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The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

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Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#371

Post by rsync »

rorykoehler wrote: post #333
xienze wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being surrounded by people who speak a different language, use a different currency and have a different culture provides a very valuable life experience. Other than the currency part, we've got that in the US...

It's really not the same thing. America always feels like America. Travelling in the US is no substitute to travelling abroad.

"It's really not the same thing. America always feels like America. Travelling in the US is no substitute to travelling abroad."

Except for New Orleans.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#372

Post by badsock »

m23khan wrote: post #284

Can't speak for whole of Canada but Toronto is definitely on track to become a city where it is impossible to buy a house and rents are so high that for a family - both husband and wife need to work and one of the spouse has to have a side gig for making the money to feed and clothe the family along with some meagre savings. Canadian government keeps stating that inflation rate is less than 2% but reality is, in Toro…

I understand the argument for excluding housing, food, and fuel from the official inflation stats, but at this point it's making that number a complete departure from reality.

Canada right now is basically getting divided into two classes: those who happened to own real estate a decade or two ago and their children, and everyone else.

That's not success based on how hard you worked, or how much you contributed to society, or proportionate to the amount of risk you took. It's just (mostly) Chinese money randomly landing on some of the population, and causing real issues with quality of life and serious opportunity costs for the rest. That is not something we should be happy about, and it's something that we should have better numbers on.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#373

Post by rsync »

gambiting wrote: post #133
jacquesm wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many Europeans would trade their car for a Cadillac anyway, they're not very popular here because of fuel consumption and size.

I'm actually extremely surprised that you can buy a Cadillac in EU at the moment, since Chrystler and Dodge stopped selling all of their cars in EU few years ago citing lack of interest - but apparently you can order a brand new CTS-V or an Escalade in the UK? http://www.cadillac.co.uk/v-series/cts-v-series.html I've literally never seen a cadillac over here, except for a few US left-hand-drive imports. And yes, an E…

"I'm actually extremely surprised that you can buy a Cadillac in EU at the moment, since Chrystler and Dodge stopped selling all of their cars in EU few years ago citing lack of interest - but apparently you can order a brand new CTS-V or an Escalade in the UK?"

Cadillac is produced by General Motors.

On my most recent trip to Zurich I saw cadillacs and chevy camaros, etc., out driving around.

They are crap cars but I think there's some counter-cultural cache that they possess in a place like that.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#374

Post by rsync »

d--b wrote: post #153

This is a strangely divisive topic in the startup industry. For some reason, there are smart people who think that meritocracy works: work hard and things will be good for you. The problem is that in many cases working hard (as in building up a startup) does indeed give people the opportunity to rise in society. But it is not true in all cases at all. And so the negative statement "if you are struggling you didn't tr…

"The problem is that in many cases working hard (as in building up a startup) does indeed give people the opportunity to rise in society."

I have never seen that to be a problem.

How would propose that we "fix" that problem ?

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#375

Post by iamacynic »

oldprogrammer2 wrote: post #353
seanhandley wrote: post #59

As a European (used to free healthcare, statutory maternity leave, and 25 days paid leave per year) it shocked me on first visiting America how third-world it actually feels regarding what people consider a "normal" work/life balance. People work incredibly hard, long hours and often with very little to show for it. It's surreal.

Given that the US is large and varied, what you describe doesn't sound like where I live (Texas). Oddly enough I had that same reaction when I first visited London: life seemed worse than where I was from. I don't know anyone who works more than 40 hours a week, in tech or elsewhere. Those of us in the corporate world have 15-25 days of paid time off (not including holidays, to be clear), based on time with a company…

> Central and South America, a comparison to the third-world, even if limited to work/life balance, is highly inaccurate.

of course it is. calling the US as a whole, a third world country is absurd to anyone who has actually been to one.

that's not even taking into account that the US is what literally defines what a first-world country is, warts and all.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#376

Post by rsync »

cbanek wrote: post #2

Seems like in America it's hard to win. Either get paid not nearly enough and struggle to make ends meet, or get a high paid high stress job, still work all day and all night. Maybe we just have too much of that protestant work ethic?

"Maybe we just have too much of that protestant work ethic?"

Actually, that's testable, to a degree ...

The largest and most potent concentration of "the protestant work ethic" produced switzerland, which is the nicest and best place on earth.

I don't think too much PWE is our problem.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#377

Post by FLUX-YOU »

seanhandley wrote: post #59

As a European (used to free healthcare, statutory maternity leave, and 25 days paid leave per year) it shocked me on first visiting America how third-world it actually feels regarding what people consider a "normal" work/life balance. People work incredibly hard, long hours and often with very little to show for it. It's surreal.

America does look normal compared to Japan though.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#378

Post by rsync »

WaxProlix wrote: post #4
SwellJoe wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some might say "too much capitalism". I don't know many protestants.

"Too much capitalism" would imply that the people who get money funneled to them at the top don't work hard enough (or take enough risk) to earn that money. Surely you don't believe that? edit: Sarcasm on HN is a bad idea. Obviously earning 400x a worker's wage is bullshit, there's no amount of work that justifies that.

"Obviously earning 400x a worker's wage is bullshit, there's no amount of work that justifies that."

I don't think that's obvious, but let's stipulate that it's true.

While there may be no amount of work that justifies it, there is an amount of ownership that justifies it.

Not everyone is a up-the-ladder CEO that gets placed into a firm and then rent-seeks for a few years while waiting for a golden parachute. Some people founded their firms and reap the financial gains directly from what they've built - and if that is 400 or 500 or 600x what the janitor makes, so be it.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#379

Post by Aaargh20318 »

hellofunk wrote: post #340
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Holland, everyone takes off 4 - 6 weeks in the summer to travel the world. This is so different than Americans No we don't. I have 5 weeks of holiday a year, total. I take 2 weeks around christmas. Maybe a week somewhere in Spring, that leaves 2 weeks summer holidays. Plus, you want to keep a few spare days in case you need an incidental day off for whatever reason.

Exactly, 5 weeks! That's a huge amount by American standards. And many Dutch I know do take most that time in the summer, at once.

Really ? I don't know anyone who does. Most companies I've worked for wouldn't have allowed it either because it could cause planning difficulties around the vacation period.

Re: The Gig Economy Celebrates Working To Excess

#380

Post by Aaargh20318 »

hellofunk wrote: post #349
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify: I live in the Netherlands and I was disagreeing with the fact that everyone takes off 4-6 weeks to travel around the world each summer. Most people only get 5 weeks of holiday a year total (4 weeks is the legal minimum) and they usually spread out those days over the year. If you can travel the world for 6 weeks every summer then you have an above-average number of free days and probably an above-average…

I said 4 - 6 weeks; you are focusing on the "6" but I know many, many Dutch (my neighbors, actually) who are gone a full month every summer, like clockwork. Nearly everyone on my street. It's always either July or August. You say people "only" get 5 weeks of holiday, but that only supports my main point about the huge difference between that and what Americans are used to.

It could be that it depends on the kind of job you do. A lot of people go skiing in winter so they take 1 or 2 weeks then, but that probably won't be true for the lower-income groups.
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