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Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#681

Post by akoncius »

stevenjgarner wrote: post #666
sharkweek wrote: post #618

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).

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.

internet was created by two universities, not private companies.

and usually universities are funded by governments.

private companies ruined internet actually.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#682

Post by Cerium »

xvedejas wrote: post #634
Johnny555 wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 who started/built them. Voting shares don't have to have monetary value. Rememeber Google's IPO where the founders had stock with 10 votes per share, or Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stock with 1/10000th the voting rights as class A? So a founder could re…

Aren't those classes of stock with voting power worth a lot more? I'm not sure how you'd possibly avoid being rich on paper if you have a majority voting power for Google.

Not necessarily, for example Facebook supervoting shares were setup to convert to normal shares if transfered, making them only more valuable to the original holder.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#683

Post by sdh »

stevenjgarner wrote: post #604
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…

A wealth tax implies a tax on unrealized appreciated assets, which is beyond bizarre IMHO. So you buy a house for $500k somewhere. It surges in value to $1.2 million. You therefore have an unrealized capital gain of $700k. You are NEVER going to get that money until you sell it, and when you do you are going to pay a whopping amount of capital gain tax. But a wealth tax implies you pay that capital gain tax now. Okay…

Maybe you're not aware how these "unrealized" capital gains (at scale) are indirectly realized in the form of loans taken against value of the asset.

Massive wealth doesn't operate in income or even in typical capital gains advantages you're referring to. It operates at a scale where the value of the assets are so great, banks compete to give loans to them, which are not taxed like income.

It's totally absurd to argue that loans from assets isn't income. It's used to purchase more assets, to purchase tax favorable legislation, to buy media to keep us thinking this issue is about paying capital gains on your retirement portfolio.

If Bezos will "never get that money unless he sells stock" was a true statement, then where do all the yachts and houses and other assets come from? How does he buy them? If the IRS suddenly recognized loans taken against asset wealth or any exchange of assets as income, the tax rates of the super wealthy compared to the average American would suddenly look sane.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#684

Post by ghshephard »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #275
ghshephard wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does someone earning more than you hurt you? Yes. Because they can afford private schooling, legal and medical care that the bottom 90% cannot because those services are privatized and only available to the very wealthy. If the ruling class/wealthy who controlled the system could not depend on their vast wealth for great schools for their children, health and legal protection - then all of a sudden the social syste…

On the flip side, the tragedy of the commons prevents progress in a socialized system. Game theory says there are no easy answers. Child outcome data suggest that strong family structures seem to have the most impact.

I dunno - I spent 20 years using the Canadian Medical System, then moved down to the United States in 1995, and spent 20 years using the system here, with 5 years in a (mostly) socialized system in Singapore.

There doesn't really seem to be much of a tragedy of the commons when it comes to healthcare - nobody is really that excited about getting an unneeded biopsy, or hip replacement, or colonoscopy....

Agreed that full-throated capitalism seems to be the best system when it comes to allocating most resources (I absolutely do not begrudge Billionaires their Yachts, big houses, islands, private jets - have at it!) - but it's pretty sad when someone who works hard their entire life has to die 10 years early because they can't afford a decent doctor.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#685

Post by yodsanklai »

ausbah wrote: post #316
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…

>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…

It is actually the bare minimum in many European countries (where you would also get unemployment benefits).

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#686

Post by karpierz »

imdsm wrote: post #647
yellowbanana wrote: post #608

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…

> For anyone who thinks this wealth shouldn't appear, let me ask this: if someone could discover a cure for all cancers — how much should they be allowed to earn for it?

Say 50 million?

> I.E. What price would you put on the cure for all cancers?

100 billion?

You've asked two separate questions there, but you're implying that the answer to one is the same as the other.

Just because you are capable of extracting a certain amount of wealth in exchange for something, does not mean that you should be able to.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#687

Post by hervature »

Johnny555 wrote: post #620
yellowbanana wrote: post #608

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…

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 who started/built them. Voting shares don't have to have monetary value. Rememeber Google's IPO where the founders had stock with 10 votes per share, or Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stock with 1/10000th the voting rights as class A? So a founder could re…

> Voting shares don't have to have monetary value.

:facepalm:

If you control a company worth $1T, someone is going to be willing to buy your share. If you're implying that voting shares don't have to be transferable, the question becomes how do you pick the next leader? The current owner gets to appoint the next in line? That's basically monarchy. The history I was taught says that only those at the top thrive under monarchy.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#688

Post by akoncius »

imdsm wrote: post #665
Aeolun wrote: post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 bac…

we can also flip a question: how do you prevent a scenario where bezos or musk achieve so much wealth that they can purchase everything? to own all corporations and if somebody will create a competitor that competitor gets destroyed by shady practices so it gets impossible to have free market?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#689

Post by jerojero »

imdsm wrote: post #647
yellowbanana wrote: post #608

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…

Ive done basic research, even worked in a lab that was doing cancer related research.

Whatever you do now, anything, is not just your own genius but its the accumulated genius of society. It would be quite literally impossible for anyone that "cures cancer" to have done it on their own. Not only it is extremely unlikely that they could do all work just by themselves (though possible) but they will have to rely on the work others have put through out the years... Work that in most cases has been funded through tax money!

So why would one person at the end of the line get to benefit so much from the collective work put by all of humanity to that point?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#690

Post by paisawalla »

whimsicalism wrote: post #609
paisawalla wrote: post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is significant income mobility in the US, which is why "the one-percent" discourse consistently fails to resonate with Americans. When 73% of Americans have spent at least a year earning a top 20% income [0], focusing on the inherited wealth of others comes off as whining. As long people feel that the pie grows, and that they can move themselves forward, these observations are at best statistical curiosities. T…

73% of Americans being in the top 20% of income earners for one year in their lives does not in any way diminish what I am saying. The median dollar of wealth is inherited by the wealthiest top 5% of families, not earned as income - which your statistic doesn't even address.

My point is that your statistic doesn't mean anything to the everyday reality of normal Americans. If I believe that I can achieve my goals, and the facts suggest that I'm right to do so, why should I care that someone else's parents left them their money?

Banging your drum even more loudly doesn't change the fact that you are off beat.

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