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Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

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Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#11

Post by nonanako »

sbenj wrote: post #2

I have nothing but admiration for the writers hard work, and I (as a Bernie fan) want to strongly object to it. I think my objections and his mirror the political divide in this country - the left wants a more compassionate world, the right sees the desire for redistribution as lazy people wanting to take from the people who've actually earned. While there's a bit of truth in both viewpoints, I'd ask him to consider…

College is probably a lot more expensive than it needs to be -- do we really want to pick up that inflated bill? There has to be a better solution. I only went to college to get away from my parents (and party) for four years. I probably didn't need the excessive campus and amenities.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#12

Post by [deleted] »

sbenj wrote: post #2

I have nothing but admiration for the writers hard work, and I (as a Bernie fan) want to strongly object to it. I think my objections and his mirror the political divide in this country - the left wants a more compassionate world, the right sees the desire for redistribution as lazy people wanting to take from the people who've actually earned. While there's a bit of truth in both viewpoints, I'd ask him to consider…

[deleted]

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#13

Post by nattaylor »

>According to Bernie, the world needs fewer people like me, and more people like the smart Yale student who majors in something useless, travels the world, and then graduates with $100,000 in debt that people like me should pay off via higher taxes.

This is either a cheapshot or a fundamental misunderstanding of Sanders' vision. Sander's policy proposals are designed to benefit the middle class and he isn't even proposing any changes to federal income tax for those households earning under $250k (which is plausible for the author becoming a millionaire over 15 years.) It seems more fair to debate the viability of his policies, than the goals.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#14

Post by a_shane »

kalekold wrote: post #9

A very interesting comment: "I find it interesting that you don’t mention the fact that you’re a VP of Datto, which just happens to be one of the companies under investigation by the FBI for Hillary Clinton’s classified email debacle. I think most people would think that it is a conflict of interest that you write against the candidate possibly preventing her becoming president, since her being president of the unite…

Ooh, I'm glad I scrolled down to see your comment identifying this (I generally avoid the comments section online unless it's on HN, heh).

I was taken aback by a lot of statements made in the article, which seemed to essentially state "I worked hard and it's not fair if other people don't have to, too" but in light of this his stance on the matter makes a lot of sense.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#16

Post by jjn2009 »

nonanako wrote: post #11
sbenj wrote: post #2

I have nothing but admiration for the writers hard work, and I (as a Bernie fan) want to strongly object to it. I think my objections and his mirror the political divide in this country - the left wants a more compassionate world, the right sees the desire for redistribution as lazy people wanting to take from the people who've actually earned. While there's a bit of truth in both viewpoints, I'd ask him to consider…

College is probably a lot more expensive than it needs to be -- do we really want to pick up that inflated bill? There has to be a better solution. I only went to college to get away from my parents (and party) for four years. I probably didn't need the excessive campus and amenities.

College costs are decided by the market, and right now there is no shortage of those who can get their hands on loans, and there is not much limit to the size of loans they can get, so prices have to go up until supply and demand hit equilibrium.

So it absolutely does need to be expensive, because scarce resources such as an education have an inverse relationship between degree value and number of degree holders. Otherwise it will be soon enough that our advanced engineering degrees are worth much less than before. Software Engineering average salary doesn't even keep up with inflation any more so in my opinion we are already seeing these effects.

Also I would argue a lot of the worthless degrees we see today are worthless due to both the volume of the holders of those degrees as well as the fact that they are premised on a field which doesn't have much practical value but if they were scarce they would be worth much more in the job market.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#17

Post by jjn2009 »

yolesaber wrote: post #3

This is one of the most insipid pieces of writing I've read on this site in a long time. Despite apparently achieving his dreams and becoming a millionaire, he sounds very bitter and unhappy because...a politician isn't paying him lip service and personally thanking him? Because people have hard lives and want to see a system that works for them rather than oppressing them under of the guise of "hard work pays off"?…

You are so clearly misrepresenting the views of the author, he never at any point wanted a personal thanks from Bernie. His grievance is with people such as yourself who make success and hard work into a crime.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#18

Post by yolesaber »

jjn2009 wrote: post #17
yolesaber wrote: post #3

This is one of the most insipid pieces of writing I've read on this site in a long time. Despite apparently achieving his dreams and becoming a millionaire, he sounds very bitter and unhappy because...a politician isn't paying him lip service and personally thanking him? Because people have hard lives and want to see a system that works for them rather than oppressing them under of the guise of "hard work pays off"?…

You are so clearly misrepresenting the views of the author, he never at any point wanted a personal thanks from Bernie. His grievance is with people such as yourself who make success and hard work into a crime.

When did I ever insinuate that hard work and success are a crime? Nowhere. Did you even read my comment? My beef has nothing to do with his net worth, but with his actual values, his sneering insistence that hard work alone is enough and that somehow good ol' elbow grease alone is enough to combat a systemically rigged economy.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#19

Post by yolesaber »

niftich wrote: post #10

Author, over the course of at least 15 years, worked 2 jobs to fund his way through college and went on to start several businesses. He credits his work ethic and contends that he sacrificed a great deal to get where he ended up. However, he feels like Sanders guilts and scapegoats people like him for being millionaires who "everything was handed to (...)" and "don't deserve the money they made". He descends into bit…

The dichotomy between the "liberal arts" students and STEM/ aka what the author considers"successful" people is one of the biggest annoyances I have about modern tech culture. In the 60s and 70s, some of the most significant computing advances were made by implementing ideas from the humanities with an extraordinary degree of technical acumen - this was Douglas Engelbart's whole MO. The book "What the Doormouse Said" is a great overview of this. I wish more tech people realized that they aren't diametrically opposed to one another. They need each other.

Re: Dear Bernie. I’m Sorry I Am the Problem with America

#20

Post by jjn2009 »

yolesaber wrote: post #18
jjn2009 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are so clearly misrepresenting the views of the author, he never at any point wanted a personal thanks from Bernie. His grievance is with people such as yourself who make success and hard work into a crime.

When did I ever insinuate that hard work and success are a crime? Nowhere. Did you even read my comment? My beef has nothing to do with his net worth, but with his actual values, his sneering insistence that hard work alone is enough and that somehow good ol' elbow grease alone is enough to combat a systemically rigged economy.

I said "such as" referencing the group of people who have similar thinking similar to yourself, not your specific comment.
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