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This is a technically correct explanation but doesn't tell us anything. Obviously they did it because they can, otherwise they wouldn't have done it by definition. But why did they do it? Why did they go from "can't" in the years leading up to it to "can" a year or so ago?

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Because they've been gripped by a collective monkey-see, monkey-do type insanity of valuing the short-term savings of not having to pay those laid off over the much larger long-term opportunity cost of the work those people would have done. The entirety of this "current economic reality" is a self-fulfilling prophecy from those using those words to self-justify their actions.

my point was that the layoff rationalization posts on HN are irrelevant

a company can grow profits by moving the top line up or the bottom line down

if they can't move the top line up, they will move the bottom line down

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