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Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

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Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#201

Post by Kalium »

hypnos1 wrote: post #68

The lack of empathy on display here is astonishing. Is this quality a prerequisite to participating in the luckier side of the wealth-gap of silicon valley?

If I want to solve a problem, will a public display of empathy and outpouring of emotion produce a solution? Or will analysis will produce a solution?

Consider, if you will, that people have responded by looking for solutions. A true lack of empathy would be a response characterized by people professing apathy or ignoring this submission entirely.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#202

Post by Kalium »

comatose_kid wrote: post #98
Domenic_S wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider the audience, who will overwhelmingly shift to problem-solving mode. Empathy feels nice but doesn't provide a roof or full bellies.

Empathy vs problem-solving is a false dichotomy. Having empathy helps to better understand the problem, and this understanding can lead to better solutions.

That is true! However, having empathy is not the same as a public display of empathy.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#203

Post by Frondo »

RIMR wrote: post #188
nsnick wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that the "poor" people are asking the wrong question. They are asking, "why can't I afford to live where I grew up?" The question they should be asking is, "should I live where I grew up?"

Exactly! A lot of people feel that they are entitled to live in the city they grew up in. They feel that the rising cost of living is unjust, and that they are the victims. What needs to be understood is that we cannot force the cost of living to drop, and we cannot force the median income to rise. Either search for a job that pays more, or search for a home that costs less. If that means moving away from where you g…

I guess I can't think of a single instance in history where the world was made a better place with the attitude of "life isn't fair, you're on your own".

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#204

Post by Kalium »

benten10 wrote: post #22

I don't think the solution is as simple as 'building more housing'(aka giving permits). It would drive down the prices somewhat, but what's to stop more engineers from moving in/shortening their own commutes etc? I think the term we're looking for is 'build low-income housing'. That would make it more likely that people who need it get it.

What if the answer is as simple as "Build more housing for everyone"?

Build enough, and there is affordable housing for everyone. Engineers need places to live too.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#205

Post by Kalium »

Mz wrote: post #174
jkot wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite oposite. I dont understand why someone who traveled world and has medical condition would settle down in California. Just try Greece for couple of months. Doctors are great here, speak english and are much cheaper.

You don't have to understand my preferences. All you need to do is try to respect my right to decide for myself what is best for me. Thinking you have a superior answer for my life after reading a couple of comments by me on the Internet and saying I should move to another country because you don't understand my choices is beyond insulting.

> You don't have to understand my preferences. All you need to do is try to respect my right to decide for myself what is best for me.

We might respect it, but you haven't made a convincing case that we need to craft policy around financially supporting it.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#206

Post by taco_emoji »

Domenic_S wrote: post #43
mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

I was sitting here trying to figure out how to say basically the same thing. Growing up my dad had a good job but we never were able to afford to live in $NEAREST_METRO_AREA, so we always lived a commute away -- sometimes a long commute away. Charity idea: provide moving & job placement help to get homeless or nearly homeless families into lower cost of living areas. I always have mixed feelings about stories like th…

> But what do we do, enforce reproduction strategy at gunpoint?

No need for gunpoint. Making access to reproductive options legal, safe, widely available, and well-publicized is probably good enough.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#207

Post by Kalium »

codeshaman wrote: post #139

TLDR: Had an offer to relocate to Sillicon Valley, refused because of the poor/homeless people all around. Full version: A couple of years ago I had this offer to relocate to Sillicon Valley to work at my company's new office there. H1B visa, great salary, incredible project, a dream come true. I live in Barcelona and there are few cities in the world which can compete with the Barcelona package, even during times of…

It's a strange paradox. SF has such a large population of the indigent in no small part because the city is both very generous to the indigent and because the climate is permanently mild.

SF has a per captia homeless population well above average for the US.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#208

Post by adolfojp »

mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

Our society can't operate without an integrated workforce and you can't have an integrated workforce if you segregate people based on their income.

For every software engineer in the Bay Area there is an army of waiters, cooks, janitors, sanitation workers, retail workers, office workers, school teachers, nurses, and unskilled laborers that supports him. And if you move them all out, well, I don't think that I have to explain the consequences of that action.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#209

Post by fredophile »

muzz wrote: post #169
refurb wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just think poor people should have to move out of their homes because rich people decided they want to live there. Got it. I'm not poor by any means, but if SF rents keep going up, I'm going to be leaving if I can't find affordable housing (even on a relatively high salary).

For rents to go up, people have to be able to pay those higher rents. Ostensibly because they have salaries that are even relatively higher than yours (this is not intended to be a slight, but when there is a bidding war for salaries there will be a bidding war for limited housing).

The cost of renting or buying property isn't limited to the income you get from your salary. I know of renters in expensive cities that have split one bedroom or studio apartments between multiple people. You can bet that whoever rented the woman in the article their garage to live in is using that money to help pay the mortgage.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#210

Post by Mz »

Kalium wrote: post #205
Mz wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to understand my preferences. All you need to do is try to respect my right to decide for myself what is best for me. Thinking you have a superior answer for my life after reading a couple of comments by me on the Internet and saying I should move to another country because you don't understand my choices is beyond insulting.

> You don't have to understand my preferences. All you need to do is try to respect my right to decide for myself what is best for me. We might respect it, but you haven't made a convincing case that we need to craft policy around financially supporting it.

Okay, let's see if this helps any:

My genetic disorder costs on average $100,000 annually to keep me alive in a torturous fashion. My oldest son has the same condition. That's $200,000 annually that we "should" be spending on medical care. I am a former military wife. I am entitled to get that care through the military medical system -- which means at tax payer expense. Though, in reality, most people with my condition get a lot of that care covered by some kind of state aid and/or charitable program and the like (as well as often qualifying for disability in their 30s). Being sick all the damn time means you not only have high medical bills, you are also can't work.

We have gotten ourselves well and my productivity is rising. I no longer receive food stamps and I am now well enough to do freelance work to help support us.

Going someplace where the climate is good for my expensive medical condition is a financial win/win scenario, good not only for me but also for other people who would otherwise be getting stuck with the bill.

If you read much about homelessness, helping solve the problems of the homeless is typically cheaper than trying to "take care" of them while controlling their lives and so on.

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