[profunctor]

Yet again the workers suffer from the incompetence of the ownership class.

[FirmwareBurner]

Yes that's always the case, but it's naive to assume in any employment relationship that the ownership class has any other agenda than enriching themselves through the labor of the working class, same how the working class working for these major companies and enabling them to do what they do (including automating other peoples jobs to make them redundant and save their bosses money) have any other agenda than enriching themselves as well in the process.

At least until they themselves eventually find their place on the chopping block as well either through management decisions or automation hits them too. But SW devs never though of this as the market always favored them and they saw themselves as irreplaceable godlike figures at the top of the food chain, so maybe it's time to reconsider that mindset, gain some empathy about other people's jobs and think about unions to push back on certain industry trends that screw over the little guy, since what goes around comes around.

Whenever I sign a new employment contract, I'm aware it's not a charity, I'm there because they need me, as I make more money for them than they pay me, and I'm also aware that the moment that math stops being true, they won't hesitate to let me go and replace me with someone who can do the same work cheaper. Such is capitalism.

[aplusbi]

Most workers do have an agenda other than enriching themselves though:

* Self-satisfaction

* Sense of identity

* Belief in the company

* Desire to improve the world

* Puritanical work ethic

* etc

[ryandrake]

This isn't a feature of capitalism as much as it's a feature of an environment with a lack of worker protections and no balance of power between workers and employers.

[tasubotadas]

Workers are free to start and run better companies.

[crq-yml]

They can only do this if they're starting from a decent financing scenario, which they hardly ever are. Most of the companies founded this way have to do work-for-hire projects, and that relies on a "Goldilocks" work pipeline where there isn't too much or too little, because either extreme threatens payroll or creates staffing pressure.

A company that gets a fat check to go conquer the world is one that is engaged with the demands of the investment market to seek maximal growth or ROI or whatever metric the investors are looking for. This is derived from the overall investment landscape, which went from "easy money" to "infinite money" during the pandemic. When you are in an infinite money environment your goal is, essentially, to consolidate everything you see into your org. The only thing small players can do is try to get acquired.

As long as the brakes are on the dollar, the trend will stay reversed and companies will downsize to fit a smaller capital structure.

[eikenberry]

No they are not.. worker owned companies don't have the same legal structures as capital owned companies, at least in the US. Which is why you see almost no co-ops or other worker/employee owned business here.

[gumballindie]

They would if there was less tolerance for monopolies and fair rules. It would appear that the only way to achieve that is through radical political change. Essentially we need to revert back to capitalism and end the ongoing gilded age.

[modernpink]

Workers aren't entitled to profit off other's risks indefinitely.

[wildrhythms]

I see the hacker mindset has become a 'pro-profit' enterprise!

Perhaps consider a worldview where the many talented people who actually write the code can be properly compensated for the fruits of their labor, rather than someone far-removed from the process simply holding a paper that says they own the deed to the company.

[aplusbi]

Fortunately owners will forever remain entitled to the profits of others' work.

[calamari4065]

But managers are?