Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker • Hacker News Board

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#431

Post by Scoundreller » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:47 PM UTC

sbuttgereit wrote: post #236

Zenst wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many things have become " just-in-time", production, so much that depends upon things ticking along and any bump like this, sure does start toppeling many a dominio.

I think over the coming weeks, we're going to see just how much of the "essential" part of the economy depends on the "non-essential" part. For example, a comment in one of these postings on HN was talking about how the manufacture of essential supplies was continuing and robust (even I've made a similar comment some time ago). But... ok... how much of the logistics capacity, the capacity of hauling those essential p…

It’s a very good time for all of us to start listing our old crap on EBay. Just sold a couple things that have been listed for over a year.

1 was a Xiaomi Android box. Another was a vintage video game.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#432

Post by ikeboy » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:47 PM UTC

mattkrause wrote: post #392

ikeboy wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Federal reserve including all assets and subtracting all debts. If you owe 300k on your house that's worth 400k, you might have a liquidity problem but you aren't poor.

"Liquidating" a house is slow and relatively expensive. You're probably losing a decent chunk of that $100k if done in a rush (and of course, you need somewhere else to live too). Another chunk of that $100k is probably tied up in a car, which has the same problems.

Sure, but credit is cheap and easy. You can get a HELOC easily.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#433

Post by onetimemanytime » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:49 PM UTC

sovnade wrote: post #388

im3w1l wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exposed every day picking up meals vs exposed every other week in the supermarket.

Do you realize most people in NY have very limited storage space in their kitchens, no cars, and only buy what they can carry in 1-2 bags at a time because of that?

The cars thing I get, but most can carry quite a bit. Storage...you pile them, under the bed, corner etc etc. Whatever. We are living in horrible times

Of course you also need money to buy food for weeks, easy to say to others buy this and that)

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#434

Post by jshevek » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:50 PM UTC

_lqaf wrote: post #336

umvi wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is that people should strive to be self-reliant. Not: "how can we meet people's needs?" but "how do we help people meet their own needs?". Like the old proverb about giving a man a fish vs. teaching a man to fish. Everyone always shuts down that second question with "they can't help themselves until their basic needs are met" which is incredibly hand wavy…

> If poor people are to become middle class people If this is the goal, you need to be pushing to radically restructure the way society and the economy functions. You cannot have everyone employed at, say, $60K a year in the one we have. Most of the time when people say this, they prefer to focus on individuals rather than systemic issues - "this one person pulled them self up by their own bootstraps - surely others…

In this case, the insult is in how one chooses to perceive it. It's not present in the words themselves.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#435

Post by Scoundreller » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:50 PM UTC

b34r wrote: post #178

ping_pong wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Testing daily is science fiction right now. My assumption is that they check the temperature and that's about it.

It’s possible with the 5 minute Abbott machines that are starting to be distributed

Makes you wonder if you could pool together a bunch of low-risk samples, and only re-test if the pool comes back positive.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#436

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:55 PM UTC

RIMR wrote: post #368

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #27

The logistics behind this must be formidable. They would need hundreds of food preparers, all of them tested daily for COVID-19 and of course practicing strict hygiene in prep and packaging. Still it's probably easier to control than thousands of separate restaurants and food markets, which is undoubtedly their thinking: centralize food distribution to minimize risky contact. This is a sobering reminder of how depend…

I have no idea where you got this idea that being "tested daily for COVID-19" is some sort of requirement for preparing food right now. Nobody is getting tested for COVID-19 unless they are symptomatic, or they are rich and get to bypass the normal testing process. More importantly, testing asymptomatic people every day is just a gross waste of tests...

[deleted]

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#437

Post by badfrog » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

RIMR wrote: post #368

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #27

The logistics behind this must be formidable. They would need hundreds of food preparers, all of them tested daily for COVID-19 and of course practicing strict hygiene in prep and packaging. Still it's probably easier to control than thousands of separate restaurants and food markets, which is undoubtedly their thinking: centralize food distribution to minimize risky contact. This is a sobering reminder of how depend…

I have no idea where you got this idea that being "tested daily for COVID-19" is some sort of requirement for preparing food right now. Nobody is getting tested for COVID-19 unless they are symptomatic, or they are rich and get to bypass the normal testing process. More importantly, testing asymptomatic people every day is just a gross waste of tests...

Also, the risk of getting COVID from food is very low. You're more likely to get it from people near you standing in line.

> According to multiple health and safety organizations worldwide, including the CDC, the USDA, and the European Food safety Authority, there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 has spread through food or food packaging. Previous coronavirus epidemics likewise showed no evidence of having been spread through food or packaging

https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavi...

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#438

Post by bosie » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:58 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #397

bosie wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Austria government collects more VAT than it does from income tax. Then you have property tax, car tax (an additional 20% to the already 20% VAT), drugs tax (alcohol, beer, cigarettes ...), gas/fuel tax, flight tax, capital gains tax and probably many more i am forgetting now. those are just consumer taxes though

So going back to your earlier comment: >>UBI isn't a savior. UBI still requires that people, you know, pay taxes. If 30-40% of people have no income and are completely dependent upon the government, then you have slavery 2.0 (3.0?) and you will end up creating a worse, classed society than you had before: the ones receiving vs. those who pay for what everyone else gets. >Regarding your first paragraph: At least in a…

because the argument was that with UBI you would have a loss of income tax and since that is the only tax available to the government, you have a complete loss of tax. if you are shifting to a consumption tax, you would not have a loss.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#439

Post by Scoundreller » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 8:01 PM UTC

ball_of_lint wrote: post #424

Consultant32452 wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When someone runs out isn't the relevant stat. A person could receive $100/day and still run out in 17 days if they are ridiculous. The real question is can a person reasonably feed themselves on $4/day. I would submit the answer is 100% yes for the vast, vast majority of locations in the US. You can do your own web search for the litany of sites/postings on how to eat on Here's one sample site: https://www.budgetsar…

You can feed yourself for $4/day if you already have: - Cooking supplies (pots, pans, plates, silverware, etc) - 1h+ / day of free time to spend on cooking and shopping for food - A fridge and pantry to store food in - An oven and/or stove to cook your food For a significant number of people that cannot afford to feed themselves, one or more of these are compounding factors. By providing meals instead of $, this prog…

I genuinely don’t know: how common is it for an American that lives in a home (rented/owned/subsidized) to not have a hotplate, fridge/freezer and random assortment of plates, cutlery and pots?

Rentals usually include appliances in N. America.

Thrift store are usually full of small appliances (people shy away from used blenders or used kettles), unmatched cutlery and plates. Pots may be harder to come by, but a large and small one covers most use cases.

Used appliances are usually cheap because of the upgrade treadmill. I understand that coming up with $150 for a fridge or $25 for a hotplate. Maybe we need a better system for those capital costs.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#440

Post by gmadsen » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 8:01 PM UTC

logfromblammo wrote: post #224

xienze wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SNAP is a SUPPLEMENTAL program. It's not intended to pay 100% of your food bill.

[flagged]

if the compromise made by congress is that it should not cover 100% needs, then the program is supplemental by definition. it doesn't matter what each party would prefer the program to be, only what is passed