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Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

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Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#111

Post by jdougan »

dionidium wrote: post #103
glorified-html wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many teenagers really understand the practical implications of what they're signing up for? No one is saying teenagers lack agency, but there is definitely a problem when an outsized number are making decisions that are detrimental to their long-term future

We're in kind of a weird transitionary period with respect to our societal-level view of teenagers. Very often the same exact people are arguing that student loans are illegitimate, on the grounds that teenagers are not sophisticated enough to sign contracts, but on the other hand that the voting and/or drinking ages should be lowered, because teenagers are clearly capable of handling those responsibilities. I'm kind…

I think picking just one would be a bad plan. Looking back, a more principled phasing in of adult privileges and responsibilities would have been helpful. The current arrangements (at least in Canada and the US) appear pretty haphazard to me.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#112

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

robcohen wrote: post #110
dionidium wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're in kind of a weird transitionary period with respect to our societal-level view of teenagers. Very often the same exact people are arguing that student loans are illegitimate, on the grounds that teenagers are not sophisticated enough to sign contracts, but on the other hand that the voting and/or drinking ages should be lowered, because teenagers are clearly capable of handling those responsibilities. I'm kind…

Furthermore, gun control is back in the spotlight after Uvalde. I just attended the TX Democratic convention and at least three speakers argued to raise the age for purchasing firearms to 21. I don’t actually have a problem with that, but we’ve gotta be consistent. There’s no way it’s justifiable to remove a constitutional right from an adult without due process.

> I just attended the TX Democratic convention and at least three speakers argued to raise the age for purchasing firearms to 21.

This will do absolutely nothing to prevent school shootings, and will have such a negligible effect on gun violence in general that I feel the Democrats are creating animosity across the aisle for no gain at all.

I won't pretend to know the solution to gun violence, but this certainly ain't it.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#113

Post by NickM »

COGlory wrote: post #70
NickM wrote: post #12

I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…

>Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluation, and inflation already seems to be dying down anyway. Man, this attitude is terrible. My life and all of my colleagues lives have been completely flipped upside down by this inflation. This comment just donwplaying it as a non-issue made me really angr…

I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect. I agree inflation is a very real issue, my comment only meant to question whether it's going to continue to be a long-term issue and whether it's an indicator of a broader economic downturn or not.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#114

Post by NickM »

rank0 wrote: post #45
NickM wrote: post #12

I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…

I think it’s easy to miss some of the very real pain lower income folks are experiencing right now if you’re not in their bracket. Inflation causes excess capital to flow into assets, which the poor don’t have and HN commenters do. The inflation issue is absolutely not solved. A single month from 9.1 -> 8.6 is FAR too soon for victory. I suspect the recent rally in the market comes from the assumption that the Fed wi…

I mean, I don't want to discount that many people are suffering, but real income growth for the bottom 50% of earners has gone up substantially over the last year (and, notably, have gone up more than for high-earners, percentage-wise). Rising prices are bad and all, but if wages go up more than prices, as they seem to have done, then on aggregate people should be doing better, not worse.

Inflation causes excess capital to flow into assets, which the poor don’t have and HN commenters do.

I'm not sure I agree with this, as inflation seems to have scared markets off of their peaks. I mean, they're not down that far, but I don't see a lot of upper middle-class folks profiting off of this situation. Maybe this is true for some assets, but unless I'm missing something, markets in general do not seem to be feeding off of inflation in the way you're describing here.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#115

Post by rank0 »

NickM wrote: post #114
rank0 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s easy to miss some of the very real pain lower income folks are experiencing right now if you’re not in their bracket. Inflation causes excess capital to flow into assets, which the poor don’t have and HN commenters do. The inflation issue is absolutely not solved. A single month from 9.1 -> 8.6 is FAR too soon for victory. I suspect the recent rally in the market comes from the assumption that the Fed wi…

I mean, I don't want to discount that many people are suffering, but real income growth for the bottom 50% of earners has gone up substantially over the last year (and, notably, have gone up more than for high-earners, percentage-wise). Rising prices are bad and all, but if wages go up more than prices, as they seem to have done, then on aggregate people should be doing better, not worse. Inflation causes excess capi…

It’s longer term. CPI just measures a weighted prices of a basket of goods/services. In reality, the purchasing power of the dollar moves quite a bit outside the CPI basket because people absolutely spend their capital outside that basket.

> I don't see a lot of upper middle-class folks profiting off of this situation.

Look around more! We’ve witnessed the greatest bull market in history and It’s largely due to the government pouring trillions of dollars into securities. Look at returns on equity and real estate since QE started in ‘08. Poor people aren’t the ones benefiting off our insane 14 yr rally.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#116

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

th1s1sit wrote: post #102
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's silly to expect every innovation to "change the trajectory of humanity". Sometimes people just want entertainment and that's fine. Based on the OP's response to my comment, I wonder if they consider leisure time to be wasted time.

Humans went millions of years entertaining themselves without computers. Why keep chucking real resources down the drain for Zachtronics? If you want logic puzzles there are simple paper books full of them. This is peak entitlement; the future must cope with your leisure preferences. Not voting rights, or clean water; you are owed video games. You would defend until the end your right to not sacrifice any scrap of fi…

> Humans went millions of years entertaining themselves without computers.

More like a couple hundred thousand years, not millions, but that's a moot point.

Humans went thousands of years without a lot of things. This is not a convincing argument.

> Why keep chucking real resources down the drain for Zachtronics? If you want logic puzzles there are simple paper books full of them.

False equivalency.

I could easily turn this around and ask why chuck resources on publishing puzzles on paper when I can do them digitally.

> This is peak entitlement; the future must cope with your leisure preferences.

Really? Enjoying spending my time on video games is "peak entitlement"?

> Not voting rights, or clean water; you are owed video games.

Textbook whataboutism.

> You would defend until the end your right to not sacrifice any scrap of figurative identity. How incredibly dismissive of future peoples entire existence.

Yes...I'm sure me playing a few rounds of Legion TD 2 or a couple hours of Final Fantasy is going to threaten the existence of the future.

> Launch the nukes, Putin. If we’re just going to iterate like mindless dweebs into collapse of the species why not go out in a blaze of glory; that would truly be metal af

You are either mentally ill, an extreme workaholic, or a troll. Please seek help.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#117

Post by noodle »

hello_newman wrote: post #107
noodle wrote: post #8

SMB SaaS seems to be doing just fine.

In this context, do you mean SaaS for small and medium businesses? Or do you mean small and medium (sized) SaaS companies? Or is SMB in this context some other acronym I’m not thinking of?

> SaaS for small and medium businesses

This one

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#118

Post by th1s1sit »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #116
th1s1sit wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans went millions of years entertaining themselves without computers. Why keep chucking real resources down the drain for Zachtronics? If you want logic puzzles there are simple paper books full of them. This is peak entitlement; the future must cope with your leisure preferences. Not voting rights, or clean water; you are owed video games. You would defend until the end your right to not sacrifice any scrap of fi…

> Humans went millions of years entertaining themselves without computers. More like a couple hundred thousand years, not millions, but that's a moot point. Humans went thousands of years without a lot of things. This is not a convincing argument. > Why keep chucking real resources down the drain for Zachtronics? If you want logic puzzles there are simple paper books full of them. False equivalency. I could easily tu…

Don’t diagnose me over an air gapped network.

What’s that? I’m not chanting the traditions the way you would? So I’m mentally ill? That’s some traditional values BS.

Peak entitlement; anyone who isn’t enabling your figurative identity is some sort of broken thing. Childish reasoning.

Paper and pencil don’t require nearly the same level of toxic waste and slave labor; so false equivalence.

You can’t say false equivalence and have it be true you have to actually quantify why their damage is the same; again childish logic.

Peak entitlement is that you aren’t giving a damn what video games cost everyone in real terms, you’re hung up on living in your bubble and expect billions of others to coddle your feelings like mommy and daddy did. But if you’re putting it out there you have no obligation to consider others sensibilities before your own; fuck yours too. Who cares about one of seven billion whose parameters are pretty similar to billions of others, since you like logic and stats so much.

Less than 13% of the public have greater than a bachelors. While polls show most Americans think it’s 35-40%. The world is not composed of as many like minds as you think. You’re outnumbered.

“Work” is a term defined in physical sciences; my biology “works” 24/7. I loath “job culture”. Hanging in a hammock by a river last week my imagination conjured up numerous story threads for a space opera. Video games are someone else’s imagination.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#119

Post by bobkazamakis »

dionidium wrote: post #85
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have to be strong-arming, but what about propaganda? High schoolers are still being told "If you don't want to make minimum wage for your whole life, you need a college degree!", yet a high schooler certainly can't pay the $15K+ per year to get a degree, so they take out student loans. And then, the same people who hounded them to get a degree then hound them when they beg for student loan forgiveness, tel…

> "If you don't want to make minimum wage for your whole life, you need a college degree!" I started college in 1999. The day my freshmen year started, jokes about English majors asking if you want fries with that were already 60 years old. This argument is revisionist bunk, in other words. Everybody knows there are some degrees that are more valuable than others, that some degrees lead to higher pay and that some do…

>I started college in 1999.

>Everybody knows there are some degrees that are more valuable than others

This has only been made more extreme, but you've been checked out for at least 20 years apparently.

Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?

#120

Post by michael1999 »

nchi3 wrote: post #72
Izkata wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're at extremely low unemployment Back in 2018/2019, when I got curious and looked at what signals people look at for recessions, too low unemployment was one of them.

What's the reasoning for this?

Because the US Fed will cause a recession to resist wage inflation.
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