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Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

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Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#11

Post by ampdepolymerase »

linseed_213 wrote: post #5
underseacables wrote: post #2

IIRC : Silicon Valley gives generously to homelessness, food banks, and job training for people who can’t afford to live there, eat, and clothe their children. Right?

It's a very complex issue - 1. The current amount of charity is not enough, and there's a growing population of underserved people in these areas. There wasn't enough before COVID exacerbated it, so the demand increased by multiples and supply did not. 2. Many companies receive tax incentives to be where they are (which are often projected to be rosier than reality - see SF Mid-Market), so people expect the companies…

In terms of affordability of land adjusted by weather, Texas is the best place to address homelessness. Trying to fix the situation in SF is difficult due to the lack of low cost land.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#12

Post by omgwtfbyobbq »

tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I identify as a leftist. I believe the government, and more generally a nation, has a duty to ensure quality of life for its citizens. That said, I think this article is grounded in a false dichotomy: "As Silicon Valley has had one of its most profitable years in history, thousands of people who live in walking distance from the headquarters of the world's best-known tech giants are going hungry." How does distance t…

Blaming businesses is moving the goalposts. I agree that it's a national problem, and I think that businesses, government, and individuals should together sort everything out. If any group abrogates that responsibility, they make it much harder to be addressed effectively.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#13

Post by runawaybottle »

tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I identify as a leftist. I believe the government, and more generally a nation, has a duty to ensure quality of life for its citizens. That said, I think this article is grounded in a false dichotomy: "As Silicon Valley has had one of its most profitable years in history, thousands of people who live in walking distance from the headquarters of the world's best-known tech giants are going hungry." How does distance t…

I’ve been making parallels to Southeast Asia all week lately. I need you to take a trip to one of those cities there and book a hotel room in a 5 star place. Outside of it, there will be slums (right out your window). A five minute drive, you’ll see people bathing in the ponds (not vacation bathing, brushing their teeth, taking a shit, morning routine bathing). Think through what the end result of this line of thinking actually creates, the case studies are all over the world. You can afford this, book a trip today and just get the perspective. You will not need to imagine what your theoretical thinking leads to, you can be your own ghost of Christmas future and literally see it.

It’s a disaster, we are tech people, just scale up or scale down, use the inductive step to complete the proof. If we are not proactive with these things, we won’t have quality of life.

You would not want to be in a society like that. Once you neglect and let the situation deteriorate, the only way you can achieve an environment that matches your identity is via a dystopia, where the best and the best congregate in the best gate kept part of the world. A shining city, a 5 star hotel, encapsulated from it’s neglect.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#14

Post by rmrfstar »

tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I identify as a leftist. I believe the government, and more generally a nation, has a duty to ensure quality of life for its citizens. That said, I think this article is grounded in a false dichotomy: "As Silicon Valley has had one of its most profitable years in history, thousands of people who live in walking distance from the headquarters of the world's best-known tech giants are going hungry." How does distance t…

> The failure isn't on their end.

So Apple et al. are able to successfully monetize massive public investment in technology, book all their profit in tax havens using outlandish schemes like "Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich", and we're supposed to pretend like that's a totally normal thing?

The thing with free-riding is it doesn't work if everyone does it. That's what we're starting to see.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#15

Post by goldenManatee »

tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I identify as a leftist. I believe the government, and more generally a nation, has a duty to ensure quality of life for its citizens. That said, I think this article is grounded in a false dichotomy: "As Silicon Valley has had one of its most profitable years in history, thousands of people who live in walking distance from the headquarters of the world's best-known tech giants are going hungry." How does distance t…

This is a classic argument for doing nothing, which is a stance promoting existing systems of inequality. Ask government to solve it, they propose paying for services that help lessen inequality with tax strategies that target those most able to - large corporations and the wealthiest - then people get upset that government is too big, sucking dry the wealthiest, and they start moving to Texas lol. So what’s the game plan?

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#16

Post by Rebelgecko »

wolco2 wrote: post #10
ericbarrett wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so liberals will sue to protect their property value I see this repeated all the time. I’m sure there are hypocrites aplenty but I doubt San Francisco owners are anywhere near as liberal as the city population overall.

There is a great map someone built to show voting by neighbourhood in sf. They are nationally the most liberal homeowners. https://electionmapsf.com/#

I don't think that map let's you filter out renters

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#17

Post by [deleted] »

wolco2 wrote: post #10
ericbarrett wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so liberals will sue to protect their property value I see this repeated all the time. I’m sure there are hypocrites aplenty but I doubt San Francisco owners are anywhere near as liberal as the city population overall.

There is a great map someone built to show voting by neighbourhood in sf. They are nationally the most liberal homeowners. https://electionmapsf.com/#

[deleted]

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#18

Post by somethoughts »

ampdepolymerase wrote: post #11
linseed_213 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very complex issue - 1. The current amount of charity is not enough, and there's a growing population of underserved people in these areas. There wasn't enough before COVID exacerbated it, so the demand increased by multiples and supply did not. 2. Many companies receive tax incentives to be where they are (which are often projected to be rosier than reality - see SF Mid-Market), so people expect the companies…

In terms of affordability of land adjusted by weather, Texas is the best place to address homelessness. Trying to fix the situation in SF is difficult due to the lack of low cost land.

Or at least Central California

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#19

Post by Apocryphon »

somethoughts wrote: post #18
ampdepolymerase wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of affordability of land adjusted by weather, Texas is the best place to address homelessness. Trying to fix the situation in SF is difficult due to the lack of low cost land.

Or at least Central California

It feels like the entire West Coast, from British Columbia to Baja California, has an endemic homelessness problem- San Francisco just has a more visible example. Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, none are exempt.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#20

Post by threwawaysoff »

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments.

Case in point: I remember a hackerspace had a large winter food donation barrel that was sitting out for weeks returned with 1 can in it. 1. One. That says "F U" to hungry people.

Also consider how many churches in the SF Bay Area don't do meaningful community outreach and just show up on Sundays.

I just hope none of the comfortable and privileged ever end up poor and hungry, because they'd be in for a shock.

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