I agree, its like being stuck in purgatory. Although, I disagree somewhat with your last statement -- in my experience, all throttled layoffs have been a result of acquisition synergies. The current one around me is by a market leader with a great past and excellent vision of the future.
From my experience there's an easy way out of this: take control of your own career. Ask yourself: are these the conditions I want to work in? whats best for me; family; situation? Are there opportunities here while everyone else is looking over their shoulder?
But when layoffs are as big as 14k, rarely are employees evaluated for individual value...it's usually entire business units or office locations that are closed. Throttled or not, the people exiting Cisco have likely already been picked...not much they can do about it in the meantime.
20% is a very high number, especially given how many layoffs Cisco has had. I've been in situations where 10% got laid off, and there were still weak performers who could be let go. This usually happens in cultures where it is very hard to fire people, so they use layoffs to cover for weak performance management. (And weak performance management can be a cause to need the layoffs to begin with)
Serial acquirers almost always are in throttled layoff mode. It's how they justify the acquisitions. Companies that have been passed by the market (think IBM) tend to cut gradually over time. Occasionally you have companies where both have happened. (Think your phone or cable company)
From my experience there's an easy way out of this: take control of your own career. Ask yourself: are these the conditions I want to work in? whats best for me; family; situation? Are there opportunities here while everyone else is looking over their shoulder?