My core problem with all the layoffs that we’ve been seeing in recent years is that so many people hold on to the perception that these CEOs somehow deserve their compensation. If the company is struggling in some way and needs to realign resources to match their growth strategy – why would you still give your CEO a massive bonus?
Just to have a talking point, look at the CEO that took over at Starbucks in 2024, Brian Niccol, who got something like $5 million dollars for just showing up. He was successful at Chipolte, allegedly, so Starbucks wanted him real bad. And then what happens? Employee buyouts and layoffs. The key to making the company more profitable is simple: get rid of the people.
It’s funny, in a dark comedy sort of way, because it reflects the exact same mentality and attitude that all of the companies were following in the previous decades. The approach then was to outsource the jobs to a cheaper labor country. This still happens today which is why so many of your support calls are being handled in India or Central America. And probably why they’ll be handled by AI in the near future. It’s just cheaper labor increasing profits.
Should we force companies to bring those jobs back and stop firing people? No.
But… maybe, we shouldn’t offer those companies tax breaks or incentives when they engage in this less-than-desirable behavior. If the politicians were really all about making America great (like it somehow wasn’t already) then they should be taking a pretty hard stance against these top companies turning record profits while also canning tons of employees.
Yes, I know, <insert your free market capitalism argument here>.
You might think that I’m against the free market, but I’m not. Capitalism is generally good, it’s done pretty good things for us. Because the market works when it’s not broken and functioning without too much intervention. Whereas socialism? Well, it’s good in small doses but can you really envision adopting it whole scale here and not resulting in corruption and authoritarianism.
Do you trust the people in the government enough to redistribute wealth fairly? I sure don’t. They can barely keep the roads paved and schools functioning. So, no thank you. Also, just look at how much they love these big companies now.
Do you remember not too long ago when the government had to get involved because Microsoft had gotten too big? Guess who they aren’t going after now? Amazon. Microsoft. Disney. Comcast. Berkshire Hathaway. Have you ever looked into how much these companies own and control?
Oh and then those companies start making deals with each other. For example, I have a streaming package right now with Disney, Hulu, and HBO all included. Disney owns Hulu, so sure I get that part, but how the fuck does HBO fit into that picture? It’s owned by Warner Brothers which is probably the single largest competitor to Disney. (Maybe the only real competitor…) And, yet, they’re making backroom deals to bring us consumers this joint package…
I dare you to tell me that we still have a functioning free market. Actually, let’s not venture down that road because we’re still friends, right?
I wonder if Disney is too big to fail. Would the government come in and prop them up, like the banks, if they were going bankrupt? Would Bob Iger still be granted a 7 million dollar bonus? (In 2024, Bob earned benefits worth something like $41 million, by the way.) He’d probably get more, actually, for saving the company in such dire times.
Anyway, I didn’t come here to give concrete answers or facts so I hope you aren’t too disappointed. This is something I think about frequently, these days, and I want more people to think about it. I want us to all be thinking about what’s wrong with this system. I feel like we’re all super focused on issues that, while super important, won’t matter much if we don’t take the time to solve this money problem.
We need to refocus. This is our common ground. Corporate America took away your pensions, they sent your jobs to everywhere but here, they created the AI bubble and are replacing us for profits, and they bought the politicians. The rest of us are getting left behind… so, maybe it’s about time we stop fighting with each other and actually do something about the people behind Corporate America.
– JL