Jim PresleyNov 22, 2022
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

The week before Thanksgiving Twitter fires 4K workers, Amazon fires 10K workers, Facebook fires 11K workers, and Disney plans thousands of layoffs—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 22, 2022 at 12:47amMastodon for iOS
Show threadAbbyNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Hello. I loved writing your stuff over on twitter. I find it also kind of sad that you know basically use a european alternative because the US equivelent just becomes more and more toxic.
Social Media can work fairly without big companies. Let's show them.
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Nov 22, 2022
@commandelicious thanks. I’m still on Twitter. But yeah helpful to build human rights advocacy on multiple platforms.
Show threadIra GhoshNov 22, 2022
@commandelicious @QasimRashid Agree with you
Show threaddouglass houghtonNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid
Show threadKaroline Nov 22, 2022

@QasimRashid eat the rich!!

#Unionize

Show threadPatricia LavataiNov 22, 2022
@spelled_with_a_k @QasimRashid
No. They taste awful 🤢
Show threadKaroline Nov 22, 2022
@PJLavatai @QasimRashid 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Show threadDon't Squish My SqueeNov 22, 2022
@PJLavatai @spelled_with_a_k @QasimRashid
Compost the rich!
Show threadPatricia LavataiNov 22, 2022
@akashicbunny @spelled_with_a_k @QasimRashid 😆
Show threadKaroline Nov 22, 2022
@akashicbunny @PJLavatai @QasimRashid even better! 😆
Show threadKaren E. Lund 💙💛Nov 24, 2022
@akashicbunny @PJLavatai @spelled_with_a_k @QasimRashid Yes. They're full of... well, the polite word is manure, which composts well.
Show threadKaroline Nov 24, 2022
@Karen5Lund @akashicbunny @PJLavatai @QasimRashid 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Show threadRabbiAdar 🏳️‍🌈Nov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Billionaires are carbuncles on humanity's behind.
Show threadLuis Nov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid I don't know if it's a cycle or a devolution to greed but American companies weren't always so greedy & investor focused, firing thousands and thousands of workers because a few managers mismanaged a company or division. I've not treated people like this when I ran small businesses, but I've certainly endured under lousy & shortsighted managers whose singular focus are only profit as opposed to a wiser focus of winning customers.
Maybe America's golden age is done?
Show threadThomas A. Jones IIINov 22, 2022

@twentyninedollars

Before there were modern corporations, there was slavery, the genocide of indigenous peoples and the wholesale looting of natural resources.

Capitalists have always been like this. They just use modern methods, now.

Show threadDarBeniciaNov 22, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid the focus on short-term investor profits began in the late 1970s and got strong in the 1980s as most US politicians advocated neoliberal economic philosophy. A belief that humans were valuable primarily as consumers. And that corporations were more important political entities.
Show threadDrCatNov 22, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid Companies learned over the past few crises that laying off people in large groups creates artificial scarcity in the job market which is good for profit.
Show threadRead A Book 📚 Be Happy 😊Nov 22, 2022

@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid that's not true. I survived a layoff of about 50,000 people, and many more over the years.

https://money.cnn.com/1998/12/01/companies/boeing/

Boeing cuts 20,000 more jobs - Dec. 1, 1998

Aerospace giant Boeing Co. Tuesday said it plans to cut 48,000 jobs during the next two years as part of a large-scale plan to cut airplane production in the face of the Asian financial crisis.

Show threadReidoNov 22, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid Oh, it's done, alright. We are going up in flames, but it's happening so slowly it's easy to ignore. Trump's election is the only proof we need, though there are many other things one could point to.
Show threadNot Just Any WilltorNov 22, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid It's a function of the power of capital. It was extreme in this way in the late 1800's. The better, less shortsighted world came about because of strong, far-left labor unions and powerful socialist and communist organizations. With their decline, the conditions are returning.
Show threadTidbitNov 22, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid they were in fact always greedy
Show thread🧙‍♂️ Julian Invictus ☕Nov 22, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid it was entirely fabricated.
Show threadTy RossNov 23, 2022
@twentyninedollars @QasimRashid if this continues, it absolutely is done. There isn’t investment in employees, as long term contributors to the business anymore. Disposable. Mangers and executives with no experience in that industry, or what it’s like to work up the ranks. Poor management has always been the death knell to even thriving businesses.
Show threadVAWeismanNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid THIS. 1,000,000 times this!!!
Show threadMore Or LesNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid ✊️✊️
Show threadJason B 🧙‍♂️Nov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid #billionairessuck
Show threadRobot PoetNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Every word of this.
Show threadTengrainNov 22, 2022

@QasimRashid

Every billionaire is proof that our tax policies are failing us.

Show threaddocNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid I am a bit worried about the 1.7 T number. That was quoted over a year ago and I am scared it is way more that 1.7 now. Is anyone keeping track of the current figure? We need to keep the spotlight on the important stuff, not the distractions.
Show threadSteve BrecherNov 22, 2022
@dougreidphd @QasimRashid I'd bet that there's a strong correlation of "Billionaire wealth" with the movement of publicly-traded stocks, e.g., the S&P 500 index.
Show threadSteve BrecherNov 22, 2022

@dougreidphd @QasimRashid commondreams.org, May 5, 2022: "On March 18, 2020, at the beginning of the formal lockdown, U.S. billionaires held a combined $2.947 trillion. On May 4, 2022, as the U.S. crossed the 1 million death mark, according to an analysis by NBC, 727 U.S. billionaires were worth

$1.71 trillion

more, according to Forbes."

Mar. 18, 2020 was 1 day after the CoViD panic low in the S&P 500. From there to May 4, 2022, the index was up 72%. The U.S. billionaires were up "only" 58%

Show threadJon WebbNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid imagine if Twitter had been unionized. Probably Elon wouldn't have bought it, but if he did, there wouldn't have been mass chaotic layoffs and loyalty oaths. The company wouldn't be teetering on collapse. We'd all be better off.
Show threadSylvainNov 22, 2022

@jonawebb @QasimRashid would we really be better off?

I mean, thousands would've probably kept their jobs... but the cesspool of alt-right bigotry that Twitter has become would still be thriving.

Would we really be better off?

Show threadJon WebbNov 22, 2022
@axnxcamr @QasimRashid Twitter isn't only that. It's also a crowd-sourced early warning system for disasters, outlet for writers etc to gain an audience, many useful things
Show threadSylvainNov 22, 2022
@jonawebb @QasimRashid Of course, it is also those things, you are right.
Show threadKrystleNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Disney is doing lay offs also?! That’s awful. No concern for the fact that it’s the holidays. Corporations are monsters. They did this in 2008 also. They did mass layoffs in December right before Christmas
Show threadThomas A. Jones IIINov 22, 2022

@QasimRashid

Shutting down this sort of talk was a major motivation for Musk to buy & control Twitter.

Fortunately, he can't buy Mastodon.

Show threadMarNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Layoffs are horrible, especially at this scale. But I live in a country where workers were forced to unionize. And exploited by communists, not billionaires. It just did not work and never will.
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Nov 22, 2022
@Marr so the solution is moderation and worker empowerment, not force in either direction.
Show threadClelandMccolganNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid @Marr Yes, it's the moderation and wisdom bits that we are vastly lacking.
Show threadMarNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid If people want something, there is no need to force them. Especially in democratic countries. There are plenty of possibilities to unionize in the USA.
Show threadPoochNov 22, 2022
@Marr @QasimRashid it’s starts with rejecting the Laffer curve, as it’s been proven to be fiction, followed by progressive taxes and respect for a burgeoning middle class. That may or may not include unions as corruption led many unions to forget about representing their workers. In my opinion, the US need to reign in the definition of part time labor. Balance!
Show threadThom PintelloNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid
You know that part of “Blazing Saddles” where Frau Blucher screams “Yes, yes, YES!” That’s what I did when I saw this post.
Show threadBobNov 22, 2022
@thompintello @QasimRashid Young Frankenstein?
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Nov 22, 2022
@thompintello ❤️✊🏽
Show threadcslinuxboyNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid I agree with the former.
Show threadDark JCNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid I believe in both BUT there needs to be oversight in regards to union hiring practices. As somebody who took 5-10 NYC union exams in my 20s, only to never get a call back, an email/letter or my test scores. I know the nepotism is rampant. They hire their kids and family. Not the people who score well and have experience. Example: Iron Workers had about 5k applicants everyday for 8 days. They charged applicants a $25 application fee. About $1 Million.
Show threadDark JCNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid I aced the tests. Rented hotel rooms to be in the head of the line. Watched as the kids with the right last name came late and unprepared. Even had a kid cheat off my test and get right in. Nepotism is a detriment to the union and work they do. It puts people in danger and costs the city tons of money. That is a subject I never see discussed and should be.
Show threadAngryArtistNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid yet companies that engage in true profit sharing or are employee owned aren't breaking profits records, but are continuing with steady profits and no major layoffs and continuing to grow at a slow, but steady rate.
Show threadBoiglenoightNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid #corporations are #sociopaths. At the end of the day, exploiting employees makes sense for them. #Unions blunt this and should be a requirement for any company behold a certain staff threshold to formally engage with one as part of their HR operation.
Show threadcraigwesleysfNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Posted this earlier today. I didn't graph this originally, saw it in some academic paper and plotted it myself afterwards. Wealth Held by bottom 90th percentile vs Ten Year US Interest Rates.
Show threadDan ShieldsNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid $100M wealth cap and 1956 marginal tax rates, adjusted for inflation.
Show threadCourtney RadschNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Couldn't agree more. The problematic impunity of billionaires is a recurring issue that the Twitter drama underscores perfectly
Show threadtom4okstateNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid The next time you hear someone wanking it to our sainted job creators remember, salary and wages are an accrued expense just like other expenses appearing a balance sheet such as interest, taxes, rent and utilities. They don't have any incentive to "create" those expenses anymore than they do any other expense. They have every incentive to reduce them and maximize net income and ultimately shareholder equity.
Show threadstevetheboxerNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid Thanks for the important observation. Like many others, I have left Twitter behind. As I spend more time here, I am enjoying Mastodon more.
Show threadsitnuokNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid darn right sir
Show threadmigoNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid
it seems so simple...
why is it so hard?
we are constantly pitted against each other.
Show threadDanNov 22, 2022
@QasimRashid
I was thinking about this a few days ago. Why are cash rich companies that are raking in record profits, many of which also took advantage of government money to subsidize stock buybacks, are now letting go of workers just as the stock market starts to tumble on recession worries. Somehow I don't think it's because they lack the capital to build through a recession. Rather, they're looking to boost profits in order to hit 4th quarter numbers for those bonuses and stock options...