291–300 of 309 posts
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Free market economy does not mean everyone has the same money, connections, skills, and ability to produce the economic output.
No, but that’s just a numbers of games—there are millions of developers out there, and only a few hundred high demand skills.
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"They" need to be taught to demand a degree of rights, protections and subsidies in line with the rights, protections and subsidies afforded the already-wealthy.
Sure, to exercise their rights as part of democracy.
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I just googled this https://www.buzzfeed.com/danvergano/nasa-is-a-jobs-program?u... Again, I have to say I really hate how my previous comment sounded. There's just a lot to this and I didn't want to try and defend the very idea while arguing about government reform because it would have been an uphill battle. Sorry for how rude that sounded. The basic idea, though, is that NASA (while awesome) has been building a he…
The article is about congress using NASA to send money to their districts by building out the lift program. Thats Congress being dumb. NASA may have become a jobs program, but it isnt supposed to be, and Musk is a response to that, in my mind. "A surprise billion dollars may sound good. But while adding money to “Space Operations,” the Appropriations Committee also cut $660 million from NASA’s science, aeronautics, a…
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Every second teenager is carrying iPhone - are you sure? [Citation needed] Problem is that most US population is not educated/smart and easy to manipulate into crazy consumption - conspicuous consumption: a fault that can be levied far wider than just the US. The US has a well documented and understood education system and their unis are respected across the world. You need to understand that middle class is gone. -…
> Every second teenager is carrying iPhone - are you sure? [Citation needed] There is 70 millions of iPhone sold in last 4 years in US. If you include other high-end phones it makes teenager/adults to carry half the year of work in Pakistan and year of work in Madagascar. https://www.statista.com/statistics/242269/apple-iphone-in-t... > The US has a well documented and understood education system and their unis are r…
If you include other high-end phones it makes teenager/adults to carry half the year of work in Pakistan and year of work in Madagascar.
You are a bot and I claim my five quid.
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You really think the "populists" who want to "tax the rich" are going to stop At the 1%? It's not the 1% they despise - as evidence by the election - it's "the liberal west coast elites". The other 80% with households making less than $116K year would just as likely start taxing everyone who makes more than that. Have you noticed that most tax deductions that are designed to help the middle class phase out in the $12…
> You really think the "populists" who want to "tax the rich" are going to stop At the 1%? Yep. Most people are perfectly capable of distinguishing between a middle class 2 bedroom house and someone who owns 15 vacation homes, a private jet, and private islands. The real question is whether or not middle class people will punch down and behave as if no one can distinguish between a multi billionaire and and a normal…
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I'm not entirely convinced by your line of thinking. Firstly is your sole motivation for your business financial? Because if so you may as well sell it, buy property and let it out, you'll earn a comfortable living and if you use a letting agent you can get them to deal with the renters and do almost zero work, bar having to file taxes once a year (and hey you can get an accountant to do that for you). Even ignoring…
Point I'm getting at is that very few people start a business solely for financial reasons, there's usually some level of passion involved. You really think that the average small business person working from themselves are doing it out of "passion" rather than that's their best alternative? Many small business owners work as much as possible to avoid having to pay someone else, hardly ever take vacations, and if giv…
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It's so childish putting optimistic people down. Our economy, habits, and mindset can change with a great deal of work and energy. People are becoming more connected than ever before, and with that we can build a new kind of social momentum. Hey, you're right, things suck now, but it doesn't have to be like this.
This is an even more childish comment. You think you can change how human nature fundamentally works? How naive. People are selfish and greedy. They always have been. They always will be. Any solution to a problem that relies on building "a new kind of social momentum" are ignorant at best and actively harmful at worst.
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Your post is optimistic to the point I choked on my coffee. Our economy is predicated on consumer spending; we have a whole set of industries built on the backs of poor financial decision making and being near-broke (payday loans, credit cards, overdraft charge reordering, debt collectors, etc.) all of which pull power away from desperate people and give it to others (now your landlord/phone company/ISP/etc have lega…
> Actually, it appears that voters and politicians have zero interest in improving this situation, seeing as the current administration is making every effort to demoralize and defang the CFPB The current administration was elected with fewer votes than the leading opponent, so it certainly reflects a subset of voters and the politicians comprising the administration, but hardly is a basis for concluding that voters…
This makes it clear why our current capitalism doesn't work. The ruling class / rich and wealth people and businesses could extract more wealth out of the middle and lower classes than they do now, if the lower classes were more stable and secure. In the US especially, but nearly everywhere, there are hoards of people trying to lower or eliminate social services, basic science research, etc, with the dog-whistle clai…
upvoted. HN seems to have a silent conservative majority in posts like this =/
Given its size, the HN audience's ideology should fit a normal distribution just like the rest of society, but adjusted for the fact that it selects for people who work in tech. A "silent conservative majority" is unlikely on that basis.
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Your post is optimistic to the point I choked on my coffee. Our economy is predicated on consumer spending; we have a whole set of industries built on the backs of poor financial decision making and being near-broke (payday loans, credit cards, overdraft charge reordering, debt collectors, etc.) all of which pull power away from desperate people and give it to others (now your landlord/phone company/ISP/etc have lega…
> Your post is optimistic to the point I choked on my coffee. Don't sneer. Do the hard work to make necessary things happen.
This will become more and more apparent in the coming years and I do believe it will be at the center of all conflict and political discourse going forward.
Nihilistic minds will lead us down a path that depletes the healthy parts of the system(s) upon which such people rely too heavily. And these aforementioned parasitic systems are not good at generating wealth nor are they historically efficient at generating innovation or new, stronger systems.
There might not be a revolution, but there will be a subverting downward spiral that will end with a wake up call. One can only hope and try to convince & convert others to put on the brakes long and hard enough for us to develop immunities and fixes.