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Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your point seems a little orthogonal. If I pay tax on X value in year 1, value goes up and now I pay X*1.1 in year 2, then back to X in year 3 because the home value lowers again, I don’t get a refund for the extra 10% paid in year 2 despite the fact that I never realized any value in the fact that my home appreciated for a year.

So in 2020 I inherit $16k and decide to buy 1 BTC for $16,082 on Nov 12, 2020. Later that day the wealth tax department is created and levies a 20% tax on all unrealized appreciated assets. Your reporting day is on the anniversary of the original asset purchase. So a year later (Nov 12, 21) Bitcoin is at $64,400. My accumulated unrealized appreciation is $48,318. I file my wealth tax return and have to borrow the $9,…

Sounds a lot like the AMT situation for stock options where people pay taxes on the paper value of the stock when exercised, even if they don't (or even can) sell it -- the IRS can provide a way to recover taxes paid on unrealized gain if you sell the asset at a loss from where it was taxed.

But I'd recommend selling enough of your BTC to pay taxes so you're not underwater if it goes down in value.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#662

I see they cut off access for staff before telling them. not an atypical move, but I wonder if they were actually able to revoke all access, given there's systems like Kubernetes where some auth. types can't be revoked once granted.

Most people will have worked on laptops that have the software installed that allows them to completely brick the device.

It just makes me wonder what they'll be doing with 1000+ laptops and other devices. Do they expect people to send it back? Probably yes. I'd personally just declare: "I have low money and I had to fire your laptop service, thanks for the work of getting it to me, I'll be keeping it now."

I mean, that's what they do with the work of their employees. "I have low money and I had to fire you and 1000+ others, thanks for the work of making my company big, I'll be keeping it now."

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#663

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…

> The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. Best for what?

Making sound life decisions that bet on your continued employment at a company. It's rare that people think they'll be let go from a job amd indebt themselves as though it's impossible.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#665
post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big fan of 100% taxation on anything above 999M, but my continuation here is that anyone that earns more than that gets a trophy for every additional 1B they earn put on display in a big museum in a city of their choice (Museums selectively scattered around the US).

I’m a firm believer in a maximum of like 50% tax on income. Anything more just feels like a punishment for working.

Absolutely.

Let's say I earn over the threshold, and I can now either choose to continue to try and innovate and add value to society, or retire to a private island and just become a carbon contributor, I mean, why work myself into the ground if I can no longer benefit?

Most people have assets not liquidity too, so it's like saying, if you own too much, you have to stop. Well, what if Elon stopped and we reverted back to dropping rockets into the ocean? What if Bill Gates stopped and never did any of the philanthropy that he does?

I feel like this is used by people as a cheap excuse for a problem they can't solve.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#666
post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christ on a skateboard!? All the temporarily displaced billionaires in this thread are something else. If you require more than 100M in net worth to be "motivated" to work. There's a larger problem with you. Being a CEO/leader doesn't require some skill set that's given to you from some mythical watery being just because you're special.

I'm a big fan of 100% taxation on anything above 999M, but my continuation here is that anyone that earns more than that gets a trophy for every additional 1B they earn put on display in a big museum in a city of their choice (Museums selectively scattered around the US).

Given that successful technologies have mostly been developed by corporations which have appreciated in value from their innovation, do you favor a Luddite lifestyle, eschewing technology? Or do you think investors would rush to put their capital at risk for no return? I believe the technologies on which we are enjoying this conversation would never have emerged if a wealth tax hit silicon valley after WW II.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#667
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why shouldn’t those people be given money? They were given money: their compensation that they agreed and accepted as being fair payment for their labor.

Let’s be conservative and say Armstrong has just a net worth of the house he bought: 150,000,000. If the average employee’s salary is 150,000, Armstrong makes 1,000 times more than them. Does this seem fair? Does he deserve higher compensation for his entrepreneurial skills? Absolutely. But 1,000? It’s hard for us to imagine the scale of 1,000 times greater than something but it seems excessive (and remember, this is…

If it's really that unfair, why don't you just become an entrepreneur?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#668
post #84

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…

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.

> Countries with billionaires rank much higher on quality of life than those without.

I think that is a correlation. An empty granary attracts no rats. That doesn't mean that having rats is good for farmers.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#669
post #647

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has nothing to do with motivation, If you start a company and that company becomes succesfull you will end up rich. > Being a CEO/leader doesn't require some skill set that's given to you from some mythical watery being just because you're special. Controlling a company requires shares, and shares are networth, it is good that companies are controlled by people who most understand them, and those are the people…

A lot of people seem to be in the mindset that it'll never be them so it should never be anyone else. It's not just in the US, here in the Uk we have the same mindset too. A lot of people dislike/hate Elon Musk for example, and usually they focus on two things: his tweets, and his wealth. Conveniently forgetting that prior to his work at SpaceX and Tesla (which he's driven) reusable rockets weren't a thing and EVs we…

You're right that it doesn't come from nowhere. It comes from the people who are actually doing those amazing things: the workers.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#670
post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn’t about the money, rather it is a public scoreboard to remind us that we must serve others and be innovative.

It's not working. Jeff Bezos said he can't think of anything to do with his money other than build rockets while people die in his warehouses. Too much money makes people out of touch. I don't think billionaires are evil, I just think they don't know what life is like for people who still have a concept of "cost of living."

I know a few people that like working at Amazon and the pay and benefits are good. Do you know people who died there? Are your friends cursed?
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