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Maryland will hand out 133k Chromebooks to the public

statescoop.com

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Re: Maryland will hand out 133k Chromebooks to the public

#111

Post by JaDogg »

robocat wrote: post #71
JaDogg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please do not create jobs. Seriously, this is a good way to get people related to politicians in various places that just pay a salary. Now the whole neighborhood is worse off. This will only lead to corruption and nepotism. Helping businesses with something like an incubator is a good idea, and these businesses can create jobs instead of the government creating jobs. Hopefully, these Chromebooks will make it easier…

> Helping businesses with something like an incubator First: helping businesses does not avoid corruption and nepotism. Secondly: I experienced a government subsidised business incubator in New Zealand, and I can honestly say it was a 100% waste of tax dollars. (We were the only positive dollar business outcome and the incubator had very little value for us!)

First: helping businesses does not avoid corruption and nepotism. - sure. However there is a higher probability of that if gov create jobs. (I have seen Sri Lankan gov create jobs just to pay salaries for friends/etc). Incubator is going to be better than that as even if gov pick someone they like, still the market decide the outcome and someone else can take place)

Re: Maryland will hand out 133k Chromebooks to the public

#113

Post by robocat »

JaDogg wrote: post #111
robocat wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Helping businesses with something like an incubator First: helping businesses does not avoid corruption and nepotism. Secondly: I experienced a government subsidised business incubator in New Zealand, and I can honestly say it was a 100% waste of tax dollars. (We were the only positive dollar business outcome and the incubator had very little value for us!)

First: helping businesses does not avoid corruption and nepotism. - sure. However there is a higher probability of that if gov create jobs. (I have seen Sri Lankan gov create jobs just to pay salaries for friends/etc). Incubator is going to be better than that as even if gov pick someone they like, still the market decide the outcome and someone else can take place)

I think you are imagining a tautologically good incubator.

I have been disappointed watching government initiatives in New Zealand over the years. They ostensibly are there to help businesses. However they usually are wasteful and ineffective. Government departments have no insight about what factors help small businesses. Even business oriented investors (e.g. VC) often fail to understand how to drive growth, so how can we expect policy wonks to do better than that? Governments fail badly from what I have personally experienced in an incubator (government/private mix), and I can't think of a government initiative that has helped. I have certainly experienced many negative effects of government interference. So many poor regulations that damage small businesses. Few good changes that help.

I presume there are successful government initiatives but I haven't seen any in 30 years.

Re: Maryland will hand out 133k Chromebooks to the public

#114

Post by CapstanRoller »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #106
shortrounddev2 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of homeless people don't go to shelters because they can be more dangerous than sleeping on the street

I really can't imagine how having a tiny home with 4 walls and a door with a 24/7 security guard would be more dangerous than a tent on the sidewalk. I do know that 1-2 people per month get kicked out of the shelter for fighting, but not sure how that compares to life on the streets. I think a bigger factor is that the tiny homes limit how much stuff you can bring (aka 1 bike per person, cant build your own structure…

>a tiny home with 4 walls and a door with a 24/7 security guard

You are not describing any homeless shelter that I've ever seen. Usually they are very crowded communal sleeping facilities with barely any security and zero privacy. Theft and assault are a common occurrence.

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