771–780 of 936 posts
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All it takes is a small loan of a million dollars.
Sure, because nobody has ever taken a loan to start a business before. And VC funding doesn't exist. And mortgages are a falsehood. And companies are never bootstrapped either. I guess eventually owning a factory is just impossible right?
I had a guest that destroyed thousands of dollars of property at my house weeks ago and it's still going through their claim process. They've been stalling for a while now and it's been extremely frustrating since no one in support seems to have any idea what's going on.
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"Just buy your own factory" as a response to the power imbalance between the workers and the owners of the means of production is the controversial statement.
The actual quote is "nobody is stopping you" - because that imbalance means it's easier for you to also own the means of production. It's unequivocally true, and enjoyed by 10s of millions of small business owners and entrepreneurs which form the heart of the American middle class. It answers the why posed by the GP. But yes, different places are different and life isn't fair. No need to cutoff any discussion of vari…
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Try to go build your factory on top of an existing factory. I suspect someone will stop you.
Skyscrapers and multistory industrial centers with multiple tenants already exist. But really? The thing most preventing you from starting a factory today is... because you can't find the land? Alright then.
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The typical member of the precariat doesn't have the financial means of taking an unpaid sick day. How on earth do you imagine that they have the means of starting their own company?
The discussion was about at-will employment in America. There are pros/cons to both employee and employer, and it is an absolute truth that this arrangement helps companies grow and helps employees eventually start their own companies - as opposed to different regulatory environments. Adding more regulations will bring equivalent trade-offs because that's the reality of economics. Do you disagree? If you want to get…
There are outliers, but we’re talking about broad systemic patterns.
You evidently went to an okay UC - you probably had supportive parents. Be it emotional or financial support. Perhaps both! Perhaps your family life was reasonably stable. Perhaps you had three square meals most of your youth.
The point is that you are in a position to access capital that is markedly different from a lot of individuals born into lower socioeconomics striations in society and the statistics are weighed :heavily: against them.
This is often through no fault of their own.
Thank your lucky stars the world aligned for you as it did. Where and with whom you started that life made a far bigger difference than any perceived grit you might think you exercised.
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> Or professional airbnb companies which purchased real estate that's only economic with large revenues, financed with leveraged mortgages, many of these companies are set to collapse in a 3-month shutdown, let alone a 6-month low-activity industry. A lot of these will be folding and selling their properties. I wonder how this is or will impact the real-estate market? Are enough people going to foreclose without inte…
I think it's highly unlikely...but I'd be very happy to be wrong, too. These highly-leveraged "new" companies and individuals make up only a portion of AirBnB-rented homes, which themselves are only a small portion of the entire housing market. There was a very recent interview or article with AirBnB's CEO where he (I'm sure he was fudging the numbers a bit) said only 1/3 of AirBNB homes are actually owned by these k…
That's what AirBnb very much likes you to believe. In my opinion they lie a lot.
> which themselves are only a small portion of the entire housing market.
That really depends on the city. Barcelona, Amsterdam, Prague and other cities were literally killed by AirBnb and by extension by AirBnb slumlords.
> Also, worth considering that short-term rentals can easily be transformed back into long-term rentals.
That maybe true. Then again, if you max out your credit card to speculate on highly leveraged financial products the time window for clean-up may be very short and you may be forced to sell at a very bad price.
I, for one, are really not sorry for this bunch of city killing assholes. For short term financial gains they make life miserable for everybody else.
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Jeebus how is this possible - is our supply chain that fragile that things like hand sanitizer (that you can make with alcohol + aloe gel) and freezers run out? Why is there no increased demand-driven supply on these things?
>Why is there no increased demand-driven supply on these things? Most American states prohibit price hikes during a disaster, which prevents companies from producing more during high demand.
Sorry, but how exactly does that follow?
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In return for these employee benefits, the employees make less money, and are less likely to be hired, since every mis-hire is a potentially fatal error for the business. The laws of economics are not magic and the costs have to go somewhere.
I hear this claim often enough, but never seen related studies. Is getting hired in Germany more difficult, compared to the USA? And if so, can you attribute that to employee benefits?
You guys act like there's no downside to cradle-to-grave nannying of the labor force. There is.
Separated employees will receive 14 weeks of pay, and one more week for each year served at the company (rounding partial years up). The firm is also dropping its one-year equity cliff so that employees who are laid off with under 12 months of tenure can buy their vested options; Airbnb will also provide 12 months of health insurance through COBRA in the United States, and health care coverage through 2020 in the res…
Sure, there is a slight PR benefit, and you have slightly more chance of rehiring those employees later maybe, but as a shareholder it really seems to be throwing money away unless the severance package was agreed upfront when the employee was first hired (ie. as an incentive to join the company).
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The US workers, at least in IT make much more money than their European counterparts, while paying less taxes. A wise person could in theory save 20% or more every month to create own safety net, while still enjoying a high standard of living. Alas this is not the American way of life, where it is not uncommon to spend even over 100K per year on a lavish lifestyle and living in debt.
How could Europeans move to the US? Apply to a position and hope to be moved over with a L1 visa?
Find an employer who is willing to hire you and go through H1B visa lottery, which is the normal work visa.
Enroll in a US university, ideally a STEM degree, and use the OPT visa extension to get a foothold in the US.
Marry an American?
Probably plenty more options, but I'm not an expert in US immigration.