Jeremy Paul CarrollNov 15, 2022
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

This holiday season Twitter fires 4K workers, Amazon fires 10K workers, & Facebook fires 11K workers—all while US Billionaire pandemic wealth increased an absurd $1.7T.😳

A reminder that billionaires don’t create jobs—they exploit workers. Tax billionaires. Unionize workers.

Nov 14, 2022 at 11:27pmMastodon Twitter Crossposter
Show threadMichael Downey 🧢Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Show threadTransparentNov 15, 2022

@downey @QasimRashid One advantage of being a member of the silent generation is ability to remember when unions were strong and our economy and workers were flourishing.

Home ownership was within reach. Good health insurance was the norm because unions chose the plans.& negotiated the amount employers paid toward that. Vacation, sick and other days off were adequate because they were negotiated by unions.

Let go back to those days.

Show threadDerek Caelin 🌱Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid preach!
Show threadDoa ​Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I had the same thought today and I felt sick in my stomach thinking about those who were let go. I understand in the new year we will have economic challenges, but at least wait till after the holidays. Horrible.
Show threadNartyNov 15, 2022

@QasimRashid

#taxbillionsairsoutofexistence

Show threadvoodooNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid taxing billionaires concedes their right to exist and accumulate absurd amounts of wealth in the first place. we need to think bigger
Show thread@Lee_in_IowaNov 15, 2022
@JoelN @QasimRashid I liked Switzerland’s campaign for 13:1 . No executive would be permitted to “earn” more than 13 times what their lowest paid employee was earning. (The resolution didn’t pass, but oh! It should have.)
Show threadstephen ✊ ✪ 🍞 &🌹🌹🌹Nov 16, 2022
@Lee_in_Iowa @JoelN @QasimRashid for any of this we need an organized working class, that means not only forming unions but being a member of one and organizing them to be more progressive just to start
Show threadJadzia, Probably Clever 🏳️‍⚧️Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I'm glad to find you on Mastodon! I followed your campaigns on Twitter and I always appreciated what you shared 👍
Show threadrtnNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I read somewhere that the 10k Amazon is firing is less than 1% of the total global workforce.
Show threadmav Nov 15, 2022

@rtn @QasimRashid It's also like four small towns in Idaho.

Whichever way you spin it, there are 10k less employed people than there were before and, societally, that's something everyone has to deal with.

Show threadTranceNov 15, 2022
@rtn @QasimRashid It's still 10 000 jobless people.
Show threadrtnNov 15, 2022
@Trance @QasimRashid I didn't mean 10k wasn't a lot of people. It was just to indicate how many people he's exploiting.
Show threadMark VandeWettering 📻🔭👾Nov 16, 2022
@rtn @QasimRashid Let's say that's true. So Amazon is reducing their labor expenses by 1% (note even their total expenses). Research shows that engagement and productivity fall among the remaining workforce after layoffs. However bad it is for the workers who are affected, it is unlikely to yield any significant benefit to Amazon as a company, and in fact has a non zero possibility of costing them in the future.
Show threadMarkNov 15, 2022

@QasimRashid

I have seen so many Christmas firings. I understand how inhuman humans in the machine can be. We have ever been.

Read our history. We have ever exploited those we had power over and been exploited by those who had power over us—each at the bottom, middle, or top of that power chain. No matter. We use our nature to ensure our servitude.

Show threadThe ObservantNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I came to the realization that billionaires don’t create jobs awhile ago. They create wealth. I’ve only just realized that people erroneously connect “create wealth” with “create jobs”. Stock dividends are only tenuously related to the number of jobs an empire creates.
Show threadMartins UntalsNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I woder who does create jobs?
Show threadRichard S. Westmoreland  Nov 15, 2022
@martinsuntals @QasimRashid Startups fueled by demand
Show threadTor Iver WilhelmsenNov 15, 2022
@martinsuntals @QasimRashid the need for workers in a business model.
Show threadMartins UntalsNov 15, 2022
@toriver @QasimRashid who creates business model?
Show threadTor Iver WilhelmsenNov 15, 2022
@martinsuntals @QasimRashid a business man. E.g. a poor worker's son who sees a demand for something and starts a business supplying what is demanded.
Show threadVivekaNov 15, 2022

@martinsuntals @QasimRashid

In the end, jobs are created by people who create value, and people who pay for value; and the society around them that makes the cultural and economic context in which all that is possible.

Civilisation creates jobs. Everyone who raises a child, sings a song, plants a seed, rights a wrong, creates civilisation.

Show threadEluDeddiNov 15, 2022
@martinsuntals @QasimRashid
Tye same people who create everything: the workers.
Show threadChristopher Wayne FisherNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid i also propose that the iRS change the tax declaration deadlines for employees, this will stop the end of year layoffs and be penalized for firing in mid year. This is the main reason why they do this around end of year. Change the mid year date to jan 1 and the tax year for large companies at July 1
Show threadChristopher Wayne FisherNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid also fine a 10% penalty on income of companies who do this
Show threadChrisHNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Glad to see you here on Mastodon! 😊
Show threadBrandon C. WilliamsNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Show threadWendy LadyNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid good to see you on the toot site! Here's to more positive interactions and action! ♥️
Show threadsenhaisenhaiNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid That's exaxtlly how capitalism work. Unfortunately communism will not work out either.
Show threadFerran Marlet Nov 15, 2022
@senhaisenhai @QasimRashid please, could you elaborate on that?
Show threadHeather Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Show threadSam WatkinsNov 15, 2022

Eric's reply has nearly five times as many likes as Elon's tweet firing him. That's quite an achievement given that Elon has 1e8 followers, and shows the sway of public opinion on this matter. Elon is committing blunder after idiotic blunder since he foolishly bought Twitter.

https://twitter.com/EricFrohnhoefer/status/1592198356579016704

Eric Frohnhoefer @ 🏡 on Twitter

“🫡”

Twitter
Show thread@Lee_in_IowaNov 15, 2022
@sswam I’ve been thinking it’s the deliberate destruction of the meeting place that has been putting Democratic narratives into the public sphere when 98% of US mass media have been bought up by the oligarchs pushing Republican neo-feudalism as the only proper means of governance.

Elon + Saudis = oligarchy.
Show threadSam WatkinsNov 15, 2022
@Lee_in_Iowa maybe, but it's a pretty expensive way to move people to a different, more resilient meeting place. Hard to believe it would be worth that much to him. He could just let the right-wingers troll everyone, without having to burn down the company. Hanlon's razor tells me there's no conspiracy, he's just behaving stupidly.
Show threadNicolas PettiauxNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid evident
Show threadNicolas PettiauxNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid shocking
Show threadLathamTeamNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I am surprised by your position on this issue , as an attorney.
Show threadRickyNov 15, 2022
@LathamTeam @QasimRashid Why? Plenty of attorneys represent that side.
Show threadHerr Dan TreebNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Entrepreneurship ≠ Capitalism
Show threadjoweNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Show threadTor Iver WilhelmsenNov 15, 2022

@QasimRashid Yes, I wish people understood that:

1) There is no trickle down only trickle up - that is how the rich become rich in the first place.

2) No company exists to produce "jobs", workers are just a factor in the production of goods and services. Jobs are an expense to a business, and they want to minimize expenses, including jobs.

Show threadGrahamCGlynnNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Well said!
Show threadTranceNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Absolutely...
Show threadDavid FieldNov 15, 2022

It’s a nitpicking semantic however you contradicted yourself..

A reminder that billionaires don’t create jobs

In order to fire 25k people those billionaires had to creat jobs to start with, you can’t fire someone you don’t employ.

I’d suggest that the point is there were not sustainable jobs and from what I understand specifically about US employment law they were probably working under the requisite number of hours to get compensated for the loss of a job.

All this while said billionaires are getting richer.

Which leads me to a follow up question.

If I had a business idea, and after hard work, personal time and investment it became popular enough to start making me and my shareholders money.. at what point should I stop making money because society thinks it’s too much?

I mean, the point of running your own business, putting in the work, growing it and providing a popular service isn’t always altruism. It’s making money so you can provide you and your family a better life..

Any growth economy needs people starting businesses and being successful, employing people. If a percentage of people doing that are money motivated and stop starting businesses for being put down for success, why bother in the first place?

If you’ve got as far as here and are not fuming then fair play to you.

I don’t disagree with the sentiment of the post, however this is a sustainability issue specific to the boom and bust cycles in the tech sector and not a let’s take pitchforks to the billionaires home issue.

If we (not they) want change then surely that’s what needs changing?

Show threadSueNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Well said. Sadly many of the 1% of multimillionaires take advantage of the 99% of the population. Bit worrying then that our current 🇬🇧 cabinet seem to display that tendency
#GTTO
#WindfallTax
Show threadAbdalla ALINov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid it's just shows their true color. They just don't want to sacrifice a dent or even share
Show threadTheraPNov 15, 2022

@QasimRashid

Paying taxes - your fair share of them, based on total assets, not just income - should be a signal mark of Patriotism!

Corporations and extreme wealth should carry a patriotic responsibility to pay taxes. They should prove that. We should insist on it.

Show threadPeteNov 15, 2022
@TheraP @QasimRashid That wouldn’t be right. Railroads, electric companies, farmers, etc. have a lot of assets but relatively low income. You’d drive all the farmers out of business.
Show threadMaia KB ChowdhuryNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Reminds me to be appreciative of when I do create a job for someone. It can be a small job, like hiring an editor (ok, that is a big job), or someone to help with something I’m not so handy at. We all help to generate income for others. Thanks for the reminder to feel good about spending money on hiring others to help. 🙏
Show threadScott Hasler 🌞Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid I wish I could re-toot this many times.
Show threadsmallerdemonNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid And let's not forget, Amazon is literally worry about having literal human beings to work at their distribution centers because they cycle through workers so fast in vulnerable communities that they are worried about having cycled through ENTIRE communities.
Show threadkholerik (they/them)Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Every billionaire is a failure of society.
Show threadAhdryNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid also avoid buying from the big companies so they do not get too much power. Buy local and support small businesses.
Show threadPeteNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid Companies are usually struggling to ADD workers this time of year. What’s going on? Maybe Facebook, OK, but AMAZON?
Show threadAugust BayneNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid, u know who creates jobs? Fired techies with nothing better to do after a lay-off.
Show threadFaye McadamyNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Show threadPalinNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
It's going to bite the muskrat!
Show threadAndrew Kemendo 🗑️Nov 15, 2022

@QasimRashid

But but...they just over-hired

All they are doing is "correcting" their misstep - of course capital never pays the price right?

Show threadKim Wulff On MastoDonNov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid
Thy should pay 25 % i tax.
Show threadMuchnessB Nov 15, 2022
@QasimRashid my main issue with seeing taxes as the cure is the failure to acknowledge that they won’t pay them. Anything we institute will not reach them it will stop others from getting there but do nothing to those already there. They have people to navigate the loopholes. While great in theory, “tax the rich” means “tax the upper middle class” you’re punishing your dentist, not Bezos. We can’t fix anything by continuing to use the practices that led us here.