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Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

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Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#61

Post by golergka »

dragonwriter wrote: post #39
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope you're talking about taxes. That's where half of my salary is going to, not to some mythical "evil rich", but to pay for beurocracy and welfare programs.

You see the part of your salary that goes to taxes; less visible is the share of the economic gain produced by your work that doesn't make it into your salary I the first place. The GP was referencing the latter.

My salary is negotiated on open, highly effective market. Share of my work that goes to the company shareholders represents their investment. If the company fails, I don't risk anything, but they will lose the money they put into the company in the first place. Naturally, if the company succeeds, they have to get capital gains on that investment. The fact that I will be able to get any salary from this company at all will be a direct consequence of a risk that they took upon themselves, not me.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#62

Post by StavrosK »

sanderjd wrote: post #58
losteric wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're seeing the rise of humanity's vile offspring (to borrow from Accelerando)... ethereal ideas birthed from greed and made corporeal by law, financial machines beyond the power or comprehension of individuals.

At this point, I'm honestly not sure if this thread is a series of extremely pessimistic people, or a fairly clever riff on Lovecraftian doom writing.

Looks more like Kafka to me. Not enough "horror" and "unspeakable" to be Lovecraft.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#63

Post by golergka »

Retric wrote: post #43
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope you're talking about taxes. That's where half of my salary is going to, not to some mythical "evil rich", but to pay for beurocracy and welfare programs.

My taxes are inflated so rich can pay a lower percentage than I do or even just skim off the government. Beyond that, my Rent and healthcare costs are ridiculously inflated, but you can find a lot of padding in other areas. FYI even just at the federal level things are effed up. 33.9% of taxes collected are payroll taxes, but social security caps at ~120k. Hint it's just a tax, you can receive benifits without ever w…

I'm not from US, please stop assuming it about HN readers already.

Also, the percentage of income as basis for tax doesn't make any sense. I don't pay a percentage of income for broadband or Netflix or insurance, why should payment for government services be different?

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#64

Post by golergka »

devishard wrote: post #57
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope you're talking about taxes. That's where half of my salary is going to, not to some mythical "evil rich", but to pay for beurocracy and welfare programs.

You realize that if the rich paid the same percentage of their income that you pay, you'd pay drastically less taxes? And that a lot of your taxes go to the evil rich?

And if I just rob other people, I would get their money and not pay any taxes at all. So?

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#65

Post by readymade »

sandworm101 wrote: post #56

>>> So instead of having large breaks every few months or once a year, it’s better to incorporate simple recovery practices into your everyday routine. Is this some Orwellian nightmare? Rather than have the workers do less work through holidays, let's have deal with the stress during their off hours. Don't take a 2-week holiday, just exercise more every day. Sitting at a desk all day isn't making you fat, it's that y…

Agreed, I'm kind of shocked people aren't seeing this for what it is.

Like the much ballyhooed open office plan, or the typical "we don't track vacation time" policy in modern startups, the real bottom line, so to speak, is always the bottom line.

It may very well be that employees who don't take vacations are more productive, overall than those who do. But by placing the burden of self-repair entirely on the employee, on their personal time and dime, the employer effectively washes its hands of the matter. If we take this article to its logical conclusion, burnout is your own fault, even in the face of pathological organizational structures, workloads, etc. That's an outward radiation of risk and responsibility par for the course in the new economy.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#66

Post by sokoloff »

DenisM wrote: post #44
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope you're talking about taxes. That's where half of my salary is going to, not to some mythical "evil rich", but to pay for beurocracy and welfare programs.

I know a guy in a project that generates a few millions per employee. His share is less than 10% in salary. In this case the discrepancy is easy to see, but the same is true in many other places where it's not so obvious. But we can see it in the big picture, statistically half the money in the country goes to the 0.01% or something along those lines. All the gains from productivity went to the super-rich. It doesn't…

I believe that an employer should make a substantial margin on an employee's labor. That provides a stable situation, covers for the employer's risk (if an employee's project/work fails to create value, they still get paid), and covers the overhead.

If you want full value (which might be zero or negative at times) for your labor, you should start your own thing and keep 100% of the value you create.

If my employer wasn't making at least 3x (and ideally more like 5x) the total cost they were spending on me, I'd start worrying about the stability and longevity of that relationship. (So far, very happily employed there almost 13 years and no end in sight.)

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#67

Post by EC1 »

sanderjd wrote: post #58
losteric wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're seeing the rise of humanity's vile offspring (to borrow from Accelerando)... ethereal ideas birthed from greed and made corporeal by law, financial machines beyond the power or comprehension of individuals.

At this point, I'm honestly not sure if this thread is a series of extremely pessimistic people, or a fairly clever riff on Lovecraftian doom writing.

What part of it isn't true though? Don't look at how it reads, just read the words.

I feel the same way, like you're being stomped in the face every day by an invisible boot except nobody knows who's wearing it, but we all feel it.

We are collectively losing our identities and blending into one due to how hyper connected we are and how available cheap forms of entertainment are.

It's all quite eerie. I still haven't really found a way to articulate it but I'd love to chat with someone more in depth about it.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#68

Post by thecage411 »

golergka wrote: post #63
Retric wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My taxes are inflated so rich can pay a lower percentage than I do or even just skim off the government. Beyond that, my Rent and healthcare costs are ridiculously inflated, but you can find a lot of padding in other areas. FYI even just at the federal level things are effed up. 33.9% of taxes collected are payroll taxes, but social security caps at ~120k. Hint it's just a tax, you can receive benifits without ever w…

I'm not from US, please stop assuming it about HN readers already. Also, the percentage of income as basis for tax doesn't make any sense. I don't pay a percentage of income for broadband or Netflix or insurance, why should payment for government services be different?

A decent analogy for most governments is that they behave similarly to an insurance company with an army. You absolutely pay a percentage of the value of what you are insuring (here your life, wealth, earning potential) not a flat fee.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#69

Post by refurb »

Retric wrote: post #43
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope you're talking about taxes. That's where half of my salary is going to, not to some mythical "evil rich", but to pay for beurocracy and welfare programs.

My taxes are inflated so rich can pay a lower percentage than I do or even just skim off the government. Beyond that, my Rent and healthcare costs are ridiculously inflated, but you can find a lot of padding in other areas. FYI even just at the federal level things are effed up. 33.9% of taxes collected are payroll taxes, but social security caps at ~120k. Hint it's just a tax, you can receive benifits without ever w…

Top 1% of income earners pay 50% of all federal income taxes collected.

What would you consider a "fair" share of the top 1%'s wealth?

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#70

Post by refurb »

dragonwriter wrote: post #39
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope you're talking about taxes. That's where half of my salary is going to, not to some mythical "evil rich", but to pay for beurocracy and welfare programs.

You see the part of your salary that goes to taxes; less visible is the share of the economic gain produced by your work that doesn't make it into your salary I the first place. The GP was referencing the latter.

Why do you assume that an economic gain would automatically be added to someone's salary? Salary is based on supply and demand, not the value you create.

That's why an assembly worker building a $20K Ford makes about the same as one building a $100K SUV.

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