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Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

nytimes.com

61–70 of 125 posts

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but for different reasons. Jobs went to third world workers, while the majority of the productivity went into shareholder pockets. That's an internal policy issue in the US, not a globalization issue (or rather, it's an unchecked capitalism issue). You can use policy to prevent unfettered blood letting of jobs to the cheapest labor sinks in the world. Globalization is not some foregone conclusion we have no…

It didn't really go to shareholders. Maybe a little at first but a global market meant that prices of goods just dropped to compensate for the 'savings'.

> It didn't really go to shareholders.

Data does not support your claim. Consumer excess was definitely realized due to cheaper labor in China and retailers like Walmart exerting influence on vendors, but shareholders most definitely have been receiving the majority of productivity gains.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/top-1-percent-of-americans-rea...

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/07/news/economy/compensation-pr...

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1021787.shtm...

https://hbr.org/2014/09/profits-without-prosperity

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/22/...

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/apr/...

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening.

That's only somewhat true. It will smooth out living standards as it crushes working people down by exploiting the lowest wages anywhere in the globe. Simultaneously, the wealthy bourgeoisie will become richer and richer until the internal contradiction in capitalism, that profits come from consumers that must work for wages, tears the system asunder. The system that follows will likely be fascism, the seamless merge…

If any of the previous experiments with socialism are any indication, fascism and socialism have the same approximate outcomes.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True story. I share a messy studio with my girlfriend in the Bay Area. We’ve both at times felt like it’s weird for us to live in a small cramped space, but any time I learn about life for poorer people the world over I realize that living in cramped messy places is the global norm. The fact that I grew up around clean single family homes is just an artifact of the wealth around me. I will say though that I hope robo…

The statistic that constantly rattles around in my head is that 70% of the world lives on less than $10/day. There's an awful long way down from here.

Per capita world GDP is about $16K/year. That's significantly more than $10/day, but it's also significantly less than anyone in the Western world is accustomed to living on.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#64
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You go to SF to launch your career then GTFO ASAP to a less 'enlightened' part of the US where you don't have to worry about hyper sensitivity and your dollar actually counts for something.

What nonsense. Sure, the valley can teach you some new JavaScript frameworks and how to best invade your users privacy to sell ads, but real programming happens everywhere. There’s plenty of ways to launch your career without working for Zuckerberg or Bezos.

I never said SF was the only way to launch a career and tend to agree with you. Still, there is no denying the power of having a big name on your resume when looking for the next job.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening.

That's only somewhat true. It will smooth out living standards as it crushes working people down by exploiting the lowest wages anywhere in the globe. Simultaneously, the wealthy bourgeoisie will become richer and richer until the internal contradiction in capitalism, that profits come from consumers that must work for wages, tears the system asunder. The system that follows will likely be fascism, the seamless merge…

Years-long waiting lists for apartments shared with many strangers are the historical norm under socialist housing schemes and the only evidence-based expectation were we to implement one today.

This despite central-planning allocation of graduates to work assignments and no freedom of internal movement. This alone would probably "solve" the housing crises in major cities today: just stop letting people move to them in such massive numbers.

A coworker who grew up in Soviet-era Moscow remarked that it wasn't all bad - homelessness basically didn't exist - but each nuclear family (let alone individual) getting their own home is a development of the contemporary West's uniquely hyper-capitalist and hyper-atomized society. Embracing collectivization is not going to make it easier to get your own home.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What nonsense. Sure, the valley can teach you some new JavaScript frameworks and how to best invade your users privacy to sell ads, but real programming happens everywhere. There’s plenty of ways to launch your career without working for Zuckerberg or Bezos.

I ask for one (1) example, that does not include any software hubs that mimic the valley (this includes Austin, New York, Boston, and Seattle, but is not limited to), that has an equal, or close to equal, impact on your career in comparison to the Bay Area. The only thing the valley has going for it is the saturation of talent and people who hire talent. The bad, is that without it it's got nothing to really show for…

Citadel, located in Chicago. You guys out west are so smug it’s unbelievable.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening.

> Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening. In another couple decades, most definitely. Soon? Nah. China is rapidly aging, their economy is overheating, they're about to go through their own debt unwinding. Africa is just a mess. Maybe? I'll believe it when I see it. The United States, regardless of current even…

Why? You might if you really really really liked mild year round weather, a variety of food options, great mountain/road biking, diversity, and a couple of other things. But only some people are into these things.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#69

Last time I was in SF I stayed near the Tenderloin area: I've never seen anything like that level of homelessness, neglect and dysfunction in any other first world country. The existence of such conditions in a city of billionaires is shameful shit. The US economy generates over $100k per household, and people are living on the street, or crammed into dorm rooms? It's a cruel, obscene disgrace.

Same here. I grew up in Seattle and thought that was bad, but the number of downcast and desperate characters I saw in downtown SF and how closely they were pressed up against areas of impressive wealth (like at Mission & 16th) was extremely depressing.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening. In another couple decades, most definitely. Soon? Nah. China is rapidly aging, their economy is overheating, they're about to go through their own debt unwinding. Africa is just a mess. Maybe? I'll believe it when I see it. The United States, regardless of current even…

Why? You might if you really really really liked mild year round weather, a variety of food options, great mountain/road biking, diversity, and a couple of other things. But only some people are into these things.

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