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Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

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Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#21

Post by Throwaway1771 »

threwawaysoff wrote: post #20

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments. Case in point: I remember a hackerspace had a large winter food donation barrel that was sitting out for weeks returned with 1 can in it. 1. One. That says "F U" to hungry peopl…

> The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments.

Wow, people in Africa and India must be the blindest of them all!

Or...maybe it's not as simple as throwing money out of a helicopter?

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#22

Post by edmundsauto »

goldenManatee wrote: post #15
tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I identify as a leftist. I believe the government, and more generally a nation, has a duty to ensure quality of life for its citizens. That said, I think this article is grounded in a false dichotomy: "As Silicon Valley has had one of its most profitable years in history, thousands of people who live in walking distance from the headquarters of the world's best-known tech giants are going hungry." How does distance t…

This is a classic argument for doing nothing, which is a stance promoting existing systems of inequality. Ask government to solve it, they propose paying for services that help lessen inequality with tax strategies that target those most able to - large corporations and the wealthiest - then people get upset that government is too big, sucking dry the wealthiest, and they start moving to Texas lol. So what’s the game…

But these companies aren’t doing nothing, they’re investing significant resources in their local communities, frequently with an emphasis on underserved.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#23

Post by runamok »

threwawaysoff wrote: post #20

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments. Case in point: I remember a hackerspace had a large winter food donation barrel that was sitting out for weeks returned with 1 can in it. 1. One. That says "F U" to hungry peopl…

I call BS on this. You can read just the home page of the Second Harvest Silicon Valley homepage that demand has doubled and people have stepped up to fill the gap.

https://www.shfb.org/

SF spends something like 40k per homeless person per year: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Bu...

It's a hard problem to solve.

Example (not necessarily the valley) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-charity/ameri...

In conclusion you can find ample evidence that no one cares or you can find a way to make some tiny impact and attempt to influence others to do the same.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#24

Post by PhantomGremlin »

threwawaysoff wrote: post #20

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments. Case in point: I remember a hackerspace had a large winter food donation barrel that was sitting out for weeks returned with 1 can in it. 1. One. That says "F U" to hungry peopl…

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves.

Perhaps people should voluntarily give to charity. But let's not be quick to call them stingy if they don't.

Take a $200,000 Bay Area salary, and the taxes paid on it. All numbers crude, my point remains w/o exact amounts:

    8% social security/medicare
    9% state income tax
   25% federal income tax
   ---
   42% that's just in direct taxes
and further:

   8% sales tax
   direct property tax if own house
   indirect property tax if renting
   gas tax
   income tax on stock options
The list is almost endless.

A better question is: where the fuck does all the money already being paid go to?

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#25

Post by amanaplanacanal »

PhantomGremlin wrote: post #24
threwawaysoff wrote: post #20

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments. Case in point: I remember a hackerspace had a large winter food donation barrel that was sitting out for weeks returned with 1 can in it. 1. One. That says "F U" to hungry peopl…

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. Perhaps people should voluntarily give to charity. But let's not be quick to call them stingy if they don't. Take a $200,000 Bay Area salary, and the taxes paid on it. All numbers crude, my point remains w/o exact amounts: 8% social security/medicare 9% state income tax 25% federal i…

Well, the military budget seems to be doing just fine.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#26

Post by Throwaway1771 »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #25
PhantomGremlin wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. Perhaps people should voluntarily give to charity. But let's not be quick to call them stingy if they don't. Take a $200,000 Bay Area salary, and the taxes paid on it. All numbers crude, my point remains w/o exact amounts: 8% social security/medicare 9% state income tax 25% federal i…

Well, the military budget seems to be doing just fine.

52% of total, last I checked.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#27

Post by threwawaysoff »

PhantomGremlin wrote: post #24
threwawaysoff wrote: post #20

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. If this weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many homeless people living on freeway on-ramp embankments. Case in point: I remember a hackerspace had a large winter food donation barrel that was sitting out for weeks returned with 1 can in it. 1. One. That says "F U" to hungry peopl…

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves. Perhaps people should voluntarily give to charity. But let's not be quick to call them stingy if they don't. Take a $200,000 Bay Area salary, and the taxes paid on it. All numbers crude, my point remains w/o exact amounts: 8% social security/medicare 9% state income tax 25% federal i…

I don't live in the Bay anymore. Maybe you should practice what you preach, brah?

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#28

Post by jonny_eh »

rmrfstar wrote: post #14
tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I identify as a leftist. I believe the government, and more generally a nation, has a duty to ensure quality of life for its citizens. That said, I think this article is grounded in a false dichotomy: "As Silicon Valley has had one of its most profitable years in history, thousands of people who live in walking distance from the headquarters of the world's best-known tech giants are going hungry." How does distance t…

> The failure isn't on their end. So Apple et al. are able to successfully monetize massive public investment in technology, book all their profit in tax havens using outlandish schemes like "Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich", and we're supposed to pretend like that's a totally normal thing? The thing with free-riding is it doesn't work if everyone does it. That's what we're starting to see.

All those loopholes can easily be closed, but they're not.

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#29

Post by rmrfstar »

jonny_eh wrote: post #28
rmrfstar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The failure isn't on their end. So Apple et al. are able to successfully monetize massive public investment in technology, book all their profit in tax havens using outlandish schemes like "Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich", and we're supposed to pretend like that's a totally normal thing? The thing with free-riding is it doesn't work if everyone does it. That's what we're starting to see.

All those loopholes can easily be closed, but they're not.

You're either naive or dishonest. FAAMG actively lobby Congress to create and preserve "loopholes" which are actually intentional features of the tax code rather than unforeseen errors. Apple is also lobbying against a very popular anti-slavery bill. #ESG

Re: Silicon Valley's hunger problems grow during a time of record profits

#30

Post by jonny_eh »

rmrfstar wrote: post #29
jonny_eh wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All those loopholes can easily be closed, but they're not.

You're either naive or dishonest. FAAMG actively lobby Congress to create and preserve "loopholes" which are actually intentional features of the tax code rather than unforeseen errors. Apple is also lobbying against a very popular anti-slavery bill. #ESG

Right, that was my point. In the end it's the responsibility of politicians to do their job and close the loopholes. How can we expect corporations to be moral if elected officials won't?
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