Ha right, how the government allocates money, "Paul Graham" would spend $39,999,999,992.07 on coke and hookers and the founders would split a frappuccino.
Where does a Frappucino costs $7.93 ?
San Francisco, if you can find somewhere cheap.
What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars
31–36 of 36 posts
Re: What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars
#32(1) $6K+(N×$6K) ? As if. Now $6MM+(N×$6MM).
(2) Bye-bye Ramen, hello Roman holiday!
(3) Build defensible advantages. Like, a castle with a moat to keep away all the crooks, scammers and favor-seekers. ("Make something people want to break into, but can't.")
Re: What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
The argument about GM is the silliest part. I think it's somewhat plausible that YC could find a way to use $40Bn productively. Again, the point of this bailout is not just to save 60,000 current GM jobs. The point is to save the GM, the GM supply chain, the local economies of several large industrial states, and the millions of people in an economic ecosystem that has built up around GM. Looking at only the 60,000 j…
> the GM supply chain, the local economies of several large industrial states I don't see how these are going to just disappear if GM is gone. There are other car companies these suppliers can sell to. Of course there will be disruption, and probably some job losses, but not the whole 2-million-person industry (to use the industry number). And if some of those jobs do disappear, maybe it's because demand for the prod…
"I don't see how these are going to just disappear if GM is gone. There are other car companies these suppliers can sell to."
That's your opinion, but the facts are pretty clearly against you. Listen to the radio and read the newspaper -- the suppliers are already failing. And they're not failing because there's no demand for cars (GM sold about 9 million cars last year, incidentally), but because their primary customer has stopped paying the bills. That's what the government is trying to save -- not to mention the numerous American towns that have no economy without the local GM plant.
And before you argue that bailing out these towns is the wrong solution, try to remember that the world doesn't turn on a dime. Yes, a place like Youngstown, Ohio probably needs to find a way to survive without the GM plant. But they aren't going to diversify their economy overnight, and it isn't going to help them to let their primary employer die.
So maybe you're right, and some non-zero number of these suppliers would survive a total GM liquidation. I don't know. The point is, the bailout isn't designed to save GM, so much as it's designed to save the entire economy that surrounds GM. Everyone who tries to make the calculation in terms of a cost-per-GM-head is being simple, and is failing to consider the larger picture.
Re: What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars
#34I understand that the main point was to rightly criticize the GM bailout, but subsidizing YC would be wrong for essentially the same reason. Governments are unable to allocate capital as efficiently as markets can. This holds even if Paul Graham is the central planner, no matter how much you might hope otherwise.
Re: What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the GM supply chain, the local economies of several large industrial states I don't see how these are going to just disappear if GM is gone. There are other car companies these suppliers can sell to. Of course there will be disruption, and probably some job losses, but not the whole 2-million-person industry (to use the industry number). And if some of those jobs do disappear, maybe it's because demand for the prod…
"I don't see how these are going to just disappear if GM is gone. There are other car companies these suppliers can sell to." That's your opinion, but the facts are pretty clearly against you. Listen to the radio and read the newspaper -- the suppliers are already failing. And they're not failing because there's no demand for cars (GM sold about 9 million cars last year, incidentally), but because their primary custo…
"And before you argue that bailing out these towns is the wrong solution, try to remember that the world doesn't turn on a dime. Yes, a place like Youngstown, Ohio probably needs to find a way to survive without the GM plant. But they aren't going to diversify their economy overnight, and it isn't going to help them to let their primary employer die."
How much can we afford to spend on people's romantic attraction to their home town? This country's had ghost towns appear when markets collapse and industries disappear before, it could stand to see that happen again. I happen to live in a college town where the second biggest employer (i.e. not the college) is hiring electronics assemblers every week, because it's in a growing market. Why can't a few people leave Michigan and move here?
It's probably wrong to think about this in terms of Youngstown, Ohio surviving the death of GM. People can leave Youngstown.
Re: What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars
#36Ha right, how the government allocates money, "Paul Graham" would spend $39,999,999,992.07 on coke and hookers and the founders would split a frappuccino.
Surely Paul Graham does not need that many hookers.
Perhaps the money would be to keep them away so he can get some work done...