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Amazon cuts 16k jobs

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#741

Post by int_19h »

incr_me wrote: post #551
echelon wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't we all want H1B rather than offshoring? That keeps the facilities here, the local employment options here, the growth here, the tax base here... We should want more smart people moving to this country. More business creation, more capital, more labor, more output. Immigration is total economic growth for America, non zero-sum. Offshoring is not only economic loss, but second order loss: we lose the capacity…

Wait why doesn't India get to have these things, too?

There's no reason why it shouldn't, but why should American corporations subsidize it?

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#742

Post by no_wizard »

Uehreka wrote: post #619
socalgal2 wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm super sympathetic that losing your job sucks. I lost mine once. At the same time, what's the alternative? Progress happens. We no longer have liveries for holding horses nor horse shoe makers (not at the level we used to). We no longer have telephone operators. Making up jobs to keep people employed isn't a viable solution to me. Supporting them in some way (re-training, UBI, service work, ...) seems like the onl…

> Making up jobs to keep people employed isn't a viable solution to me. Supporting them in some way (re-training, UBI, service work, ...) seems like the only way forward. If this is what you think needs to happen and you live in the US, then you should be freaking out right now, not calmly posting takes like this. UBI is not a thing almost any current American politician is considering, and the overton window is spee…

> I don’t know what the answer here is

Blood. If things don’t reverse course this trajectory historically leads to bloodshed.

In many respects it already has. How many people have died just this year already because businesses didn’t do what they were suppose to? Because cutting costs with no consequences is seen as the norm?

Of course nobody wants to account for those externalities and when that blood comes back on them they become scared and use government force instead. You’re seeing the trial run with ICE as we write our comments on this forum

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#743

Post by fogzen »

coffeemug wrote: post #720
brikym wrote: post #704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to sound like a luddite I'm sure but I'm tried of these analogies using horses, tractors and so on. Labor involving muscles was replaced with tractors but people could just switch to using the other half of their body; The Brain. Now that a lot of the creative tasks and knowledge work is being replaced there isn't anywhere for those people to go. Maybe people with esoteric industry knowledge, vibe-coding sk…

I still don’t understand why people oppose that rather than enthusiastically desire it. The end state you’re describing is the culmination of the enlightenment project. Automating labor is the point! Then you can paint, or play chess, or eat amazing food, or do whatever you want. Work isn’t the end, it’s the means. Products and services is the end. If we can achieve the end via technology, who cares about the work?

Because in the world people currently live in, a small class of people own the means of production and the land you stand on, and everyone else has to have a job to access all of the necessities to live. Eliminating jobs means, quite literally, eliminating people's livelihood.

And that same class of people who own everything would rather kill everyone else and also destroy the planet than give up their position or allow any of the socioeconomic changes necessary to change the distribution of wealth.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#744

Post by _heimdall »

tchalla wrote: post #97

Interesting perspective of an L7 who was laid off at Amazon https://xcancel.com/PlumbNick/status/2016500347053773198

At least in the US, we've spent the better part of 80 years building a huge amount of wealth and growth on the backs of debt and externalized costs.

Its interesting, in a morbid humor kind of way, to see people realize that these costs always come due.

Globalization allows a huge amount of growth and many benefits you simply can't get with smaller or stronger borders. It also comes with risks, chief among them the risk that any one country loses self sufficiency and competitive advantage.

I do hope that the heaviest cost we (in the US) pay anytime soon is the cost of outsourcing jobs. We don't know how to manufacture anymore, our populace is extremely unhealthy in historical standards, and both political parties are toying with different forms of socialism. There are a lot of bad outcomes that can come where we're heading, we'd get off easy if it stops at outsourcing some of our high paid jobs to cheaper foreign labor.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#745

Post by no_wizard »

fragmede wrote: post #352
no_wizard wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be far smarter to have invested in the workforce continually. A microcosm of this is how we mismanaged college education and is a symptom of a larger problem: As far as US policy goes, got complacent and extractive over innovative and additive. The narrative shifted from 'abundance for all' to 'the pie is only so big' (that is, unless you're a favored incumbent, like defense contractors). It doesn't stop her…

> employers can't use it as a pair of handcuffs. I think you misunderstand the point of the system.

I don’t, I’m calling it out as toxic and a drain on society

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#746

Post by no_wizard »

irishcoffee wrote: post #588
no_wizard wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be far smarter to have invested in the workforce continually. A microcosm of this is how we mismanaged college education and is a symptom of a larger problem: As far as US policy goes, got complacent and extractive over innovative and additive. The narrative shifted from 'abundance for all' to 'the pie is only so big' (that is, unless you're a favored incumbent, like defense contractors). It doesn't stop her…

> The narrative shifted from 'abundance for all' to 'the pie is only so big' (that is, unless you're a favored incumbent, like defense contractors). It would surprise you to know that Booz Allen laid off 3k people last month then, huh? Or Boeing laid off 3200 people in September 2025. You should look these things up before you pop off like that. Three minutes of research is all it takes.

Sure, and how about executive compensation? The gains aren’t spread throughout the company. You see highly revenue positive businesses like Google and Amazon laying off thousands of employees while record profits are abound.

You missed the point entirely, and if you were to take a few minutes to look this up you’d know that

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#747

Post by joquarky »

WalterBright wrote: post #735
Uehreka wrote: post #619

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Making up jobs to keep people employed isn't a viable solution to me. Supporting them in some way (re-training, UBI, service work, ...) seems like the only way forward. If this is what you think needs to happen and you live in the US, then you should be freaking out right now, not calmly posting takes like this. UBI is not a thing almost any current American politician is considering, and the overton window is spee…

The math doesn't work out for UBI.

UBI will become at least as complicated as federal taxes. Perverse incentives will creep in.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#748

Post by throwaway-11-1 »

pessimizer wrote: post #678
throwaway-11-1 wrote: post #594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people benefitting from the profits accumulated from layoffs would never allow their margins to be cut by having to pay for UBI. Why do people act like this even remotely on the political horizon? There will simply be an even larger underclass and the wealthy enclaves will build higher walls. “At least the companies will be more efficient” is such a cucked take, insane

This is goofy. Your job isn't special and this already happened to a lot of other people while coders were laughing in libertarian. It doesn't suddenly get real when it happens to you. The people whose jobs were shipped overseas were physically stronger and less sheltered than you. If they couldn't stop it, your pencil arms and retreat into revolutionary cosplay fantasy certainly doesn't bode well for you. They weren…

You really made an astounding number of assumptions which I don’t think you have the insight to extract from a single comment. You clearly have zero idea where I’m coming from so try to chill.

I stand by my point that there is no political will among the current elites for meaningful distributional policies.

For the record I am a staunch defender of worker rights in all industries and deeply despise neoliberal economics.

Geez man

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#749

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

dzonga wrote: post #375

Insightful Comment from X - https://xcancel.com/PlumbNick/status/2016500347053773198?s=2... I was an L7, I led global AI enablement. I built systems executives depended on, moved wherever the company needed me and fixed problems that had been sitting untouched because no one else could untangle them. And I was still cut. Here’s the part we’re all supposed to politely ignore: in the U.S. right now, experience isn’t an…

It's strange when upper-middle-class workers finally realize what life has been like for lower-class workers for 40 years

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#750

Post by [deleted] »

coffeemug wrote: post #720
brikym wrote: post #704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to sound like a luddite I'm sure but I'm tried of these analogies using horses, tractors and so on. Labor involving muscles was replaced with tractors but people could just switch to using the other half of their body; The Brain. Now that a lot of the creative tasks and knowledge work is being replaced there isn't anywhere for those people to go. Maybe people with esoteric industry knowledge, vibe-coding sk…

I still don’t understand why people oppose that rather than enthusiastically desire it. The end state you’re describing is the culmination of the enlightenment project. Automating labor is the point! Then you can paint, or play chess, or eat amazing food, or do whatever you want. Work isn’t the end, it’s the means. Products and services is the end. If we can achieve the end via technology, who cares about the work?

[deleted]
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