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Life Improvements Since the 1990s

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Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#171

Post by Robotbeat »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #18
MontyCarloHall wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Average vs. median have grown fairly proportionally since 2000 [0]. Note, this chart is adjusted for inflation. [0] https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/gs-live/uploads%2F1527022...

This is a better graph including the past 5 years: https://cdn.dqydj.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/inflation-m... Source: https://dqydj.com/individual-income-by-year/

That is much better and it shows that median household incomes hadn’t grown much until recently (as the tight labor market and years of boom have pushed up wages).

I still think it’s crazy our minimum wage is so low ($7.50/hr today vs $11/hour in late 1960s in today’s money). IMHO, it should be pinned to productivity growth since the 1960s (the question is: should we have higher or lower inequality than in the 1960s? The most conservative answer would be “the same”, in which case you tie the ratio of GDP per capita to minimum wage to the same level it was in the 1960s.), which would put the federal minimum wage somewhere north of $20/hour. (Or perhaps a regional approach where a minimum wage of $15/hour is universal and then above that, minimum wage at 40hours/week is three times what it’d need to support a two bedroom apartment rent at median local prices.)

I’m also convinced that stagnated wages has caused stagnation in productivity growth, because as minimum wage becomes cheaper through inflation, it makes less sense for companies to invest in productivity enhancing automation and efficiency as they can just hire cheap workers and fire them as needed.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#172

Post by bluedino »

ghaff wrote: post #98
namdnay wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I could understand this as a blue collar worker, but you’re saying you’d prefer to be a software engineer in 91 than 2021? Come on, of pretty much all the professions were the ones who have reaped the most benefits of the past 30 years

Arguably in 1991, you're getting in on the ground floor but it's a mixed bag. Your new grad salary is probably going to be around $40K or so in the US. And dot-bomb is 10 years in the future. And that list of companies is sort of a mixed bag. Adobe has mostly done pretty well through the years. Sun Microsystems did have a very good decade through the dot-com years but then didn't. Apple was really struggling at that…

The 90's had all kinds of tech companies starting. Many of them didn't last, but there was a lot of exciting stuff going on.

Early cell phones. PDA's like Palm. Printer market was hot. Businesses were networking their computers like crazy. The PC accessory market was hot. Video games like the Playstation were about to come out. Dial up online services and then ISP's. The web appeared.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#173

Post by david422 »

dougmwne wrote: post #163
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #20

I think he kind of missed the elephant that is modern communication technology has reduced the marginal cost of skilled services enabling pretty much every object designed in an office and manufactured in a factory to benefit from a broader array of engineering and design professionals and methodologies. The average product and service that the average actor in the economy interacts with is designed and optimized to…

I had a moment like this recently with, of all things, a snorkeling mask. It was one of those full face masks with a big snorkel sticking out the top like a unicorn's horn that popped on the market a few years ago. It is a marvel. It took all the downsides of the old masks and ingeniously fixed them. Full mouth and nose breathing so you can breathe naturally and comfortably, an airflow pattern that pulls dry air over…

That's got to be some person with a snorkeling hobby and they are just thinking "there's got to be a better way than this".

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#174

Post by devnull3 »

wolverine876 wrote: post #142
iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

The political dangers are orders of magnitude worse now, plus there is climate change (a product of the same political problems). I'll take 1991, but without this future. Also, IME, the culture has become hateful, poisonous, and based on trauma, despair, and survival rather than hope and dreams, freedom and self-actualization.

> I'll take 1991, but without this future.

May be with memory wipe of currently what you know and the way the world is

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#175

Post by nemo44x »

nivenkos wrote: post #149
nemo44x wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many factory jobs today and companies have a difficult time filling them. They are not the monotonous, repetitive jobs of assembly line work (that has been outsourced) but rather involve some skill that you'll be taught. But it's hard to find people to fill these roles as qualified candidates in many cases think the jobs are below them (college educated but can't find work in their field) or they simply don…

If people don't want them, then they don't pay enough (or have other issues - work safety, etc.). That's how the market works...

It could be, but really I think it's more than that. These jobs pay really well and they offer a career ladder. You will be able to buy a home, have children, take vacations. But you need to show up every day and work. A lot of people who would be qualified for these types of jobs don't want to do that. They'd rather pick and choose and float around at places for less money and less financial security.

This isn't like fast food restaurants having trouble hiring people at minimum wage because stimmy checks pay more than working. People come in and they want the job and they work a week or 2 and then disappear after they get paid and then come back when they need money again. That type of work ethic just isn't compatible with this kind of career so they end up at an Amazon warehouse, driving Ubers, and delivering food instead since that does support their lifestyle choice.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#176

Post by dntrkv »

wolverine876 wrote: post #119
MontyCarloHall wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The downside to broadening the talent pool for design/manufacturing is that it means workers now have to be among the best in the world to get business and thus earn a good living. It no longer suffices to be the best in a local region. If each local region needs its own widget factory, then to become a top widgetsmith you only have to compete with the local widgetsmith talent pool. Just as there can be many high sch…

> that it means workers now have to be the best in the world to get business and thus earn a good living. It no longer suffices to be the best in a local region. Yes, though for most jobs there is far more demand than can be met by the best in the world. When someone needs a lawyer or software developer, they are very unlikely to hire the best in the world.

And not only that, a lot of the improvements in these tools, services, and supply chains means you can design, prototype, and mass manufacture a product without buy-in from a major corp.

So many of the new products I buy are designed by small teams, or in some cases, one-man operations. It's funny how we went from a single craftsman making the whole product, to massive corporations making all the products, and now the internet, with the access it has given us to information and the global supply chain, has allowed us to go back to that world where we can leverage the talents of an individual and mass production at the same time.

I think the Framework laptop is a prime example of this. The fact that a small team like that can "produce" a product of such quality is mind blowing.

It seems to me that the general quality of items has been on a steady rate of improvement again, rather than the race-to-the-bottom that seemingly every industry experienced during the 90s and early 00s.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#177

Post by 0xffff2 »

nemo44x wrote: post #85
bob1029 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What property of the gas range do you most enjoy? I have recently swapped gas for induction and it dropped my meal prep time by 20~30% because I'm not standing around waiting for pans to get hot anymore. If I was big into wok cooking, I'd probably keep the gas range. 99% of the time I just want to get a pan to 500F or boil a pot of water ASAP.

Get better pans, then heating up isn't an issue. I think it's nice to have an induction burner but I prefer gas for many reasons. One is the visual feedback from the flame. Another is that a flame is a 3D surface to cook on so I can tilt the pan to get certain sides hot when needed. Induction is good at boiling water though.

As a general rule, the better the pan, the thicker it is and the longer it would take to heat up.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#178

Post by wolverine876 »

dntrkv wrote: post #176
wolverine876 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that it means workers now have to be the best in the world to get business and thus earn a good living. It no longer suffices to be the best in a local region. Yes, though for most jobs there is far more demand than can be met by the best in the world. When someone needs a lawyer or software developer, they are very unlikely to hire the best in the world.

And not only that, a lot of the improvements in these tools, services, and supply chains means you can design, prototype, and mass manufacture a product without buy-in from a major corp. So many of the new products I buy are designed by small teams, or in some cases, one-man operations. It's funny how we went from a single craftsman making the whole product, to massive corporations making all the products, and now th…

> And not only that, a lot of the improvements in these tools, services, and supply chains means you can design, prototype, and mass manufacture a product without buy-in from a major corp.

A great point. While I'm well aware of it, is there a book or guide to how that is done? 'Global supply chain manufacturing for noobs'? I'm looking for something with real expertise and research behind it, not someone's blog post.

- Another consequence is that everyone can publish, anything, no matter how good it is. Come to think of it, in that example, crap rises to the top much more than the cream.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#179

Post by echelon »

inglor_cz wrote: post #145
dalbasal wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. I considered clarifying, but didn't to be concise. I think publication as a reasoning for granting patents is superseded. It's mostly relevant to the history of patents, not the present. You can't be secretive about a UI, or the chemical composition of a drug.

WD40 formula is famously still secret.

Take GC/mass spec/NMR to it and find out. The tools are available.

Do it to Coke/Pepsi while you're at it.

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