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Request For Research: Basic Income

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#291

Post by tluyben2 »

surfmike wrote: post #97

"What can startups do to increase prosperity for everyone?" I think cheap quality housing is a huge area that would help everyone. Taxes and housing together eat up the vast majority of the earnings most people make. What could make a difference? - applying technology to building denser housing. for example, imagine cheap robotic excavation, so every house and building could bury all their parking lots and long term…

Why not have startups have their employees work from home? Much simpler and easier to implement solution. I don't have the obsession of wanting to live in a city but I'm aware most people I know who don't have that obsession either still have to because their bosses does not let them work from home. If you only have to come in once a month or less you can live in a region where housing is affordable; I could buy a livable house every 2-3 months in my region. It's not for everyone but it would provide greater quality of life for many and would certainly allow people to own their own houses / land without having the risk of the bank to throw them out no matter what goes wrong (you don't need a mortgage).

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#292

Post by nraynaud »

I hope It's not coming back to bite me in the ass to say that, but I have been slacking and collecting unemployment benefits in the last few years.

During this time I have re-kindled my interest in mechanics and electronics, bought and changed the electronics of a CNC router, learned to use it, learned a bit of woodworking, created the control software and tool path planning system ( https://github.com/nraynaud/webgcode ). I have helped a guy on the internet with a laser cutting software, I have created an easy captcha breaker, played with Cypress PSOC MCUs (it's the gateway drugs to FPGAs), started a project that uses Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals (hint: you can control the 70V stuff with the parts destined for vacuum fluorescent display). And I learned a few techniques:

- CNC cutting vinyl and using it as a stencil for painting or sandblasting

- isolation milling of PCBs

- PCB etching

- CNC made wood inlays

- using a lot of glues

- learned a bit of Ember.js, lots of Chrome APIs

- a bit of mold making

- parametric mechanical CAD design

Now, I have accepted a job offer and should start next Monday, so I guess all those projects and learnings are over, but that was a good ride.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#293

Post by BinaryIdiot »

firloop wrote: post #234
avip wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a more trivial alternative to "equally credible alternatives to university" - just ban education based discrimination. Same way US so nicely enforces regarding race or martial status. Make it illegal to ask. Simple change with 100% guaranteed positive outcome.

I disagree. While college is becoming less of an important step for many careers, education, especially post-graduate, is vital for many others. For example, if I were a large tech company hiring physicists for R&D, I really don't think it's unfair to expect some sort of post-grad education, nor do I think these instances really contribute to any sort of problem right now.

I think the parent is saying that if someone can demonstrate they can handle a physicist position for R&D, does education even matter? It would really depend on the criteria used to determine the ability to perform at the job. If the criteria is good enough I see no reason why someone without a PhD could take the job.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#294

Post by dmix »

Bud wrote: post #264
dmix wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing red tape has indeed been tried in America... but almost exclusively for the benefit of already large near monopolistic corporations. It has rarely happened to the benefit of small/medium businesses. Especially if you're talking about deregulation that happened in the financial industry in the 2000s. The companies that most struggle with red tape aren't mega-corps but the smaller companies who can't afford te…

You make a good point, and I hear you. I'd be interested in any specifics you have to offer that would target smaller businesses.

Well, having been through the ridiculous temporary worker / immigration process in America - coming from Canada with a solid job offer and even an American lawyer, I'd say that would be a great place to start.

The American tax system is riddled with complexities that make business difficult. A flat tax as proposed by Ted Cruz (the only good thing he has proposed) would make doing business vastly simpler.

But the vast majority of regulatory hurdles are industry specific and there are thousands of them. It would take a serious political-backed task force to go through them all to find the worst.

Here is a good article on the subject, featuring good examples:

> Under Massachusetts regulations, a hair salon owner who wants to sell her shop to an employee must first temporarily close down. A funeral director can't hire a part-time apprentice—only full-time is allowed. The state's legal size for a sea clam differs from what federal requirements specify.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240529702042763045772612...

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#297

Post by livingparadox »

alexmat wrote: post #182
mozumder wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is key. No one has ever said "I'm going to stop making money because I have $1."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginal_utility At $1 the second dollar is useful, at $50,000, I'm good for the year and will not pursue additional dollars. Replace $50,000 with whatever amount you need to feel content.

See rich people as a counterpoint to your argument

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#298

Post by xixi77 »

tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

It's an interesting list... To me, improving provision of medical service and education definitely seems possible, as a lot of current problems are due to the fairly artificial constraints in the system. Removing them, or going around them, can really do a lot.

Things like child care and finance are not as obvious to me though: these are already competitive industries, with very price-sensitive clients too, and (IMO) mostly sensible regulations, so if something both cheap and competitive was possible, why hasn't it happened yet?

Also, as for "Equally credible alternatives to university education": I'm not sure if I get this one right, wording is a little confusing -- you mean the problem being that people feel forced to spend lots of $$ to study things they won't actually need for their jobs? IMO, to answer that, we also first need to answer why exactly is it the case currently: e.g. no government sponsorship of community colleges is going to help if the reason is that education is primarily used as a signaling device... (Edit: I see your response to another question -- namely a startup offering an independent alternative to screening on education -- and I agree that this can be promising. Not easy, but promising.)

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#299

Post by samstave »

rewqfdsa wrote: post #235
tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

> Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions You're talking about trade schools? Good. That's a step in the right direction. It doesn't go far enough though. One unfortunate reality of our existence is that people differ markedly in cognitive skill. These differences are innate and immutable. Not everyone can benefit from an education. If we pitch education as the way to address to inequali…

We need to figure out an alternate way of living for people who are intellectually incapable of contributing to a modern technologically advanced economy. A basic income is a good start.

There is another dimension to this problem though; national borders and status.

There are a TON of really smart mexicans and other immigrants of every nation who are stuck into an effective caste system based on their status.

In fact, modern American society would literally fall apart if all the mexican service workers were raptured.

My point is that while we look at those who cannot contribute to a technologically advanced economy, we also are pigeon-holing many many others who are based on the complexities of citizenship status problem.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#300

Post by benmathes »

jib wrote: post #246
surfmike wrote: post #97

"What can startups do to increase prosperity for everyone?" I think cheap quality housing is a huge area that would help everyone. Taxes and housing together eat up the vast majority of the earnings most people make. What could make a difference? - applying technology to building denser housing. for example, imagine cheap robotic excavation, so every house and building could bury all their parking lots and long term…

I'm not sold on density. I think improving rural logistics is more key. Make more land attractive rather than making more use of current land. That is logistics both for people, data, and goods.

It does seem attractive, all the empty land out there.

But the point of cities is to be near lots of other people all the time. There's a tipping point of human flourishing from the intermingling.

Great cities outlasted empires. Interaction density is the important thing, and it grows combinatorially with human density. There's no way you're going to get rural logistics to that level.

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