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Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

story.californiasunday.com

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Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#191

Post by FabHK »

kafkaesq wrote: post #122
TheSageMage wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not trying to start a capitalism war, but would an Earned Income Tax Credit be a more viable alternative to higher minimum wages? I've not done the leg work, but the IRS has a lot more info to help determine who's making how much that could help make the EITC even out unequal pay.

I'm not really on top of the various policy debates, actually. What's important is not to be distracted by this idea that "life sucks, and you can't really do anything about it -- so just keep your head down and look after yourself." Being as this is not only exactly how the powers-that-be want you to see things; it's entirely integral to their strategy of keeping things the way they are. In fact, they even have a na…

Very good point - it's a bit disheartening to see many people eschew political action in favour of self improvement.

Self improvement is fine and necessary and honorable and all, but ultimately living together in society is necessarily political.

Note also that a lot of what is taught in undergrad/MBA economics 101 distracts from that, and (even while aspiring to be value neutral) implicitly promotes a trust in markets and corporations that is naive and misguided.

James Kwak's book "Economism" is a nice antidote to that:

https://www.amazon.com/Economism-Bad-Economics-Rise-Inequali...

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#192

Post by FabHK »

merpnderp wrote: post #173
traveling wrote: post #19

Newsflash: Life sucks anywhere when you're poor and uneducated. I worked as an independent Google contractor before for less than $11 an hour with very stringent rules, ever increasing performance requirements, no holidays, no sick pay, no nothing. If you're poor and uneducated you're disposable dirt anywhere these days, even though people would like you to think otherwise and it's obviously even worse in 3rd world c…

"these days"? When was there a time that the unskilled and uneducated masses were treated better?

Well, there was a bit of a golden age for lower/middle classes in the West in the decades following WW II (though tainted by racism).

Pikkety's seminal "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" is the famous, but somewhat dry exposition on that.

Branko Milanovic's "Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization" is a relatively slender volume that gives a great overview (on this question in chapter 2).

TL;DR: In "the West", 1950-1980

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#193

Post by Baeocystin »

manigandham wrote: post #186
Baeocystin wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re-read what I said, because you are responding to something that has nothing to do with any of my claim. Restated: If you spend 8+ years and tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn something, not putting it to use is a colossal waste of resources for everyone involved. It's not just you. It's the seat you took from another student who would have appreciated it more.

That's the same thing. It's not up to you to define "waste of resources" based on what someone chose to learn.

I have a different perspective. Education is resource-constrained, and learners do not exist in a vacuum. In my opinion, it is the height of ego to refuse to make use knowledge that so many others have spent time and effort to teach.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#194

Post by Baeocystin »

manigandham wrote: post #187
Baeocystin wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. But it very much is their fault for making such an asinine requirement. I have no doubt it actually hurts them, too. Turnover is expensive, and someone who has an advanced degree will bail for better prospects as soon as possible.

Why would they not ask for higher requirements as long as the jobs continue to be filled? You seem to have a problem with the wrong thing.

That very attitude (that higher degrees=better at everything) is what I have the problem with. Not only is it demonstrably not true, but it comes with real consequences. An entire generation is being saddled with crippling amounts of debt because of attitudes like this, and we all lose because of it. Our society becomes lopsided, with not enough jobs for college grads to enable most to pay off their student debt, and not enough tradesfolk to fill the ever-widening gap between our needs and who can do the work.

Please note that I am not talking about learning in general. Lifelong learning is fundamental. But there are other paths to knowledge beyond a 4-year college.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#195

Post by dota_fanatic »

senior_james wrote: post #158
dota_fanatic wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no single US healthcare system that someone can experience first-hand. There is a lot of variation from state to state. I take you haven't experienced the system as someone, say, making less than $25k/yr, in every single state, at various times of year (say 2 months before your deductible rolls over) with various kinds of conditions (acute, chronic, extremely rare, etc?), at various points in their careers (…

"There is no single US healthcare system that someone can experience first-hand. " Sure there is. There aren't that many private insurance companies in the US and they all work similarly. "I take you haven't experienced the system as someone, say, making less than $25k/yr, in every single state, at various times of year (say 2 months before your deductible rolls over) with various kinds of conditions (acute, chronic,…

Note that I never said the healthcare system will make you go bankrupt and you need to be rich to get care. That's a strawman you've been fighting from the beginning.

> "Money has little to do with it."

Again, you are severely out of touch with the existence of many Americans if you think money has nothing to do with it. I guess the poor ones aren't actually poor if they would just stop spending money on vices? You would do well for yourself if you stop looking at anecdotes of people you know, and start looking at the generalized case of the hundreds of millions Americans across socioeconomic classes.

The disappointing truth is that there are indeed many hard-working Americans (many of them immigrants...) who bust ass all year long, and they don't have money to pay for even a high deductible plan. They can barely make rent. And if they did, those plans still result in many tens of thousands of $s in the event of a severe hospital stay. These are the people where a single chain of events can push them into severe poverty with no easy way out.

If you read HN then you'll know this stuff is happening, and a lot of people are talking about just how hard it is to climb these days for the bottom %s of America. Just a few months ago, we're now at the point where potential to climb, social mobility is lower than our grandfather's generation?

I would like to invite you to read some of the work done by David Belk MD and see if that changes your seemingly cavalier attitude that it's "not that bad". Here's a former comment of mine with some links. The system is very inefficient, with a lot of corruption, and people like you are genuinely hurting people by fighting as if it's otherwise.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12515302

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#196

Post by user5994461 »

mercutio2 wrote: post #182
user5994461 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Index funds, 401k and some stocks exist only in the USA. They don't exist in most of the western world (e.g. Europe). Please don't call that "western financial planning"

Europeans are much less likely to be retail investors, I'll buy. But there's very little stopping Europeans from buying Vanguard funds or ETFs, so this is a cultural phenomenon, not because of any legal barriers. http://jlcollinsnh.com/2014/01/27/stocks-part-xxi-investing-...

You must be kidding. Did you even read that article???

It confirm that you need 100k€ to deal with Vanguard Europe directly, that you get double taxation (USA tax then home country tax) on your returns, and you take all the risks on the currency exchange, and that's just the beginning of the article...

So, I'll repeat it again, the USA investments are NOT available in Europe and the equivalents are mostly non existent or sub-par.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#197

Post by user5994461 »

allendoerfer wrote: post #175
user5994461 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of these. I am an European who is sad that Vanguard doesn't exist there, and there is no comparable local equivalent. And no, an European either cannot and/or should not buy American stock. 1) Some stocks are simply not available for trades by your local brokers 2) You cannot use some remote products/brokers because they require you to be an US citizen or resident 3) There are taxations and constraints that make…

Still there are index funds in Europe, 401k equivalents and you can buy international stocks. What kind of stocks do you need for your personal financial planning, that you cannot get in Europe? I have heard nice things about Vanguard on HN, but so far have not had any troubles with iShares and the like.

Dude, Vanguard is not available in Europe. THAT'S THE PROBLEM!

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#198

Post by abiox »

Baeocystin wrote: post #194
manigandham wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they not ask for higher requirements as long as the jobs continue to be filled? You seem to have a problem with the wrong thing.

That very attitude (that higher degrees=better at everything) is what I have the problem with. Not only is it demonstrably not true, but it comes with real consequences. An entire generation is being saddled with crippling amounts of debt because of attitudes like this, and we all lose because of it. Our society becomes lopsided, with not enough jobs for college grads to enable most to pay off their student debt, and…

there was a candidate that wanted to address the "crippling amounts of debt" issue, but that movement was cut off at the knees.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#199

Post by fulafel »

user5994461 wrote: post #196
mercutio2 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europeans are much less likely to be retail investors, I'll buy. But there's very little stopping Europeans from buying Vanguard funds or ETFs, so this is a cultural phenomenon, not because of any legal barriers. http://jlcollinsnh.com/2014/01/27/stocks-part-xxi-investing-...

You must be kidding. Did you even read that article??? It confirm that you need 100k€ to deal with Vanguard Europe directly, that you get double taxation (USA tax then home country tax) on your returns, and you take all the risks on the currency exchange, and that's just the beginning of the article... So, I'll repeat it again, the USA investments are NOT available in Europe and the equivalents are mostly non existen…

Retail investing into index funds in Europe is easy and common with domestic providers IME.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#200

Post by manigandham »

Baeocystin wrote: post #193
manigandham wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the same thing. It's not up to you to define "waste of resources" based on what someone chose to learn.

I have a different perspective. Education is resource-constrained, and learners do not exist in a vacuum. In my opinion, it is the height of ego to refuse to make use knowledge that so many others have spent time and effort to teach.

The education is paid for, so the "others" who are teaching are earning money, it's not wasted effort.

Knowledge itself doesn't contain any inherent value, it's free if you want to learn it all yourself without depriving anyone else of it. What you're paying for is the academic environment, resources and tutoring of a person. That's a business exchange like any other and everyone is free to spend their money on that, whether they do anything with the results or not.

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