4 ms·

I'm not sure how much of it is actually AI vs just like, the bags of VC money have dried up and most tech companies can't anywhere near justify their personnel

I'm not sure how much of it is actually AI vs just like, the bags of VC money have dried up and most tech companies can't anywhere near justify their personnel or often even existence without it. Like companies have been doing the RTO "stealth" layoffs for years now, it's not even news anymore, this was already well underway. There is also the obvious priapism of owners and investors to finally do to the remaining white collar workers what they have already done to everyone else. Whether or not AI actually can replace all these workers is nearly moot, they have fantasized about business without labor for so long they can't tell the difference from reality anymore.

nerdsniper 8mo ago
Where is the money that was going to VC investments going now? With increasing inequality, I figure rich people have more money than ever that they need to figure out where to invest.
- saalweachter 8mo ago
  Real estate?
  - bombcar 8mo ago
    Real estate is not doing well, it's "stalled" but not collapsing, but prices are staying steady and mortgage rates are not down to Covid levels.
  - esseph 8mo ago
    If so, not commercial. Commercial has been in a slow collapse + shell game of shifting the debt burden.
- h2zizzle 8mo ago
  Interest on debt; shoring up the financial vehicles and insurance through which they diffused the catastrophic losses of their bad bets from the past few decades; stockpiled for the inevitable economic collapse and the feeding frenzy that will follow; land.
  - h2zizzle 8mo ago
    I just want everyone to understand that part of why everything is so expensive today is because our elite funneled the surpluses from the electronic revolution into boondoggles that not only didn't make back what they cost, but that demand even more labor, to this day, to cover maintenance and interest. >Yeah, screw DEI! lmao I'm talking about wars; sprawl; advertising and consumerism; wasteful or gatekept luxuries; feet-dragging on any number of technologies and policies that could have mitigated the damage, just to please incumbents. We temporarily made life spectacularly better for like 5-10% of the population, and doomed everyone to either generations of toil, or a hard reset in the form of a "burn it all down" revolution.
- bigthymer 8mo ago
  More money is flowing into commodities. Gold price going up feeds into more mining.
- JoeCortopassi 8mo ago
  The big money is going to the OpenAI/Anthropic types producing foundation models that have to raise billions on a regular basis. This is money that would normal be spread across the startup ecosystem instead of concentrated in a handful of massive companies. When it finally hits IPO, I'd bet that you see it start to get freed up for new investments Just to drive the point home, in 2019 the total VC market was ~$300 billion. To date, roughly $235 billion is tied up in just OpenAI ($168b) and Anthropic ($67b)
- epistasis 8mo ago
  For a long time interest rates were incredibly low which led a ton of investors to put money into VC funds, despite their very high risk. When interest rates go up, money floods out of higher risk higher return areas like company formation, and floods back into buying bonds, so investors can collect the low-risk interest that didn't exist before.

nerdsniper 8mo ago

Where is the money that was going to VC investments going now? With increasing inequality, I figure rich people have more money than ever that they need to figure out where to invest.

saalweachter 8mo ago
Real estate?
- bombcar 8mo ago
  Real estate is not doing well, it's "stalled" but not collapsing, but prices are staying steady and mortgage rates are not down to Covid levels.
- esseph 8mo ago
  If so, not commercial. Commercial has been in a slow collapse + shell game of shifting the debt burden.
h2zizzle 8mo ago
Interest on debt; shoring up the financial vehicles and insurance through which they diffused the catastrophic losses of their bad bets from the past few decades; stockpiled for the inevitable economic collapse and the feeding frenzy that will follow; land.
- h2zizzle 8mo ago
  I just want everyone to understand that part of why everything is so expensive today is because our elite funneled the surpluses from the electronic revolution into boondoggles that not only didn't make back what they cost, but that demand even more labor, to this day, to cover maintenance and interest. >Yeah, screw DEI! lmao I'm talking about wars; sprawl; advertising and consumerism; wasteful or gatekept luxuries; feet-dragging on any number of technologies and policies that could have mitigated the damage, just to please incumbents. We temporarily made life spectacularly better for like 5-10% of the population, and doomed everyone to either generations of toil, or a hard reset in the form of a "burn it all down" revolution.
bigthymer 8mo ago
More money is flowing into commodities. Gold price going up feeds into more mining.
JoeCortopassi 8mo ago
The big money is going to the OpenAI/Anthropic types producing foundation models that have to raise billions on a regular basis. This is money that would normal be spread across the startup ecosystem instead of concentrated in a handful of massive companies. When it finally hits IPO, I'd bet that you see it start to get freed up for new investments Just to drive the point home, in 2019 the total VC market was ~$300 billion. To date, roughly $235 billion is tied up in just OpenAI ($168b) and Anthropic ($67b)
epistasis 8mo ago
For a long time interest rates were incredibly low which led a ton of investors to put money into VC funds, despite their very high risk. When interest rates go up, money floods out of higher risk higher return areas like company formation, and floods back into buying bonds, so investors can collect the low-risk interest that didn't exist before.