Wednesday, February 15

Tech Companies Laying Off Workers


The job cuts in tech land are piling up, as companies that led the 10-year bull market adapt to a new reality.


Google announced plans to lay off 12,000 people from its workforce Friday, while Microsoft said Wednesday that it’s letting go of 10,000 employees. Amazon also began a fresh round of job cuts that are expected to eliminate more than 18,000 employees and become the largest workforce reduction in the e-retailer’s 28-year history.

The layoffs come in a period of slowing growth, higher interest rates to battle inflation, and fears of a possible recession next year.

Here are some of the major cuts in the tech industry so far. All numbers are approximations based on filings, public statements and media reports:

Alphabet: 12,000 jobs cut

Google, owned by parent company Alphabet, said Friday it will lay off 12,000 people from its workforce.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, said in an email sent to the company’s staff that the firm will begin making layoffs in the U.S. immediately. In other countries, the process “will take longer due to local laws and practices,” he said. CNBC reported in November that Google employees had been fearing layoffs as its counterparts made cuts and as employees saw changes to the company’s performance ratings system.

Alphabet had largely avoided layoffs until January, when it cut about 240 employees from Verily, its health sciences division.

Microsoft: 10,000 jobs cut

Microsoft is reducing 10,000 workers through March 31 as the software maker braces for slower revenue growth. The company also is taking a $1.2 billion charge.

“I’m confident that Microsoft will emerge from this stronger and more competitive,” CEO Satya Nadella announced in a memo to employees that was posted on the company website Wednesday. Some employees will find out this week if they’re losing their jobs, he wrote.

Amazon: 18,000 jobs cut

Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company was planning to lay off more than 18,000 employees, primarily in its human resources and stores divisions. It came after Amazon said in November it was looking to cut staff, including in its devices and recruiting organizations. CNBC reported at the time that the company was looking to lay off about 10,000 employees.

Amazon went on a hiring spree during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s global workforce swelled to more than 1.6 million by the end of 2021, up from 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019.   READ MORE...

Vegan?


 

Fact Checking


 

To Yourself


 

Economic Impact of Payroll

We live in a wonderous country and we have been given advantages that no other country gives its residents and citizens...   A POWERFUL ECONOMY...


And...  from that powerful economy, we are able to provide:

  • the most powerful military in the world
  • the most powerful economy in the world
  • the best education in the world
  • the best healthcare in the world
  • the best entertainment in the world
  • the best recreation in the world
  • the best retirement in the world
However... the reason why we are able to do all these things is not just because the government collects taxes from us but because of the economic impact of payroll which can be seen as paying $1 into to marketplace to purchase goods and services.


This $1 generates $8-$10 in what is called economic impact...  or about 10 million dollars for every million dollars spent.

For example, I earn a dollar and use that dollar to buy gasoline.  The gas station owner uses that dollar to pay their employees.  Their employees must put their children in day care.  The day care worker uses that dollar to buy groceries and the store that sells the groceries must buy them from farmers who in turn buy supplies for their farm...  etc., etc., etc.

It is all rather amazing when one thinks about it...

So, what happens when employees are laid off from work?

Those dollars are not spent in the economy so the economic impact reduces, tax collection reduces, the purchase of supplies reduces...  and the economy stagnants, does not grow, and maybe declines as well as more and more layoffs are necessary.  Business does not want to spend more money than it has to spend to stay in business.

So, when businesses are faced with higher prices, as a result of inflation for instance, they either raise their prices and lose customers, or layoff workers...  It is all just that simple.


 

Self Awareness


 

Hiding


 

Objective Value


 

Yahoo To Lay Off Workers


Yahoo plans to lay off more than 20% of its total 8,600 workforce as part of a major restructuring.  The veteran tech company is reorganising its advertising unit, which will lose more than half of the department by the end of the year.  Nearly 1,000 employees will be affected by the cuts by the end of the week.

Yahoo is the latest tech firm to announce job losses as firms struggle with a downturn in demand, high inflation and rising interest rates.  "These decisions are never easy, but we believe these changes will simplify and strengthen our advertising business for the long run, while enabling Yahoo to deliver better value to our customers and partners," a spokesperson told the BBC.

Yahoo, which has been owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management since a $5bn buyout in 2021, added that the move would enable the company to narrow its focus and investment on its flagship ad business called DSP, or demand-side platform.

Advertising changes
The layoffs are part of a broader effort by the company to streamline operations in Yahoo's advertising unit.  It comes as many advertisers have pared back their marketing budgets in response to record-high inflation rates and continued uncertainty about a recession.  The re-focus signals an intention by the firm to stop competing directly against the likes of Google and Facebook's Meta for digital advertising dominance.

The Yahoo spokesperson added: "The new division will be called - simply - Yahoo Advertising.  "In redoubling our efforts on the DSP on an omni-channel basis, we will prioritise support for our top global customers and re-launch dedicated ad sales teams towards Yahoo's owned and operated properties - including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports and more."  READ MORE...

Reaalistic Robots - One


 

Tuesday, February 14

They Have Arrived


 

Tons of Cocaine Floating Around in Pacific Ocean


New Zealand authorities have recovered 3.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than $300 million, found floating in the Pacific Ocean and believed to be bound for Australia.  Police said the haul of 81 bales, which was drifting hundreds of kilometres northwest of New Zealand, was recovered in a joint operation with the New Zealand Customs Service and Defence Force acting on intelligence from the Five Eyes alliance, which also includes Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“This is the largest find of illicit drugs by New Zealand’s agencies by some margin,” said Commissioner of New Zealand Police Andrew Coster.  Officials believe the drugs were dropped at a “floating transit point” in the Pacific Ocean where they would have been picked up and taken to Australia.  “We believe it was destined for Australia, where it would have been enough to service the market for one year,” Coster said.  “It is more than New Zealand would use in 30 years.”

A police photo showed the massive haul was bound by netting and covered in yellow floats. Some of the bales had a Batman symbol on them, with the packages of cocaine inside labelled with what appeared to be a print of a four-leaf clover.  Coster described the bust as a “huge result” for police in both New Zealand and Australia.  “There is no doubt this discovery lands a major financial blow right from the South American producers through to the distributors of this product,” he added.  Officials said it was too early to say where the drugs came from.

Sounding Crazy


 

Your Brain


 

Risky Electric


 

Too Little Too Late

What the hell is happening to this country of ours?

This is not a rhetorical question...


The BLM movement that represents no more than 12% of the population is telling our government how to conduct its business.


The Black community BLAMES THE WHITES for everything that goes wrong in the USA including 5 black policemen killing a black man.\


The Democrats want to end the use of pretroleum crude oil pre-maturely without having the proper infrstructure in place to support electric vehicles or the Green Movement.


Our larger cities are hotbeds of crime and violence which seems to be getting worse instead of better.


Our military needs upgrading and our own DOD says they are not sure we could win a conventional war with China.


China says in two years war with the USA is inevitable.


Our Education system is being dumbed down because we don't want to hurt the feelings of those that are not very smart.


China is sending pounds and pounds of fentanyl into the USA...  because people in the USA are willing to buy the illegal drug.


Our southern border is completely open and there is no screening for COVID or the Terrorist Watch List...  what will be the unintended consequence of this madness?


The Democrats weaponized the FBI to go after conservatives and let liberals do what they please.


The Democratic government used TWITTER to censorship the conversative voice in the USA despite our First Amendment Rights.


Hollywood and Professional Sports are doing business with Communist China because of the billion plus people there that they can sell to.


Many of our medicines are made in China and Americans would be in trouble if their economy took a tumble.


SOME FEAR THAT THINGS HAVE GONE TOO FAR ALREADY TO PULL BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE...


In other words, when we finally see that we have made a huge mistake, it will be too late to do anything about it or to reverse course.


In other words, these unintended cosequences are yet to happen...  Unfortunately, unintended consequences ALWAYS HAPPEN...
 

Unlearning


 

Kick the Moon


 

Being Fooled


 

Predicting Erthquakes

An earthquake, in the simplest terms, is when the earth shakes.

Did you know that there are hundreds of earthquakes every single day, not always strong enough for us to notice them? Then there are some massive ones that cause huge damage and loss of life. These terrifying events raise many questions; here are some answers.

Whose ‘fault’ is it when an earthquake happens?

The surface of the Earth is made of kilometres of hard rock broken into a puzzle of moving pieces called tectonic plates, which sit on a sea of hot, liquid rock that rolls as it cools, pushing the plates around. Earthquakes and volcanoes occur on the surface where they meet.

Plates are always technically in motion but are usually locked together, building stress until something underground snaps, freeing them to slide along known lines of fractured rock called faults, that can run for kilometres.

When the pressure suddenly releases and the plate moves, energy explodes into the surrounding rock.


o           To read more, click here...