Steve StrezaFacebook/Meta laid off 11,000 people and now is doing 40 BILLION in stock buybacks. None of these companies care about cost cutting, they saw an opportunity to suppress wages without any criticism and they took it. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/01/facebook-parent-meta-announces-40-billion-stock-buyback.html
And they say posts don't go viral on Mastodon. (Also I muted it)
Laurent Baumann@stevestreza here I thought I couldn't hate this guy more.
@Lobau never think that about billionaires, they'll often surprise you 😂
Tim Broder@stevestreza it was the same thing with MS. maybe don’t spend 70B on Activision then
Ellen Teapot 🇨🇦🏳️⚧️@stevestreza Obscene. We need to put severe restrictions on stock buybacks in the party platform for next cycle.
mattg@stevestreza @asmallteapot 100% tax on stock buybacks
Dynomoose@stevestreza billionaires aren’t human and don’t deserve to be treated as such.
Zlasha@Dynomoose @stevestreza fuck that. Of course they are human. Just take away the money they have taken from society. Human rights are unconditional. Stop dehumanising humans. fuck that.
Incognitim@zlasha
I 100% get where you're coming from, and wholeheartedly agree. Buuut, I'm *still* not positive about zuck. I'd like to see his Turing Test results first... 😅🤣
https://tenor.com/blpN9.gif
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
I 100% get where you're coming from, and wholeheartedly agree. Buuut, I'm *still* not positive about zuck. I'd like to see his Turing Test results first... 😅🤣
https://tenor.com/blpN9.gif
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg GIF - Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg Robot - Discover & Share GIFs
Click to view the GIF
@Dynomoose @stevestreza @Incognitim yip, he is strange. But who is not and who am I to draw the line which behaviour/spleen allows for being counted as alien. Nobody should do that, because every line is arbitrary.
There are some unconditional human rights that shall never be questions - one of them is to be treated as a human with dignity.
There are some unconditional human rights that shall never be questions - one of them is to be treated as a human with dignity.
@zlasha
There are boundaries/limits when it pertains to dignity, though. If someone is continually punching me in the face, I'm not going to keep politely asking them not to.
So when it comes to someone who chases money, despite other people's misery, then I believe it is incumbent upon us to fight back in a reasonable manner. And as Molly Ivins (a hero of mine) said:
"Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful."
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
There are boundaries/limits when it pertains to dignity, though. If someone is continually punching me in the face, I'm not going to keep politely asking them not to.
So when it comes to someone who chases money, despite other people's misery, then I believe it is incumbent upon us to fight back in a reasonable manner. And as Molly Ivins (a hero of mine) said:
"Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful."
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
Jasmine@zlasha @Dynomoose @stevestreza
They are psychopaths. Yes, they look human but they cannot feel empathy, sympathy, and compassion. I call them creatures. And we must defend ourselves from them.
@MysticaRose @Dynomoose @stevestreza bs, they are human, their behaviour is antisocial and their actions and opinions can be criticised as hard and loud as one can. But don’t even talk about humans being none. It is the beginning of a dark path that history has shown does not end well. When they go low, we go high.
@zlasha @Dynomoose @stevestreza
Humans have sympathy, empathy, and compassion. These people do not. They are LITERALLY killing us right now. Literally killing us.
Read this and if you still don't understand how fucking dangerous these creatures are, I cannot help you.
Mordko@zlasha “taken from society” = earned, at least in the case of FB founders. FB is quite useful to millions of people. @Dynomoose @stevestreza
@stevestreza @Dynomoose @Mordko
Yes, however, it has grown to a degree where it fulfilled a function that could be considered public (information) infrastructure. Profiting from the network and lock-in effects of a centralized information platform is one thing. Using this to earn unethical wealth can be discussed as legitimate or not. With everything we have learned about Cambridge Analytica and the POTUS election 2016, it doesn’t stop at earning money.
Yes, however, it has grown to a degree where it fulfilled a function that could be considered public (information) infrastructure. Profiting from the network and lock-in effects of a centralized information platform is one thing. Using this to earn unethical wealth can be discussed as legitimate or not. With everything we have learned about Cambridge Analytica and the POTUS election 2016, it doesn’t stop at earning money.
@zlasha Cambridge Analytica data scandal was exposed and courts looked into it. We are a civilized society. We have laws. All companies provide public services to make profit. Otherwise they go bankrupt as useless (as Twitter hopefully will). Confiscation is the kind of practice used in uncivilized societies like USSR.
@stevestreza @Dynomoose @Mordko All companies provide public services to make profit, but… infrastructure is a service of a different kind. Compare health infrastructure that is optimised on profit (USA) with one that isn’t (Europe). (Or compare a private railway (UK) with a public one (Germany)). Usually infrastructure’s profit (at least partly) is also a social one. Optimisation on shareholder value comes at a price for social profit.
@zlasha my experience is in Canada (private healthcare banned), UK (both private and NHS) and USSr (public). UK has the best; USSR was the worst. Private absolutely has a role. My US colleagues seem wuite happy. @stevestreza @Dynomoose
@Mordko @Dynomoose @stevestreza What criteria do you use for measuring the quality of the healthcare system? Is it private profit only? Or would you check for total/average coverage of employed or even the minimal coverage for unemployed? This is the point I tried to make. FB optimised their services for private profit. Public interest (i.e. privacy) is ignored - thinking of the Texas antitrust lawsuit allegations against FB and Google wrt msg encryption.
@zlasha my neighbour had breast cancer. Apparently 2 types, 1 needs to be operated on asap. In Ontario 3 months wait for diagnostics. She had to go to US and pay. So paid twice (once via taxes in Canada). And travelling, wasn’t nice under circumstances. My son had similar problem with his knee. Months of waiting just to see specialist. And then rescheduled, meant he had to change flight. Thats my measure.
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
@Mordko @Dynomoose @stevestreza
So your answer is: a healthcare system’s performance is measured by your (familiy’s) individual treatment.
Sure one can say, just ignore all the other‘s that have to wait for that same treatment, cause they don’t have the means - they could have saved some money to prepare for that OR … one could say that the system should be improved for everybody, maybe by reducing the the financial benefit at the favour of a social one.
@zlasha yes, I take stock of personal experience in evaluating system effectiveness, although my neighbour wasn’t “family”. And having lived in 3 countries, I can compare. In general, remote communities in Canada suffer even more from poor healthcare service. Everyone pays taxes but quality of service is a postcode lottery. Its unfair system as well as bad.
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
@Dynomoose @stevestreza
@zlasha @Dynomoose @stevestreza still better healthcare than the socialist USSR though. Taxes generated from profits paid by capitalist economy help to fund far better overall standards than the socialist economy did. And Canadian post code lottery is less unfair than the Soviet socialist system where communists had massive healthcare privileges because it was government run and they represented government.
Greg Maletic@stevestreza To be clear, is your claim that Facebook fired 11,000 employees it needed so that it could achieve the longer-term goal of suppressing wages?
@Gregmaletic They were able to lay off people without criticism because the news spent the last year telling us how in a recession we are, and when you're in a constant state of hearing about tons of layoffs for months, are you going to demand a CoL raise? Are your teammates? Are you as likely to push as hard for a higher salary when applying at the next job?
Meanwhile, the executives have to justify nothing.
@stevestreza I guess it seems unlikely to me that Facebook would lay off 11,000 workers -it needed- just to avoid raises and cost of living increases. 1. Facebook can afford those things 2. Facebook can afford lots of employees to pursue work it thinks will be fruitful.
The more likely reason to me is the standard “layoff” reason: these are workers they -didn’t- need; workers that were engaged in work they deemed less fruitful. (1/2)
@stevestreza That’s not to say they didn’t use the recession talk and other tech company layoffs as an opportunity to lay off their own workers. They did. But I guess I don’t see evidence that rising salaries motivated their actions, more than a traditional rationale: as an opportunity to clean house and defund underperforming projects. (2/2)
BoredomFestival@Gregmaletic @stevestreza in that case, the executives need to answer for their apparently-very-poor planning; they hired way more people than they needed and backed too many dubious projects.
Craig Froehle@stevestreza Last I checked, research was pretty clear that firms that spend excess profits on buybacks instead of throwing it back into the business have lower rates of return on average than companies that invest in their people, systems, networks, and technologies.
Rgen@stevestreza they should increase tax rates for stock buybacks.
Old Man Mike@stevestreza don’t worry, Zuck, just because we’re all cursing the name of slave master Musk doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten you’re a complete fucking cunt as well. You may also go ahead and die.
Swell@stevestreza I left all Zuckerberg businesses in 2016.
johne@stevestreza Complete Fucking Assholes
bobocubedI wish I could boost this a billion times.
Harlem Slim@stevestreza You just now figured out capitalism? If you are under 10, it is forgivable.
Extinction (our fate)@stevestreza Yeah, it's time to deprive FB and Insta and all their friends of oxygen.
Truth Or Consequences ✅ 🇺🇦@stevestreza Don't expect Facebook to turn down Putin's money to throw another election either.
Sir Willington@stevestreza So Zuckerberg is basically this century's Henry Ford?
NotSoSilent@stevestreza what a Dk
Satadru Pramanik@stevestreza @anildash This wouldn't keep happening if the remaining employees (at least those who aren't here on visas) decided to strike in protest...
JoeChipThe capital spigot is being torqued down by the big investment banks. Their not-so-subtle message to corporate America is "Discipline your troops. Make jobs scarce. Drag them back into the office so you can keep an eye on them. If you cooperate we will give you money to buy back shares and pad bonuses."
One Dude. Opinions. All Mine.@stevestreza THIS! RIGHT. FUCKING. HERE.
Layoffs. Stock buyback.
#FuckShareholderValue
#DoWhatsGoodForOurCitizens
Layoffs. Stock buyback.
#FuckShareholderValue
#DoWhatsGoodForOurCitizens
Dream A Little 
@stevestreza And this is why #Mastodon is so much better. Owned by the people.
KanaMauna@stevestreza The jerks are eating their own corn seed. Good luck, keeping the revenue flowing.
H-ear-me-now Singh@stevestreza what’s the etiquette on swearing over at TWiT.social @leo? Because I have a torrent of insults I’m fighting really hard to let loose right now😟
PianosAreNice@stevestreza Facebook had always been 💩
@stevestreza
Layoffs are a part of the modern business cycle. I don’t condone it. Every industry has a moment when it’s inflated and bursts. Considering their massive investments in VR, this is not surprising. They hire exponentially to capitalize on short term gains. Stock buy backs are used to do multiple things —raise share price, reinvest in the business, lower cash, optics. No one wants to sit on too much cash or no invester wants to see a company sitting on cash.
Layoffs are a part of the modern business cycle. I don’t condone it. Every industry has a moment when it’s inflated and bursts. Considering their massive investments in VR, this is not surprising. They hire exponentially to capitalize on short term gains. Stock buy backs are used to do multiple things —raise share price, reinvest in the business, lower cash, optics. No one wants to sit on too much cash or no invester wants to see a company sitting on cash.
@stevestreza stock buy backs are a plague on productive industries
Michela Marie 🇨🇦@stevestreza Maybe they did see an opportunity to push down wages (a cost-saving measure itself), but they doubtless care about cost cutting in general. It contributes to their ability to turn a profit, pay dividends, buy back stock, and raise capital.
I’m much more inclined to believe Meta (or any similarly destructive firm) don’t care about people, rather than believe their aim is to cause harm. That makes much more sense, even though it’s still unethical.
Old Father William@stevestreza aren't wages a huge cost for Meta? That's rhetorical... Obviously they are.
Here is a non-rhetorical question: How does buying back stock help Meta? I honestly don't understand that.
OCasa@stevestreza Big pharma playbook
Twitter Refugee@stevestreza Exactly what my company is doing.
Big bank
Big bank
Miss Canadia
msgbi
aloa5
Jason Yip@stevestreza I’d suspect more share price manipulation than wage suppression.