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Why do people view this with such vile? He's a shareholder, and he's in because he thinks the company will make lots of money. We should decide whether we like

Why do people view this with such vile? He's a shareholder, and he's in because he thinks the company will make lots of money. We should decide whether we like free market capitalism or not. What this guy is doing is very much the core of free market capitalism. He's also not doing something inhumane - it's not about funding new sweatshops or something, it's about not paying extremely high salaries to people if there's no need. I know we're mostly well-paid tech workers here on HN, and I think we're all a bit scared that power balance might change a bit. I get that - but it doesn't make this action that despicable in my opinion. He's just trying to make money, and a public letter to call our the management is just so much better than eg. releasing self-driving cars that cause accidents or even hyping up worthless "currencies" that'll make less informed and vulnerable people poor.

b-team 4y ago
People’s reactions suggest they too believe themselves to be overpaid. The harm to the laid off Googlers is they will not be able to find a job paying anywhere near as much because they are not each adding $300K plus benefits to the value of the company annually.
sofixa 4y ago
> We should decide whether we like free market capitalism or not. Nothing should be treated as absolute. The man considered as one of the fathers of free market capitalism, Adam Smith, directly appeals to humanity and sympathy in his other popular book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Yet for some it's like, either we have full on free market, with child labour, capital having all the power and all, or a command economy. How about a middle ground with a free* market with regulations restricting the worst abuses of the greedy human nature? That's what already exists btw, it just needs more tuning. With more regulations to stop newly found abuses - today it's not child labour, it's pollution of all sorts, or disregard for (near-)slave labour, or optimising for short term profits at any cost.

b-team 4y ago

People’s reactions suggest they too believe themselves to be overpaid. The harm to the laid off Googlers is they will not be able to find a job paying anywhere near as much because they are not each adding $300K plus benefits to the value of the company annually.

sofixa 4y ago

> We should decide whether we like free market capitalism or not. Nothing should be treated as absolute. The man considered as one of the fathers of free market capitalism, Adam Smith, directly appeals to humanity and sympathy in his other popular book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Yet for some it's like, either we have full on free market, with child labour, capital having all the power and all, or a command economy. How about a middle ground with a free* market with regulations restricting the worst abuses of the greedy human nature? That's what already exists btw, it just needs more tuning. With more regulations to stop newly found abuses - today it's not child labour, it's pollution of all sorts, or disregard for (near-)slave labour, or optimising for short term profits at any cost.