this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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[–] [email protected] 89 points 6 days ago (3 children)

It’s pretty clear that billionaire owners of publicly traded companies will do whatever is needed to continue the “number goes up” philosophy of American capitalism. It’s the rot that underlies the whole economy. This isn’t to excuse Zuckerberg but this is America as a whole. The need to increase profits takes priority over bucking fascism, pulling back on vitriolic public discourse, stuffing hyped AI products into every crevice of tech, and pursuing monopolistic business practices. It’s all baked in. And it makes everything worse. No one is attempting to address which is why America is absolutely doomed to collapse. No one is willing to even have the conversation about corporate control/influence of government as well as the philosophy of delivering shareholder value.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I wish we had some sort of way to incentivize dividend payouts, not just massive growth and stock numbers that go up.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

Incentivizing dividend payments are the same problem. They will want to make them bigger every quarter.

Its just line goes up in a different form.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

"...but this is billionaires, and American corporations as a whole. " FTFY. I'm not a corporation, and neither are you.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

We participate in it with stock purchases. We voted for politicians that have systematically broken down American society this way.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Have you ever considered using what few measely dollars you have in support of local businesses, and people? Microloans? Stuff like that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

smae. I guess we'll never be billionaires, nor corporations. And that's ok.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tech companies used to think that they were only limited by their ability to hire talented people. They went crazy competing for talent. That has changed. Obviously they no longer consider talent to be vital. Their businesses are more mature now and have network effects and lock-in. It’s kind of inevitable that tech companies would eventually reach that point. But I think it’s only true for the largest companies. Big tech souring on its employees is probably great news for a huge galaxy of small and midsize companies who’ve had no hope of attracting top talent for many years now. It really was impossible to compete with the pay, perks, and developer experience at a place like Meta. And that’s too bad because there are software business opportunities everywhere, still. Maybe this will be a good thing in the long run.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I don't think they're mature. I think they're just monopolized to the point where they don't need to innovate at all. And I don't see this as a net positive because these companies are so gigantic that they will drive down salaries and benefits for the rest of the middle sized and smaller sized companies. The other problem is that any company that gets this big now has the purchasing power to eliminate competition further cornering the talent pool and the tech market. These guys are the new oil barons of our time and their oil is our data. Not sure how to see this as anything but negative.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

don't think they're mature. I think they're just monopolized to the point where they don't need to innovate at all.

That’s exactly what I meant by “network effects and lock in.” You don’t achieve this without your business maturing, though I am not sure what you think of when you hear that word.

any company that gets this big now has the purchasing power to eliminate competition further cornering the talent pool and the tech market

This is what’s been going on for years already. Google used to hire people they didn’t even know what to do with simply because they could and would hinder comoetition. It’s hell trying to hire as a tier 2 company or small startup only to see everyone get offers for 3x from Google or Meta.

Their clear anti-staff sentiments now signal that this mad rush to acquire talent probably won’t continue as it’s been.

If demand from huge companies like Google and Meta slackens, that could lead to smaller companies offering less, but there’s a huge gap between the two right now. We’re taking about Meta outbidding by 2x going forward instead of 3x.

Not sure how to see this as anything but negative.

I’m getting that. And most people on here just think everything around tech is negative, negative, negative. Most who think this are on the outside looking in. I’ve been on the inside for 20 years, competing for hires with the likes of Meta and Google, and I think there might be at least one bright spot in their insane hiring slackening a bit.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Just a reminder that a number of fb employees used to clamor on about how progressive fb was. Now let’s see how many of them stick around for fear of losing their high paying jobs.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

At this point just look for a company that either still has DEI or explicitly asserted its place in the org. Besides kowtowing to the new admin they're painting a target on their back so they're probably not doing it out of laziness.

[–] funkless_eck 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I dont fault that really, saying good things when a company does good things is fairly normal, as is working for a company that doesnt do good things but you've got to have a job.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I think having fb on your resume would likely land you another job pretty easily. The point is, when it comes to making personal sacrifices, they aren't willing to stand up for what's right even if that's what they espouse publicly. Also, fb has been a bad actor for some time now, dating all the way back to 2008. Or at the very least, they weren't doing anything about misinformation that flooded the platform during that time and since.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 6 days ago (3 children)

How can one person be THIS slimy? The rest of'em are awful, with Musk leading the charge, but this guy's just disgusting... He reminds me of that one Rick and Morty episode with the Jerry Slug...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Imagine continuing to be married to that gigantic piece of nazi shit.

[–] otto 16 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It isn’t just one person. That’s kind of how this works. When one extraordinarily slimy shitty person starts grabbing power, it encourages a lot of other people to become worse than they are by giving into their base impulses and desires, fearing no consequence. Being a piece of shit is an infectious disease in a very real sense.

It reminds me of religious people who asked me, an atheist, if you don’t believe in hell, then what stops you from committing crimes and murdering people? Well, I say to them, I’m just a decent person who understands the difference between right and wrong, and how my actions, especially selfish actions, can negatively affect people around me. I also possess the empathy required to feel bad when people around me are hurt by my actions.

These people don’t ask those questions, and they were morally dubious in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I love that people think he is a genius.

He blew ~$40 billion on a shitty VR project that nobody uses.

[–] justgohomealready 0 points 6 days ago

Come on. VR may not be mainstream, but there are millions of Meta Quest devices out there and a lot of people do use VR for gaming, exercise or training.

[–] fruitycoder 31 points 6 days ago

"You got to go and join the union. No one else can do it for you."

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago

Zuck's eyes always look like they were cut out of his original body and hastily glued into his current one...

Also, fuck him and Meta for this bullshit. Greedy cowards.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

He never had any morals. Don't expect too much from him