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Poverty-Fighting Startups

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Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#121

Post by zappo2938 »

splitrocket wrote: post #96
zappo2938 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments shouldn't take care of people. People should take care of people. (Over course, we should take care of ourselves first but that doesn't always work out.)

Strange, is the government somehow not made up of people? This line of reasoning is so strange, like government is some sort of alien being, not an institution of the people, for the people. Taxes are how you buy civilization. Voting is how you decide what sort of civilization you want.

I read "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau[0] in my early twenties and have been miserable ever since.

"I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least' ... But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government."

[0] http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#122

Post by RickJWag »

Does anyone else find it odd to make a smartphone app for EBT users? If I were broke, one of my first moves would be to go to a cheaper phone, maybe a flip-phone style.

But maybe that's what the author meant by the trade of time and convenience for cost.... I really, truly believe that money skills lead to the accumulation of wealth, and that they are acquirable (teachable) skills.

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#123

Post by IncRnd »

zachlatta wrote: post #52
IncRnd wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is it... a "startup"? Do they make money? Is Propel even a for-profit company? A startup is a newly established business - that is to say, just starting up.

I'm a fan of PG's view: http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html

I'll put forward that PG is using his own definition that aligns with his business. His definition differs from that of the dictionary's definition.

There's nothing wrong with that, as it helps him achieve day-to-day his goals. But, the definition is otherwise limited in that it is not correct or useful outside of direct investors who are looking for fast growing companies that want to be called startups in order to get startup funding.

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#124

Post by [deleted] »

BurningFrog wrote: post #110
baursak wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. The estimate of pre-Columbian population itself is highly debated, I fail to see how you can so confidently state a number that must be derived from that estimate.

It's a well established fact that 80-90% of the pre-Columbian population died from European infectious diseases, often before seeing a single European, since the diseases travelled faster than the people. This was centuries before the germ theory of disease became mainstream in the late 1800s, and no one on either side had a clear understanding of what was going on. Divine intervention was probably the most common th…

[deleted]

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#125

Post by ZenoArrow »

Fuzzy_Logic wrote: post #20
john_moscow wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Fighting poverty is a social and political problem. It is simply a question of will. We have enough wealth on earth to provide food, clothing, and housing to every single human being. Why don't we do it? That's a political question. The technology is trivial. Because there is a huge and complex domain of human motivation, appreciation for hard-earned things vs. taking them for granted and so on. USSR tried doing exa…

An additional problem is one of economic calculation. Mises argued one hundred years ago that a planned economy where the state owns the means of production and arbitrarily sets prices without an open market to determine prices by supply and demand would result in economic waste and shortages. He was largely proven right by the disastrous Soviet experience. https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursion…

> "would result in economic waste and shortages"

Capitalism frequently also results in economic waste and artificial shortages, it's not like communism has the monopoly on that.

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#126

Post by ZenoArrow »

TFYS wrote: post #91
Fuzzy_Logic wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An additional problem is one of economic calculation. Mises argued one hundred years ago that a planned economy where the state owns the means of production and arbitrarily sets prices without an open market to determine prices by supply and demand would result in economic waste and shortages. He was largely proven right by the disastrous Soviet experience. https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursion…

While he might have been right one hundred years ago, the economic calculation problem might not be a problem anymore. We're starting to get to the point where we have enough computing power to simulate the world economy. Everyone also now has a way to communicate their needs instantly to a computer. Compared to what could be achieved with todays technology, the price mechanism is inaccurate and slow.

> "Everyone also now has a way to communicate their needs instantly to a computer. Compared to what could be achieved with todays technology, the price mechanism is inaccurate and slow."

The price mechanism means that people have to make trade offs, and for anyone living outside of poverty, that's often a good thing.

To use a simple example, if you're a gamer you may want both a PS4 and an Xbox One, but if you only have the money to buy one, you have to choose which one you'd rather have. If you remove the price mechanism you've absolved the individual from making that choice, and you'll get greater demands for material goods as a result.

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#127

Post by BurningFrog »

baursak wrote: post #114
BurningFrog wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a well established fact that 80-90% of the pre-Columbian population died from European infectious diseases, often before seeing a single European, since the diseases travelled faster than the people. This was centuries before the germ theory of disease became mainstream in the late 1800s, and no one on either side had a clear understanding of what was going on. Divine intervention was probably the most common th…

Like I said, citation needed. There are still countries in the Americas with either majority or very significant indigenous populations. Were they immune somehow?

These are basic historical facts you can easily look up yourself.

The 90% dieouts happened several centuries ago. That's plenty of time to repopulate.

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#128

Post by [deleted] »

robotbikes wrote: post #113
lsc wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One argument against such programs is that they could allow people to have a lifestyle where they choose to never work, yet live a comfortable life and have lots of children. It seems like this could cause extreme population growth, but in a very bad way. Am I missing something, or is there a solution to address that problem? So, I'm talking largely about rich nations like the USA. Here? it has been a long time sinc…

Our current social welfare programs actively discourage people from saving money to get out of poverty. If you have more than 2,000$ in your bank account you are disqualified from reviving EBT in many states. So people either have to save and hide or lie about their money or get cut off the second their able to build their own safety net. Predatory lending and an inability to plan beyond their immediate survival also…

[deleted]

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#129

Post by songzme »

maged wrote: post #116
songzme wrote: post #76

Its important to know that you don't need millions of dollars to help people and do good. My salary was 145k with it I started a non profit that pays low-income earners minimum wage while they learn how to code. These people could really benefit from learning how to problem solve but they don't have the luxury to quit and join a bootcamp. With my salary, I was able to help 3 people at first but now (after getting a n…

Are you accepting/looking for volunteers?

Yes! Please send me an email (in my profile)

Re: Poverty-Fighting Startups

#130

Post by TFYS »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #126
TFYS wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While he might have been right one hundred years ago, the economic calculation problem might not be a problem anymore. We're starting to get to the point where we have enough computing power to simulate the world economy. Everyone also now has a way to communicate their needs instantly to a computer. Compared to what could be achieved with todays technology, the price mechanism is inaccurate and slow.

> "Everyone also now has a way to communicate their needs instantly to a computer. Compared to what could be achieved with todays technology, the price mechanism is inaccurate and slow." The price mechanism means that people have to make trade offs, and for anyone living outside of poverty, that's often a good thing. To use a simple example, if you're a gamer you may want both a PS4 and an Xbox One, but if you only h…

Of course you'd have to somehow set limits on consumption in any system where resources are limited. The price mechanism isn't the only way to do that. You could for example have only one game system to begin with so there's no reason to own two. Or you could have public "libraries" for things like gaming systems where you could borrow anything you need, reducing the need to own things.

Resources should be allocated where they are needed the most. The price mechanism doesn't do that. If you don't have any money, a system based on the price mechanism doesn't know you exist no matter how great your need.

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