
BlackRock Plans to Cut About 400 Jobs in Coming Weeks - rezist808
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-30/blackrock-is-said-to-plan-cutting-about-400-jobs-in-coming-weeks
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wrong_variable
HN never has news "Firm X set to hire 400 people". If the stock market
followed HN - then there would always be deflation.

~~~
newjersey
You're mostly correct but the beauty of talking in absolutes is that I just
need to give one counter example. Y Combinator's darling (and still a source
of confusion for me because I don't understand how it managed to be so
successful against all odds) is Dropbox.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2813324](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2813324)

So to reiterate, I'm not saying you're wrong. HN and by extension most news
reporting and aggregation seems to be negative. People think it is a work of
public relations machinery when we hear positive news (and sadly they are also
usually correct).

Don't quote me on this but I think in the original Matrix movie they talk
about how they created perfect world for people but they kept rejecting it
because they could tell it was not the real world or something. I think I'd
feel cynical when I hear mostly positive news most of the time. Sorry, I can't
help it. Even in this piece about dropbox five years ago… I was still
suspicious about whether they'd continue to exist today. I mean they were
paying Amazon for all that storage. I knew a lot of my college friends had
drop box accounts but I didn't know anyone who paid for it. I still don't know
more than three people who have paid for dropbox.

~~~
wrong_variable
Modern Software companies do not survive by making the majority of there users
pay. They survive by generating revenue from power users.

The simple fact is - the world operates on a network of debt and saving. So
400 jobs lost at blackrocks - means 400 new opening for green jobs in
Australia.

Capital really does not live to stay in one place - it always wants to work.
If you have 10 million dollars in the bank - you will be burning money just
due to inflation.

~~~
jjn2009
>So 400 jobs lost at blackrocks - means 400 new opening for green jobs in
Australia.

This is not necessarily true. People can and will hold onto their cash
negating any growth of the market in the face of job losses, its not a zero
sum game. In fact job layoffs can increase panic and increase hoarding of
capital.

> If you have 10 million dollars in the bank - you will be burning money just
> due to inflation.

1-2% deflation can be better in certain market climates than investments which
create jobs, or you put it in a safe investment such as bonds which is in some
sense hoarding, you don't take on significant risk to create anything you just
park your cash somewhere that it will not suffer losses from inflation. Both
of these circumstances do not grow jobs or the market.

~~~
ra1n85
>1-2% deflation can be better in certain market climates than investments
which create jobs

Agreed. Return ON capital is different from return OF capital.

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sna1l
Doesn't Goldman Sachs fire the bottom 5% every year? This constitutes just 3%
of BlackRock's employee head count.

~~~
caminante
The key is that these cuts flow from broader restructuring efforts, not
performance.

~~~
spydertennis
Yeah but nobody here realizes that.

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tablewatcher
As a guy who has recently started to come out of debt and starting to prepare
for pension and savings, the more I learn about the financial industry the
more it scares me. It seems like a zero sum game and nothing more than
sophisticated gambling.

~~~
saasyguy
Everything can be said to be "sophisticated gambling." Nothing is certain, and
only those who don't understand finance believe that any financial instrument
whatsoever is a certainty. And even outside finance: the job you took isn't
certain, nor is the car you bought or the marriage you entered into. Finance
has its problems but the gambling aspect isn't the root of it.

~~~
chillwaves
The difference is whether you are the house or you are getting screwed by the
house. My guess, most people are not the house.

~~~
caminante
Except your "house" is undergoing layoffs.

It's not hard to manipulate markets. It IS hard to manipulate markets and make
a profit!

