Amazon cuts 16k jobs

How's the $100K H1B fee that was announced to distract from the Trump Gold Card announcement [0] going? The HN hive mind said it would bring back the jerbs and those of us who warned [1][2] it would incentivize mass layoffs and offshoring were hounded.

Before the layoffs were announced Amazon also committed to expanding hiring and infra expansion in India [3], and depending on the org, affected employees on work visas were offered transfers to India in lieu of being laid off [4].

The Trump admin won't do anything about offshoring either - in fact technology transfers to India are being encouraged by the admin as part of Pax Sillica [5] and GOP leaders in Purple Ag states like Iowa [6] and Montana [7] are lobbying for India after China pivoted away from American soybeans [8] and India began leveraging the China playbook [9].

When forced to choose between swing state farmers and GOP leaning SWEs, it's going to be the farmers who win.

[0] - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-proclamati...

[1] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-09-25/a-100-...

[2] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-r...

[3] - https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/economic-impact/amazon-econo...

[4] - https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonemployees/comments/1qfesvs/6_...

[5] - https://x.com/USAmbIndia/status/2010718052992618815

[6] - https://governor.iowa.gov/press-release/2025-09-07/gov-reyno...

[7] - https://www.daines.senate.gov/2026/01/20/daines-travels-to-i...

[8] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-favour-brazilian-s...

[9] - https://www.cramer.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cramer-dai...

It would be too much to ask to have fair and equal society, so instead we observe how capitalism/fascism will ruin the world over and over again.

Tech is dead. Has been since 2020.

"AI" - "Always Indian" :D

Good for them

I feel like this is the most natural layoff I've seen in twenty years (that is not the same as saying I feel good about it). Truly, most software companies need to cut their entire roster and re-draft quite frankly. You will need less people and have entirely new goals. This is beyond "economic" reality, AI has made it intuitive to restructure and reorient. Not doing so will just mean you will be blind-sided by any company that leaned down and re-envisioned their entire product.

So many products turned into feature mill factories. If things can get more concentrated and directed, then I think this will be better for all in terms of finding their true purpose in life.

Why pay people when you can steal from foss projects and use both forms of ai (Actually indians and Artificially Inflated)

I'm currently hiring engineering roles in SF for my startup. I am in the middle of closing my $1.5M pre-seed this week so I don't have job descriptions posted yet. But, here's a short pitch:

AI agents are about to orchestrate trillions in commerce, but today they shop on thin data: product specs, studio photos, and text reviews. Agents need evidence, not marketing. Today, the most influential product evidence lives on TikTok and Reels, outside the surfaces brands control and agents can use. Vidably puts verified buyer video directly onto e-commerce product pages through a lightweight widget. We capture that video post-purchase and link it to real purchasing outcomes. Every video is SKU-linked and structured so shopping agents can reason over it. The widget is the wedge, the dataset is the moat.

We're already live with brands and are seeing pull from both brands and creators and I would love for anyone interested to DM me!

Edit: I'm an idiot, HN doesn’t have DMs. Email me at hn at vidably dot com.