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Two points in rebuttal. First, companies can expand more confidently if they know they can reduce more easily if they need to. It is more efficient for companie

Two points in rebuttal. First, companies can expand more confidently if they know they can reduce more easily if they need to. It is more efficient for companies to be able to right-size themselves. Bolstering this point of view is that the USA has a 4% unemployment rate, which is about as low as you can get without things starting to break down. The US economy has been outperforming almost everyone too, creating more prosperity for more people, compared to countries with more restrictive controls over employment. Second, specific to SpaceX, they actually succeeded in making reusable rockets. They used to need to build a new rocket for every launch. Then they needed to build their reusable fleet up. Now they don’t need to build hardly any rockets. I think this is what success looks like for them right now. From this point of view a 10% reduction is pretty low, and is only so low because they still have even bigger plans.

the8472 8y ago
> Bolstering this point of view is that the USA has a 4% unemployment rate As a counterpoint, Germany has much stronger employee protection laws and unions and has a comparable unemployment rate. That said, resizing is still possible there, it just has some lag.
- Cardinal_ 8y ago
  Kinda off topic but job protection in Germany is such a joke it's almost fake news. Got terminated recently after 12 months for no reason, filed for unfair dismissal, won the case. 3000 eur is what I got (lawyer fees 1500). You can be fired for very little cost, it's dangerous to think you're protected.
  - JanSt 8y ago
    The longer you are with your employer, the longer the protection. You should also receive Arbeitslosengeld I for at least 6 months (longer if you would‘ve been employed longer) and unlimited time of Arbeitslosengeld II (I think you would qualify), so you won‘t be homeless, freeze, lose your health insurance nor hunger, because it‘s all payed for by social security.
    - Cardinal_ 8y ago
      True but this is more social protection rather than job protection. As for severance pay in Germany, law is half a month salary per year...
  - ascar 8y ago
    My aunt got laid off after ~40 years of employment, which meant a welcomed bit early retirement for her and a multiple year salary severance pay. My mom got laid off after a bit over 15 years of employment and got about 2 years salary as severance pay. On top of that stuff like healthinsurance isn't a "benefit", but a social security and taken care of even in unemployment.
- amayne 8y ago
  Germany counts its non-labor workforce very differently than the US. It’s hard to make a comparison (people over 58 aren’t counted, etc.) I don’t know if it’s better or worse, just different. https://www.dw.com/en/debunking-the-myth-of-low-german-unemployment/a-42025200 https://www.dw.com/en/debunking-the-myth-of-low-german-unemp...
russellbeattie 8y ago
That 4% number is complete crap, and you know it. Even if it was accurate, which it isn't, 48% of the U.S. earn less than $30k a year [1] with few benefits. Corporations need to be flexible, but they also need to provide stable long-term employment so our society can grow and prosper. When Henry Ford launched the Model T, he made sure to pay his workers $5 a day so they could actually afford to buy the cars. It was an ethical choice as much as a business decision. Would SpaceX run out of money without cutting that 10%? Very doubtful, so why do it? Because MBAs decided that's what needed to be done based on today's morally bankrupt standard for running a business. It's sad, really, that a company with such incredible vision of the future such as SpaceX can still be so short sighted when it comes to social responsibility. 1. https://howmuch.net/articles/how-much-americans-make-in-wages https://howmuch.net/articles/how-much-americans-make-in-wage...
- aristophenes 8y ago
  My comments had nothing to do with a minimum wage discussion, and I doubt SpaceX employs people for even near to minimum wage. This is a company that creates rather high wage jobs. It is also doing very risky things. If the USA had stricter rules about employment protection and all that came with it, Spacex would not exist at all, and the 90% of well paid employees that remain wouldn’t have gotten these jobs. The ability for companies to take big risks is what pushes the economy forward so that we can all have better lives for a reduced cost, and better jobs too. To “protect” jobs you would hold us all back, we’d still all be working on farms or in factories instead of on computers, increasingly from home. Is that what you want? Why are people rioting in France? Maybe because they feel poorer than their parents. Their laws protecting jobs have removed opportunity from everyone in order to provide stability for some.
  - akiselev 8y ago
    France is rioting because those protections allow them to not because they are slowing down economic growth. France has a culture of rioting and civil disobedience in part because those protections give people enough breathing room to be involved in politics. Have you ever been to Alabama? Mississippi? Florida outside of the metro areas? They're equivalent to third world countries with infrastructure held together by duct tape and spit. Every time I drive through those states, I feel like I'm in some edgy anarchist's student film about late stage capitalism. Those areas should have been rioting for decades now but US economics is set up in such a way as to deprive the constituency from any practical way of getting involved.
pas 8y ago
The economic performance and prosperity creation might not be that directly linked. GDP is not a good measure for prosperity of individuals (households). Sure, better than nothing, but there are a lot better ones available. Such as the AHDI - adjusted household disposable income.

the8472 8y ago

> Bolstering this point of view is that the USA has a 4% unemployment rate As a counterpoint, Germany has much stronger employee protection laws and unions and has a comparable unemployment rate. That said, resizing is still possible there, it just has some lag.

Cardinal_ 8y ago
Kinda off topic but job protection in Germany is such a joke it's almost fake news. Got terminated recently after 12 months for no reason, filed for unfair dismissal, won the case. 3000 eur is what I got (lawyer fees 1500). You can be fired for very little cost, it's dangerous to think you're protected.
- JanSt 8y ago
  The longer you are with your employer, the longer the protection. You should also receive Arbeitslosengeld I for at least 6 months (longer if you would‘ve been employed longer) and unlimited time of Arbeitslosengeld II (I think you would qualify), so you won‘t be homeless, freeze, lose your health insurance nor hunger, because it‘s all payed for by social security.
  - Cardinal_ 8y ago
    True but this is more social protection rather than job protection. As for severance pay in Germany, law is half a month salary per year...
- ascar 8y ago
  My aunt got laid off after ~40 years of employment, which meant a welcomed bit early retirement for her and a multiple year salary severance pay. My mom got laid off after a bit over 15 years of employment and got about 2 years salary as severance pay. On top of that stuff like healthinsurance isn't a "benefit", but a social security and taken care of even in unemployment.
amayne 8y ago
Germany counts its non-labor workforce very differently than the US. It’s hard to make a comparison (people over 58 aren’t counted, etc.) I don’t know if it’s better or worse, just different. https://www.dw.com/en/debunking-the-myth-of-low-german-unemployment/a-42025200 https://www.dw.com/en/debunking-the-myth-of-low-german-unemp...

russellbeattie 8y ago

That 4% number is complete crap, and you know it. Even if it was accurate, which it isn't, 48% of the U.S. earn less than $30k a year [1] with few benefits. Corporations need to be flexible, but they also need to provide stable long-term employment so our society can grow and prosper. When Henry Ford launched the Model T, he made sure to pay his workers $5 a day so they could actually afford to buy the cars. It was an ethical choice as much as a business decision. Would SpaceX run out of money without cutting that 10%? Very doubtful, so why do it? Because MBAs decided that's what needed to be done based on today's morally bankrupt standard for running a business. It's sad, really, that a company with such incredible vision of the future such as SpaceX can still be so short sighted when it comes to social responsibility. 1. https://howmuch.net/articles/how-much-americans-make-in-wages https://howmuch.net/articles/how-much-americans-make-in-wage...

aristophenes 8y ago
My comments had nothing to do with a minimum wage discussion, and I doubt SpaceX employs people for even near to minimum wage. This is a company that creates rather high wage jobs. It is also doing very risky things. If the USA had stricter rules about employment protection and all that came with it, Spacex would not exist at all, and the 90% of well paid employees that remain wouldn’t have gotten these jobs. The ability for companies to take big risks is what pushes the economy forward so that we can all have better lives for a reduced cost, and better jobs too. To “protect” jobs you would hold us all back, we’d still all be working on farms or in factories instead of on computers, increasingly from home. Is that what you want? Why are people rioting in France? Maybe because they feel poorer than their parents. Their laws protecting jobs have removed opportunity from everyone in order to provide stability for some.
- akiselev 8y ago
  France is rioting because those protections allow them to not because they are slowing down economic growth. France has a culture of rioting and civil disobedience in part because those protections give people enough breathing room to be involved in politics. Have you ever been to Alabama? Mississippi? Florida outside of the metro areas? They're equivalent to third world countries with infrastructure held together by duct tape and spit. Every time I drive through those states, I feel like I'm in some edgy anarchist's student film about late stage capitalism. Those areas should have been rioting for decades now but US economics is set up in such a way as to deprive the constituency from any practical way of getting involved.

pas 8y ago

The economic performance and prosperity creation might not be that directly linked. GDP is not a good measure for prosperity of individuals (households). Sure, better than nothing, but there are a lot better ones available. Such as the AHDI - adjusted household disposable income.