GAFAM Mass Layoffs and Mountains (Trillions of Dollars in 'Secret' or 'Off-the-Ledger') Debt
GAFAM is having layoffs this month (Microsoft has just been mentioned, yesterday we mentioned Google/Alphabet in Daily Links because of new WARN notices). They have long attempted to hide their shrinkage using accounting and HR 'hacks' (e.g. hiring temps, part-timers, contractors, offshoring, "emeritus" status), but the facts on the ground (so to speak, as the saying goes in combative terms) are alarming: No, Microsoft did not "gain" a trillion dollars in "value" (it's all fake, those are like casino tokens at best), it's gaining piles of debt that it may never be able to pay back. At this point the business model is not that of a business but that of an empire:
The US cannot bail them out, the government is already insolvent. This is a decline of an empire, wherein GAFAM is just a classic "collaborator". █
"Microsoft, the world’s most valuable company, declared a profit of $4.5 billion in 1998; when the cost of options awarded that year, plus the change in the value of outstanding options, is deducted, the firm made a loss of $18 billion, according to Smithers."