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Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

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Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#111

Post by reidjs »

elliekelly wrote: post #22
fred_is_fred wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bill's high school also had a PDP terminal connected to UW. Basically no other high school had that - which gave him an early head start.

This was mentioned in Outliers , I think. I wonder what the equivalent one-in-a-billion “head start” technology is for kids today.

My prediction is it will be students receiving education i with little to no technology. The paradox being modern technology is so streamlined UX wise you don’t inherently learn anything about modern tech by using them.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#112

Post by triceratops »

iguy wrote: post #58
epistasis wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rents only get pumped up if we don't have enough housing to go around... in which case regular incomes do the same thing.

But we do have lots of housing, it's just located in places people don't want to live. Rents are high in places they do want to be, and that's partly a positional thing -- if you want to live where the top-10% of earners live, you need to bid against them for housing.

> it's just located in places people don't want to live

Often because there aren't any good jobs there. With UBI entrepreneurs can self-select and live in places with low rent and weak job markets.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#113

Post by sjg007 »

yardie wrote: post #104
narrator wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with most welfare schemes is they have big welfare cliffs. You make one dollar more than a certain amount and you lose thousands in benefits. It's the virtual equivalent of a greater than 100% marginal income tax. Also, countries with greater welfare programs don't have greater entrepreneurship. The opposite is somewhat true. Probably due to higher taxes and it's very hard to go out of business once you'r…

I know that France is the butt of many jokes about work, "no French word for entrepreneurship," but in my experience almost every business I interacted with around socialist Paris was a small, independent business. This was the unintentional consequence of labor laws. 50 employees you're in a tight spot until you're >1000 employees. Then the additional overhead of benefits for those employees is subsidized by economi…

Having UBI could loosen job protection rules and labor laws too.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#114

Post by spamizbad »

umvi wrote: post #77
abhiyerra wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship. I had to also wait till I paid off my student loans. There are a whole lot of shackles if you come from a humble background to starting a company full time. On the other hand it has never been cheaper to start a side hustle.

> Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship Would it though? From what I understand EU has way better social safety nets, yet much smaller entrepreneurship rates compared to USA. Counter-intuitively, limitations drive innovations. When your resources are limited, you are forced to innovate. When you have infinite resources, you tend to waste it. Ever notice that when you have infinite t…

> Would it though? From what I understand EU has way better social safety nets, yet much smaller entrepreneurship rates compared to USA.

Germany is pretty close to the United States, despite the United States being a wealthier nation by comparison.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#115

Post by Knufferlbert »

narrator wrote: post #83
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…

The problem with most welfare schemes is they have big welfare cliffs. You make one dollar more than a certain amount and you lose thousands in benefits. It's the virtual equivalent of a greater than 100% marginal income tax. Also, countries with greater welfare programs don't have greater entrepreneurship. The opposite is somewhat true. Probably due to higher taxes and it's very hard to go out of business once you'r…

I don't think those reasons are true for the "lack of entrepreneurship". I'd love to know some numbers actually, I know EU doesn't have as many unicorns like Uber, Google, Amazon, etc. But that is a tiny amount of people who started those (and now employ a staggering number of people).

I think there are two reasons why that may be: - Generally larger regulatory barriers. GDPR is an obvious recent one, but also market complexity with EU countries regulations/laws differing more than US states. I think (without knowing). That coupled with "first to market" advantage of US companies. - Money isn't as big as a driver for Europeans. "Rags to riches" is a pretty American thing. "Get educated and live well" is closer to our lookout I think.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#116

Post by zests »

umvi wrote: post #77
abhiyerra wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship. I had to also wait till I paid off my student loans. There are a whole lot of shackles if you come from a humble background to starting a company full time. On the other hand it has never been cheaper to start a side hustle.

> Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship Would it though? From what I understand EU has way better social safety nets, yet much smaller entrepreneurship rates compared to USA. Counter-intuitively, limitations drive innovations. When your resources are limited, you are forced to innovate. When you have infinite resources, you tend to waste it. Ever notice that when you have infinite t…

I'd guess that basic income would encourage entrepreneurship in individuals with a high degree of self-actualization but not individuals with a low degree of self-actualization.

Whether or not basic income itself would increase the degree of self-actualization people have is not an easy question. It is in fact a complicated question deeply integrated with culture. I'd guess peoples opinion on this question mostly reflects their political ideology and/or support for basic income.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#117

Post by throwaway2037 »

fred_is_fred wrote: post #12
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…

Bill's high school also had a PDP terminal connected to UW. Basically no other high school had that - which gave him an early head start.

I logged in with a throw-away account just to refute the down vote. However, it already looks "neutralised" after my login. Assuming it is true, why would anyone done vote this comment? Makes no sense lah.

Less controversial: High level, this comment seems believable. It seems reasonable and possible. Has this be written about? If yes, please kindly provide some links. I would like to read more about it. This high school was really something special!

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#118

Post by ska »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #80
xapata wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK is probably worse off for having such an obvious clue that someone is high class. Accents are harder to switch than clothes and a haircut.

Maybe. Growing up in the U.S., my obvious lack of straight teeth (single mother could not afford braces for my sister or me) gave away my pedigree.

I suspect the main difference between the US and UK this way is the honesty of the process. In the US a ton of money an energy is spent on social signalling and class definition, but also on maintaining a fiction that "class" isn't really a thing.

I do think the US class system is easier to fake, as it relies a bit more on superficial signifiers than institutions and history than the UK. The myth of the "self made man" is also held dear, so you can do ok if you play to that story; you'll still may never really belong but your kids probably will.

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#119

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

Vaslo wrote: post #105
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…

While there will be a few folks that will prosper from basic income, I can’t say I’m interested in paying people to pursue things that are more like hobbies. For every entrepreneur or community volunteer that makes a difference, I fear 9 others will set their sights on being gaming streamers or will just sit around writing blogposts. If you aren’t adding value somewhere and are able minded and able bodied, I don’t wa…

> For every entrepreneur or community volunteer that makes a difference, I fear 9 others will set their sights on being gaming streamers or will just sit around writing blogposts.

Providing entertainment and insight has no value to society?

Re: Parents' income, not smarts, key to entrepreneurship

#120

Post by mywittyname »

yunesj wrote: post #67
tolbish wrote: post #9

Wired covered the "myth of meritocracy" as it pertains to entrepreneurship and Silicon Valley 8 years ago: https://www.wired.com/2013/11/silicon-valley-isnt-a-meritocr...

> But if the tech scene is really a meritocracy, why are so many of its key players, from Mark Zuckerberg to Steve Jobs, white men? I disagree with the author that Jobs and Zuckerberg are evidence that meritocracy is a myth. According to Wiki: > ... Zuckerberg excelled in classes. After two years, he transferred to the private school Phillips Exeter Academy, where he won prizes in mathematics, astronomy, physics, and…

Also, Steve Jobs is biologically half-Arab. Making him kind of a weird pick for such a claim.
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