345 »

int_19h wrote: post #502
throwaway894345 wrote: post #336

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).

The government could, for example, issue loans at minimal interest rates to smaller businesses.

I'm pretty sure they've been doing that for years now, and it has been helping to drive inflation.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#556

Post by SkyPuncher »

shinryuu wrote: post #365
throwaway894345 wrote: post #336

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 lot of wealth is parked in shares of companies. I'm not sure to what extent that is actually productive...?

For many of us on this site, I suspect that actually contributes to our salaries.

Either directly as VC capital or indirectly via public ownership. If billionaires suddenly couldn't own public companies, stock prices would drop and we'd likely see layoffs.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#557

Post by munificent »

jerry1979 wrote: post #278
Johnny555 wrote: post #45

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…

I'm not settled on this yet. I'm from the USA, and one thing that concerns me is the geopolitics of billionaires. What happens when USA taxes billionaires out of existence? Russia and China still have billionaires. Does that do something to the power relationships in the world? Is there such a thing as "our" billionaires? The other question I have has to do with feudalism. If we let "our" billionaires exist, does tha…

> What happens when USA taxes billionaires out of existence?

This is a really good question.

I believe the answer is that the USA will be better able to outcompete those countries that do have them. History has shown time and again that massive inequality is a huge barrier to maximizing the productivity of all of a society's members.

It leads to cynism and corruption and breaks down cooperation. It forces a society to spend valuable resources on policing in order to keep the poor taking from the rich. It's just economically incredibly inefficient. You need some level of inequality to incentivize people but once you go beyond that, it's a net harm.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#559

Post by nostrademons »

Johnny555 wrote: post #281
jerry1979 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not settled on this yet. I'm from the USA, and one thing that concerns me is the geopolitics of billionaires. What happens when USA taxes billionaires out of existence? Russia and China still have billionaires. Does that do something to the power relationships in the world? Is there such a thing as "our" billionaires? The other question I have has to do with feudalism. If we let "our" billionaires exist, does tha…

Does that do something to the power relationships in the world? The fact that you're even asking that is a reason we shouldn't have billionaires -- world power relationships shouldn't be based on the wealth of individual citizens. For example, what did Musk really talk about when he met with the president of Brazil? Did he represent American interests, Amazon Inc's interests, or Elon Musk's interests?

Are you advocating against billionaires & capitalism, or against power relationships?

In theoretically egalitarian systems like communism, a committee makes decisions about how to allocate resources. Then whoever holds most sway over the committee holds sway over resource allocation. If you do it by direct democracy, then whoever owns the news media & ad platforms (or has money to do massive PR campaigns and ad buys) holds sway over resource allocation. You can't escape this: somebody is going to make the decisions, unless you just run the world by computers and have humans slot in for menial tasks.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#560

Post by throwaway894345 »

Johnny555 wrote: post #358
throwaway894345 wrote: post #336

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.

If a wealth tax isn't going to change anything, then what's the point? Do we really believe that billionaires are keeping their money in scrooge-mc-duck-esque vaults rather than investing it in diversified portfolios, and that only a wealth tax (rather than the promise of returns on investment) will force them to invest?
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