221–230 of 254 posts
I would expect that a global reduction in shipping traffic would mean needing fewer of these people internally; so I suspect that's the bulk of the 20% reduction group.
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Amazon and Meta are at 0 risk of running out of money. They make billions in profits. Smaller companies that are still not generating profits? Absolutely they need cuts to survive. Both of these things are true at the same time. I’m continually surprised at how quickly people have bought the excuse trotted out by extremely profitable companies for mass layoffs. In that situation it is primarily an exercise in juicing…
> Amazon and Meta are at 0 risk of running out of money. They make billions in profits. Companies don’t try to break even, they try to make money because higher ROI means you’re more valuable.
Already seeing startups out of funding and not able to raise more being given away to companies that can assume the payroll and running costs. We've had 5 such approaches in the past 6 weeks of which 2 we have taken over. It is going to get very very bad inside the next 6 months. We're still in the pre-swell phase before the tidal wave hits.
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>As far as I can tell, layoffs seem concentrated among high-earning folks - I can definitely see how anyone browsing HN would think we're headed straight for a recession. But it seems like overall, and especially in lower-wage jobs, employment is still humming along and people are very much not getting laid off. Shit rolls downhill. We'll see how well the service economy holds up when their client base has been out o…
Are tech workers really the basis of the service economy? And even if so, will they remain so if lower wage earners, of which there are quite a lot more, start earning relatively more?
In Seattle and the SFBA, yes.
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The roles fired and not the same as the roles hiring, for the most part.
The way the article is written is a reorganisation almost, normally you are supposed to let your workers move into other roles, if they are willing. Not the same as reduction in force.
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> My understanding is that the fed is leaning into this particularly hard in order to dislodge the stubborn housing bubble. They are trying to reduce inflation. The housing bubble certainly played a part, but inflation was hitting nearly everything. A big concern here, is that many smart people think a fair bit of that inflation was due to COVID related supply chain disruptions (which still persist, see China and COV…
To visualize how much of an outlier this "recession" already is, just look at bond vs stock returns since 1871: https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2022-12/50a56fbc-65fc-4... 2022 was the worst performing year ever for bonds and among the worst-10 for stocks -- we've never been this deep in the "negative returns across sectors" quadrant as we are right now, and there's no clear indication or catalyst to suggest we'r…
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The FED is currently raising rates to fight inflation. One of the FED's main goals is slowing down demand, as policymakers can't control supply. So, to fight that elevated inflation they are killing demand, and when demand sharply drops, you can't keep paying your workers as before (because you sell less goods!). Moreover, companies simply got fat during the pandemic and over hired. I mean, there are probably also a…
Another impact of rising rates and declining demand is decreased credit lines and increased costs. The world, particularly business in the US, really did get used to cheap borrowing for everything. Using a line of credit for everything or acquiring massive amounts of easy to service debt has been basically a standard business practice for the last 20 years. I am actually surprised things haven't imploded yet. So many…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I can tell, layoffs seem concentrated among high-earning folks - I can definitely see how anyone browsing HN would think we're headed straight for a recession. But it seems like overall, and especially in lower-wage jobs, employment is still humming along and people are very much not getting laid off. That actually really gives me hope for a soft landing - those high-wage folks are much less likely to have…
This is a good point that I had not previously considered. Inflation has been pretty stubborn. I assume some of that is coming from supply chain issues, but some of it also could be due to higher-earning households not being as price sensitive as they would have been in previous eras. i.e. a Google engineer is not going to really notice or care that milk is 50% more expensive. They might not even notice or care that…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a good point that I had not previously considered. Inflation has been pretty stubborn. I assume some of that is coming from supply chain issues, but some of it also could be due to higher-earning households not being as price sensitive as they would have been in previous eras. i.e. a Google engineer is not going to really notice or care that milk is 50% more expensive. They might not even notice or care that…
Inflation mostly caused from extreme money printing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The FED is currently raising rates to fight inflation. One of the FED's main goals is slowing down demand, as policymakers can't control supply. So, to fight that elevated inflation they are killing demand, and when demand sharply drops, you can't keep paying your workers as before (because you sell less goods!). Moreover, companies simply got fat during the pandemic and over hired. I mean, there are probably also a…
Another impact of rising rates and declining demand is decreased credit lines and increased costs. The world, particularly business in the US, really did get used to cheap borrowing for everything. Using a line of credit for everything or acquiring massive amounts of easy to service debt has been basically a standard business practice for the last 20 years. I am actually surprised things haven't imploded yet. So many…
Companies are screwed. Big companies might get bail out, or not. Governments, especially big ones like Italy, will probably get a bail out and break the stupid system once and for all.
It’s not that the system does not work, but it’s getting abused left and right by people who think they know shit about economics.