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Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

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Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#151

Post by agumonkey »

kvee wrote: post #31

This is a generally unpopular opinion, and I don't know that I agree with it, but it does appear that the billionaires might be logically right from an ethical perspective. It might cost more QALYs (quality-adjusted life years) to have an economic recession the size of 2008 than to have millions die from COVID-19: https://medium.com/@benfinn/coronavirus-how-much-is-a-life-w...

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/12297/how-many-p...

apparently outside suicides, deaths reduced overall

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#152

Post by gonehome »

randlet wrote: post #74
gonehome wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe just buy a decent chair? I picked up a liquidation sale Aeron on Craigslist - totally worth it. Also I’ve found it easier and faster to zoom since everyone is remote (don’t have to try and find an open meeting room).

Better yet, switch to standing!

I tried that - really didn't like it.

I've been happy with the Aeron chair and getting up pretty often to wander around a bit.

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#153

Post by asdff »

a3n wrote: post #84

How can a billionaire stay rich if we don't go back to work? Money doesn't grow on trees. It comes from our bodies.

They can just exist and not do anything. I can't imagine most billionaires burn rate for daily expenses like food and essentials are beyond like 50k a year, if that.

Proportionally to me, that would be like if I withdrew a dollar from my bank account and lit it on fire once a year to cover all my necessities.

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#154

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #97
freeqaz wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If productivity turns out to be similar (or better) despite this handicap, I'd be genuinely curious to see how companies respond! I'm personally very pro-remote (have worked remote at corporate gigs before) and it'd be great to see more companies adopting it. There are some seriously big benefits and, if the tooling keeps improving, I think it could be a real competitive advantage for companies.

> If productivity turns out to be similar (or better) despite this handicap, I'd be genuinely curious to see how companies respond! It won't. That's the problem. Being forced to do WFH unprepaerd + kids suddenly home + being in an actual pandemic, worried about the future, your family and yourself = productivity disaster. And it unfortunately will end up emotionally associated with WFH.

Also, I suspect many companies are going to see reduced turnover, and as a result are likely to shy away from anything that may have contributed, including WFH.

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#155

Post by berbec »

TheBlight wrote: post #134
jarekkruk wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Italy on average there are about 2000 deaths a day. Yesterday, there were 683 deaths attributed to Coronovirus.

In 2017 Italy had 25,000 deaths attributable to flu. And in the case of Covid-19, if a patient tests positive and they die it counts as a Covid-19 death regardless of whether or not Covid-19 is the actual cause of death. The majority of deaths in Italy right now are among the elderly with 3 or more comorbidities.

And 2017 had 365 days, so that amounts to 68 deaths a day. That would mean yesterday was 10 times worse than "flu"

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#156

Post by Boxbot »

Ghjklov wrote: post #149
cultus wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are making the very false assumption that we have a choice between deaths and economic collapse. Like it or not, we are seeing faster growth rates than Spain. With our awful response, we could be easily heading for 2+ million deaths if hospitals get overloaded as expected. Workers will not show up anyway because it is dangerous for them and their families (this is already happening). This will cause the economy t…

That really makes me think. What kind of fucked up third world country do we live in where all these apathetic people are willing to consider sacrificing their grandmothers just so they can have work to do in order to get by living? What happened to revolution and eating the rich? Have we lost to the Mr. Money Mustaches of the world?

The United States of America

now (more) americans get to experience to misery, terror, and death that the u.s. has exported to to rest of the world in order to fuel its economic "growth"

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#157

Post by dingaling »

empath75 wrote: post #146
TheBlight wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please point me to a source which conclusively demonstrates the true mortality rate is higher than common influenza.

Like do we literally need to fly you to Italy to see the piles of bodies?

Comorbidity accounts for the vast majority of the deaths reported in Italy.

We cannot tell yet whether the total number who will die this season will be significantly greater or whether it is that the rate of deaths has increased.

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#158

Post by dingaling »

cycrutchfield wrote: post #142
TheBlight wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't know what the mortality rate is because we don't know how many people have been infected.

It doesn't matter. Hospitals are being overloaded and people are dying in hallways for lack of care. Ever seen that at this scale in influenza epidemics before? Maybe not since 1918.

> Maybe not since 1918

1957/58 H2N2 Asian flu 2 million global deaths atrributed

1968 H3N2 Hong Kong flu 1 million global deaths atrributed

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#159

Post by pengaru »

viklove wrote: post #147
pengaru wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We have no slaves today because renting turned out to be cheaper than owning with advancement of infrastructure and technology. Nonsense, I have an embarrassing number of acquaintances who've admitted to wanting slaves and that they'd have them if it weren't illegal. It's important to keep in mind that there's no shortage of people who'd be slave owners if only it were legal. What you see in the prison system is a…

> Conventional slavery was damn near ubiquitous, accessible to many. [citation needed]

For starters, in the early 1700s over 40% of NYC households enslaved people, not even in the south.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States#C...

Re: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure

#160

Post by dragonwriter »

ageofwant wrote: post #122
Traster wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, I'm getting very tired of the constant hacker news posts telling me that working from home is the future, that I'm getting twice as much done in half the time. I'll tell you what I have, I have chronic back pain from my uncomfortable dining room chairs and chronic anger at the fact I can't get timely answers to my quesitons. Some people like working from home, fine, but for many of us it's just not right.

Peculiar world view this. A good chair costs $300, and is tax-deductible. And you can pick one that fits you perfectly. Why are you under the delusion that your co-workers are there to service your query queue ? Figure out how to help yourself. Avoiding interrupting pesky colleagues is a major reason working from home is such a pleasure. People defend this self-serving behaviour in the name of 'teamwork' and it needs…

> A good chair costs $300, and is tax-deductible.

No, if it's for remote W-2 work, it's not. If it's used exclusively for your own business, it is. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated home office deductions for people who are not self-employed.

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