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Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

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Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#331

Post by jordanb »

koolba wrote: post #230
_m8fo wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make fair points, however the cost of living is dictated primarily by: transportation, education, housing and health costs. Has technology made these significantly cheaper for someone in poverty?

> You make fair points, however the cost of living is dictated primarily by: transportation, education, housing and health costs. Has technology made these significantly cheaper for someone in poverty? I specifically cite transportation costs in my prior comment. Housing is also cheap if you don't live in (expensive) cities. There's an abundance of housing in the suburbs and if you're willing to share a place with ot…

Housing is cheap if you live in a part of the country with a bad economy.

The increasing polarization of the economy is also spatial: the remaining good jobs are congregating in fewer and fewer metropolises where the cost of living is skyrocketing.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#332

Post by zxcvvcxz »

kmicklas wrote: post #300
zxcvvcxz wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Modern corporations are run like totalitarian, authoritarian regimes with top-down orders being barked down. If you disobey, you're out. People in Western democracies are no longer putting up with non-democratic control of their political institutions, but are completely oblivious to non-democratic control of their economic institutions and are perfectly willing to take orders where and when it matters most -- ever…

> And the capitalist system works fine, because if these employees think I'm doing a shit job, they do have a vote: leave and start their own company. I didn't know it was this possible to be so non self aware. > The parts that don't work are actually the more socialist parts of the system, such as bailouts for big behemoth, and regulatory barriers to starting competitors. Socialism is when the government does things…

> I didn't know it was this possible to be so non self aware.

Or leave and work for a competitor. I don't put a gun to anybody's head, unlike various socialist governments.

Feel free to expand on this thought though. Note that I work in North America and so my expectation of an employee being able to 1) leave and work for someone else, or 2) leave and start their own company, stem from this.

> Socialism is when the government does things, and the more things it does, the socialister it is!

So what do you call it when the government props up certain businesses (that they prefer) by redistributing my tax dollars thereby shielding them from market forces? I can't think of a libertarian government doing this.

And yes, socialism must imply a bigger and more intrusive central management body (aka government) because that's how you "democratize the means of production". You have to enforce such actions with the gun.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#333

Post by conanbatt »

lieut_data wrote: post #223
conanbatt wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Babysitting a single child is economically very inefficient. Its something teenage girls can do while they watch tv. A full grown adult with skills is worth considerably more to society working than babysitting. Its not an economic necessity that both parents work, the incentive to do it is extremely large and probably pure conservatism had been keeping it at bay, if at all.

Society underestimates the long-term economic value of a child raised by a full-time, invested parent. Parenting and babysitting are apples and oranges.

No it doesn't. Otherwise, every single teacher, caretaker, would quit their jobs as soon as they had a child and would get the same economical benefit.

If it were a productive investment it would be common because those that do it would easily outclass the rest.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#334

Post by zxcvvcxz »

kmicklas wrote: post #307
grzm wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know it was this possible to be so non self aware. No matter how ignorant you may think another poster is, it's never okay on HN to be uncivil. Particularly with contentious topics, it's even more important to raise to level of civility to ensure constructive discussion.

This isn't uncivil. This is pointing out that OP's statement is factually ignorant of the economic possibilities for 99% of the population.

Yes please add some substance to your criticism. There is nothing wrong with criticism of ideas and I welcome it for my own.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that I live and work in North America where GDP per capita is something like $54K USD or more. This context makes a difference for your "99%" comment.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#335

Post by conanbatt »

onion2k wrote: post #237
conanbatt wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Babysitting a single child is economically very inefficient. Its something teenage girls can do while they watch tv. A full grown adult with skills is worth considerably more to society working than babysitting. Its not an economic necessity that both parents work, the incentive to do it is extremely large and probably pure conservatism had been keeping it at bay, if at all.

Being a parent is not babysitting.

Its mostly babysitting. You can divide the effort to raise a child as nursing, teaching and babysitting. The parent is most invested into doing it, but he cannot get very good as a nurse or a teacher (if its not his profession) and babysitting is very low value. You definitely cannot spend 8 hours a day teaching a baby things, and most of the things you teach are quite low skilled (exercise, playing, reading, etc).

If the parent can earn a lot more income by delegating responsibilities he will do it, or rather, most will do it.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#336

Post by panic »

clarkmoody wrote: post #326
panic wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To fix education, our first priority should be to empower teachers. They're the ones who care the most about kids' learning and know the best how to make it happen. Teaching shouldn't be a low-paying, low-status profession. I'm not sure how you could change that with a YC startup.

Why not empower the people who pay for the product? The consumer? (students / parents) > They're the ones who care the most about kids' learning Sad that some parents care less than their teachers, but that's probably the root of 75% of education problems.

For the same reason patients aren't empowered to make their own medical diagnoses. Trained teachers can be much more effective than untrained parents.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#337

Post by kmicklas »

zxcvvcxz wrote: post #332
kmicklas wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the capitalist system works fine, because if these employees think I'm doing a shit job, they do have a vote: leave and start their own company. I didn't know it was this possible to be so non self aware. > The parts that don't work are actually the more socialist parts of the system, such as bailouts for big behemoth, and regulatory barriers to starting competitors. Socialism is when the government does things…

> I didn't know it was this possible to be so non self aware. Or leave and work for a competitor. I don't put a gun to anybody's head, unlike various socialist governments. Feel free to expand on this thought though. Note that I work in North America and so my expectation of an employee being able to 1) leave and work for someone else, or 2) leave and start their own company, stem from this. > Socialism is when the g…

> Or leave and work for a competitor. I don't put a gun to anybody's head, unlike various socialist governments.

Only socialist governments put guns to people's heads?

> Note that I work in North America and so my expectation of an employee being able to 1) leave and work for someone else, or 2) leave and start their own company, stem from this.

Yeah, it's not so easy for most of the world's population. Since you seem to be aware this, note that a less obvious element of this fact is that the reason things seem largely not so bad in the US/Europe is due to the large scale extraction of economic value from less developed countries. That power law is now coming around to bite the US/Europe middle class, and Trump/Brexit is the result.

> So what do you call it when the government props up certain businesses (that they prefer) by redistributing my tax dollars thereby shielding them from market forces? I can't think of a libertarian government doing this.

Cronyism? Corruption? This really has little to do with economics but is a political problem. The same thing happens in capitalist and socialist countries.

> And yes, socialism must imply a bigger and more intrusive central management body (aka government) because that's how you "democratize the means of production". You have to enforce such actions with the gun.

Yes because of people like you fighting it... grumble grumble

There are actually a lot of "libertarian socialist" theories out there. It's like a blend of anarchism and Marxism.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#338

Post by masonic »

cazum wrote: post #18
alva wrote: post #3

Regarding the Fake News section and trust in media. I would love to see a tool or company that holds the mainstream news sources accountable. Over the last two days the major news sources have been pushing a blatantly false "truth" ("Muslim Ban"). Intention of this post is not to get into a political discussion of this! Every time I, as a heavy news consumer, see the BBC, NYT etc push a story which I know to be false…

Without derailing too much here, can you point me to a non-op-ed story published by a mainstream news source that calls it a "Muslim ban"?

The Washington Post emailed a story ("News Alert Fri., Jan. 27, 2017 7:39 p.m.") that described the travel constraints as an unqualified "... 90-day halt to all entry from seven Muslim-majority countries". That's a flat lie, and it was eventually changed on the website.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#339

Post by kmicklas »

zxcvvcxz wrote: post #329
kmicklas wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I'm dismissive it's because we've had a lot of field tests of socialism throughout history, as well as in economic studies, and the results are always poor. It's a dangerous mindset to not examine critically because it is a slippery slope towards communism, the most inhumane type of society responsible for the most deaths in human history (much more than religion). This one sentence already demonstrates that you…

Please do share.

Socialism = state with social ownership of the means of production Communism = hypothetical end goal of society where the state "whithers away" and class divisions no longer exist

Note that people describe themselves as communist since that is their end goal and states describe themselves as socialist since they have not ceased to exist yet.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#340

Post by masonic »

pgodzin wrote: post #17
alva wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah me either as it is off topic. But in response, it is not a ban on people of one religion entering the country. It is a ban on people from 7 terror prone countries entering. For the passing news consumer, it would be very easy to be led to believe that Muslims are banned from entering the US.

A ban on 7 Muslim-majority countries with exceptions for minority religions. In addition: "I’ll tell you the whole history of it: When he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban,'" Giuliani said on Fox News. "He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.’" source: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316726-giuliani-t...

  with exceptions for minority religions.
That appears to be totally false. Where do you get that?

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/01/29/protecting-nation-foreig...

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