Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers • Hacker News Board

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#361

Post by fastball » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:27 AM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #348

fastball wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was responding to your complete lack of an argument ("FOOD BANKS EXIST!?!!") in turn. Seems like the best way to respond to people who interject completely useless comments into conversations. If you want to have an actual discussion we can, but I doubt it will be productive, as it is already very clear that you either lack the critical reasoning skills to recognise the difference between wealth disparity and pover…

Your first two paragraphs should get an award for most arrogant comment in quite a while.

How do you figure?

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#362

Post by fastball » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:29 AM UTC

wonderwonder wrote: post #350

fastball wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was responding to your complete lack of an argument ("FOOD BANKS EXIST!?!!") in turn. Seems like the best way to respond to people who interject completely useless comments into conversations. If you want to have an actual discussion we can, but I doubt it will be productive, as it is already very clear that you either lack the critical reasoning skills to recognise the difference between wealth disparity and pover…

psst, look at yourself and the way you talk to people, there are several problems here but I'm not one of them. I hope you are eventually able to find whatever you are looking for. Have a good night and optimally a better life.

I plan on having a better life every day, as I work towards that goal and get rewarded for my efforts.

Good luck with your wealth redistribution campaign. I'm sure it'll work out great. Who knows, you might get a life of abundance you did nothing to deserve!

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#363

Post by grigjd3 » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:30 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #303

grigjd3 wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In higher ed, at least, we have an abundance of people with PhDs that could theoretically teach at a college level - which is why a single tenure-track job will have 300 applicants. Not saying that supply and demand aren't involved here, but a simple application of supply and demand like you suggest isn't an adequate description.

Don't many of them actually teach (for bargain-basement wages)? At least, most of my friends who went to grad school had to teach undergrads at some point. There's probably some artificial barriers to entry for education as well - it's hard to explain how Ph.Ds have no job prospects at the same time that college tuition keeps on rising. And I suspect that has to do with college's role as a signaling device for job pr…

No signalling required here. A degree from a non-accredited institution might as well be toilet paper.

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#364

Post by leetcrew » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:33 AM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #357

Mikeb85 wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you are. And the business owner should know that to exist in a high-cost market, they need to be higher end.

Can a fast food chain restaurant exist in such a market?

according to google maps, there are about ten mcdonald's restaurants in SF, so I would argue yes.

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#365

Post by grigjd3 » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:39 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #323

nostrademons wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't many of them actually teach (for bargain-basement wages)? At least, most of my friends who went to grad school had to teach undergrads at some point. There's probably some artificial barriers to entry for education as well - it's hard to explain how Ph.Ds have no job prospects at the same time that college tuition keeps on rising. And I suspect that has to do with college's role as a signaling device for job pr…

Teaching is not the expensive part of University education. Housing (which you have to procure from the University for at least two years), amenities, and administration, is. You can provide a world-class education by having professors use a whiteboard to lecture to students in cargo containers, or prefabs, for a fraction of the price of a modern education. But then you don't get the 'college experience' of paying te…

So room and board often gets separated out from tuition and while significant, is not the larger part of what a student pays at a "four year campus" college or university. One can also typically map room and board to cost of living in the area and find that you are merely getting a bad deal in most cases, not an astronomically bad deal.

A lot of the costs go into intangibles, like my college had some pricey guest lecturer programs. It is true though that university overhead has been growing quite fast lately and a lot of money in the last decade has shifted to things that are decidedly unrelated to education (I mean, LSU has their own lazy river).

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#366

Post by leetcrew » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:45 AM UTC

irrational wrote: post #291

travisoneill1 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it with this attitude that somehow learning new things is only honorable when those things are useless in the job market? Do you really think that anybody is taking up 4 years of their life and 200 thousand of their (probably borrowed) dollars just for the purpose of "expanding their horizons"?

Who is paying 200,000 for college? That's crazy. I have 2 kids attending a private college and each one pays $2000 a semester. They both have academic scholarships - so their tuition is covered - but even if it wasn't, that is less than $20,000 over 4 years. You can get a good education without attending an ivy league university.

> Who is paying 200,000 for college?

I too am very interested in the answer to this question. if you're spending that much and not going to a top 30 school, you're a chump. if you are going to a truly elite school, you're not paying anything close to the sticker price unless your parents are quite well off.

I'm not saying college isn't unreasonably expensive these days, but I often see this number for undergrad and I always wonder where the hell it came from.

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#367

Post by maxxxxx » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 1:55 AM UTC

fastball wrote: post #361

maxxxxx wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first two paragraphs should get an award for most arrogant comment in quite a while.

How do you figure?

You basically told the previous poster that he is an idiot. That's arrogance in my view especially since you are only stating things with nothing to back them up or any coherent thought besides that you are right and everyone else is stupid and not even worth discussing with.

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#368

Post by village-idiot » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 2:02 AM UTC

idontpost wrote: post #343

village-idiot wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ll also find that Americans regularly connotate social class with economic class, because talking about the former makes us uncomfortable. I believe that the push to educate all young Americans was a push to expand the power of the middle social classes at the expense of the typically uneducated lower classes. Success in this endeavor is measured by the proliferation of middle class norms and tastes, not necessar…

> You’ll also find that Americans regularly connotate social class with economic class, because talking about the former makes us uncomfortable. Also because money is the only god in this country.

That’s true, but our nominal classlessness was a big point of pride and distinction from old Europe and it’s explicit class system.

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#369

Post by InclinedPlane » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 2:06 AM UTC

alkibiades wrote: post #121

wonderwonder wrote: post #12

The top 1% of American's own more wealth than the bottom 90% and this concentration is only increasing. Soon no cities regardless of size will deliver for low skilled workers as there will simply not be enough of the proverbial pie to go around. As wealth is concentrated and rents and property values rise the vast majority of this country will (does?) live paycheck to paycheck. This is unsustainable and will either n…

“not enough money to go around” Where do people get this strange idea that if someone else makes money it somehow precludes others from doing it? Bill Gates got rich with an invention that also generated probably a trillion dollars in economic growth for everyone. Including most people on this sites income.

When the statistics back it up?

Yes, it's possible for the rich to get richer while the poor also get richer. It's also possible for the rich to get richer by taking all the economic gains for themselves, leaving the poor to stagnate or to get poorer.

Over the past 40 years the bottom half of the economy in the US has seen zero growth. This despite massive growth overall. This despite rising house prices, growing student loan debt, etc. The rich have gotten richer and the poor and the middle class have been edged out. It doesn't have to be this way, but it is.

Why? Because of wage suppression, union busting, wage theft, predatory and usurious student loans, corporate welfare, tax cuts for the wealthy, and on and on and on.

Re: Big Cities No Longer Deliver for Low-Skill Workers

#370

Post by deboflo » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

halbritt wrote: post #262

deboflo wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, startups in Silicon Valley are starting to look at these certs because they realize how expensive poorly configured cloud infrastructure can be. It’s a skill that few people have at this point.

As a hiring manager for an infrastructure engineering team in a startup in the Silicon Valley, I have some opinion about the value of these certs. I'd likely never hire an engineer with one of these certs and no relevant experience into a full-time position. I might offer an internship, but that's not a six-figure position.

I agree. Work experience always comes first. Anyone obtaining AWS certs without work experience should be a huge red flag.