Comments by "Louis Giokas" (@louisgiokas2206) on "20,000 Laid off by Alibaba Last Year: $80K-A-Year Executives Now Gig Workers, Running Deliveries" video.

  1. The layoffs at Internet giants in the US is also going on. These companies had too much cash and hired indiscriminately. Even as far back as over five years ago I looked at what was happening at Google. I was looking at their R&D projects. Very few had anything to do with their core business. I don't know of any that were commercialized. Now with their high valuations, investors are looking at them more closely. They are also trying to break into new businesses which requires a lot of capital. not just a lot of bodies. Frankly, most technology projects I have been on were overstaffed. This spans the gamut from aerospace to commercial software. I once worked on a large aerospace control system project where our projections were for up to 100 software engineers. The system engineers said we should be able to do it maybe 1/4 of that. I was among the first 15 software engineers on the project. All of us had extensive satellite experience. As we staffed up, we stated to believe what the system engineers had been saying. As projects get large there is a high overhead of communication. Although we hired a lot of good talent, they were inexperienced and frankly would not add much for some time. Of course, these large companies laying off people frees up that tech talent for other companies. At least this is true in the US.
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  2. The problem in China is that the peasant masses are the ones that put the CCP in power in the first place. Are they going to suddenly become enlightened and foment a great democratic revolution? Not likely. The other problem is that there are no leaders among the so-called middle class that could arise to lead such a movement. China went from a monarchical peasant society to an authoritarian communist peasant society then to a more developed peasant society (with help from the west). Don't forget, over two thirds of the people in China make 2,000 yuan or less a month. Will people who work for years without being paid their wages suddenly become a politically engaged populace? Come on man! No, the future in China is going to be like that of the early 20th century after the Qing dynasty fell. There is also the elephant in the room that most commentators, including this channel, rarely mention. That is the endemic corruption. It is massive and permeates all levels of society, especially the CCP, but also, by necessity, the middle class and successful people. Will those people give up their gains, or hope of future gains? Not likely. Look at Taiwan. After the civil war they had martial law for decades before they became democratic. They were supported by the west as a counterpoint to the CCP. Without that support, they would never have progressed.
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