Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is my advice too mercenary?

jacobian.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 390 posts

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#231

Post by colinmhayes »

akvadrako wrote: post #224
dangerlibrary wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A common right-wing criticism of Medicare that I was trying to pre-empt is that it is rife with waste, fraud, and abuse. But to directly answer your question: if you want your dollars spent effectively, you should care about fraud rates in services you pay for (public or private).

Medicare is very wasteful, but it doesn't matter why. The US government spends about as much per capita on healthcare as say France, but doesn't cover everybody and without part B is pretty incomplete.

Medicare not only covers the most at risk of our population, but is also by far the cheapest per capita beside medicaid. Yes, American health care is expensive, but medicare is the cheapest way to deliver it.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#232

Post by alexashka »

kbenson wrote: post #126
rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…

> Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communities doesn't mean relying on that is a stable or desired outcome.

You are always going to rely on a few people, to do the right thing, which will become the wrong thing as life goes on, which will require a few more people, to do the right thing again, ad infinitum.

That's just how this human thing works.

Sometimes it's laws, other times it's breaking laws. Other times something else. It varies, there is no right answer forevermore, sorry.

You can't solve hard problems of coordinating, pleasing and doing right by many people with conflicting interests by 'requiring' it.

That's just childish thinking, sorry.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#233

Post by sanderjd »

duxup wrote: post #159
sanderjd wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons I left a BigCo is the pervasive cynicism. I really had trouble finding it satisfying to work in an environment where cynicism was so deep and widespread but nobody wanted to leave because of the advantages (like good pay and good tooling). It just felt stifling after awhile.

> but nobody wanted to leave because of the advantages The cynical approach does seem to lead people to … the places that make them cynical.

Well put.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#234

Post by karmakaze »

wnolens wrote: post #143

If you don't like something about your job/org, speak up and let management know. If nothing happens, try to spearhead some change. It's your job! Sometimes the lower levels can see value that upper levels can't. If you can't change it, cope. If you can't cope, then leave. Anything you want to say in an exit interview, you should have spoken up about already in step 1. If there's something you haven't spoken up about…

Nice succinct todo/checklist.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#235

Post by roenxi »

kbenson wrote: post #126
rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…

The two main differences:

1) Nobody pretends that business skills are especially hereditary. It is common for people to enter and exit the 'class' of business owner.

2) Success as as a business owner requires steady economic activity where people get what they want. Success as a noble ruling a fiefdom requires kneecapping anyone who challenges your god-given right to rule.

One big observations:

This is what US government spending has done in the last 2 centuries: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Governme...

That is a pretty solid contender for why people are less generous. I too would be investing more money in my community if I had more control of it. There is a pretty simple correlation between growth in government spending and a reduced ability of businesses to have a positive impact in their community.

It isn't like people were relying on business then business owners got greedy. People took control away from businesses and the businesses stopped being in control.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#236

Post by foolinaround »

danaris wrote: post #160
engineer_22 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The counter argument, is that relying on benevolent government to ensure a desired outcome is just as naive. In both cases, the holders of power are people . You're just trading one person for another.

You're trading one person who has no accountability to you in particular or the populace in general with a group of people who have at least some meaningful accountability. That's not an even trade.

if it is a local government you directly vote for, that supports your argument.

Often, it is layers of government, way over you, who have no clue of the local needs, and it gets much worse.

Not only does it not know the local needs, it has no expertise in the subject area itself, and so an unelected unnamed bureaucracy rules the roost, and over time, gathers so much power, that regardless of which government comes to power, the true power rests with these bureacrats.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#237

Post by AussieWog93 »

rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

There are a lot of responses here discussing corporations vs. the government vs. the workers when it comes to social responsibility, but ignoring the fact that _everyone_ has become less socially responsible over the last 40 years.

People in general just aren't community or socially minded in the way they used to be[1], and the bosses of companies or leaders of government are all people too.

[1] To be specific, people are still charitable, but we don't have the same culture/institutions where everyone gives and takes in the same way we used to. Things like working bees, community sport, or even just general behaviours like helping out friends/family/neighbours are all getting rarer by the day.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#238

Post by throwaway0a5e »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #133
rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

It's been happening for much longer than NAFTA has been around. My hometown was known for building tires earlier in the 20th century and all that left in the early 80s and it never recovered. That said, before that happened the place was kind of a "company town" and the big manufacturers with all the money essentially ran the place. Only good news if you were in their favor. Lots of stories about being harassed by po…

>They were the kind of people that would have still been using child labor if it weren't outlawed.

Allow me to remind you the manner in which child labor was outlawed:

Industrialization progressed to a point where it was no longer economically viable except in a few tiny niches. It was then outlawed, to much back patting.

Sure, some people would probably use it if it was viable, but don't pretend like it was some great accomplishment to outlaw it. It was basically a case of writing law after the market had made a decision.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#239

Post by mcguire »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #133
rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

It's been happening for much longer than NAFTA has been around. My hometown was known for building tires earlier in the 20th century and all that left in the early 80s and it never recovered. That said, before that happened the place was kind of a "company town" and the big manufacturers with all the money essentially ran the place. Only good news if you were in their favor. Lots of stories about being harassed by po…

The neat thing about company towns was company stores, which were the only kind of stores in town. They were happy to sell you anything you wanted, on credit. The problem being that at the end of the month you owed more to the company store than what you got in your paycheck.

You load 16 tons, what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt

St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#240

Post by helloworld11 »

From an employee's standpoint it's simple: You should do every possible thing to put your interests and those of your family or dependents first and foremost above all else, especially your job. Once you've done this to the best of your abilities, you politely give the company or companies you work for what you can based on how reasonably they're compensating you, while never being ashamed of taking a mercenary option as soon as it seems necessary.

Taking all questions of labor law fairness aside (you won't solve them alone in a workplace anyway), reality is what it is and while it's still imperfect, hedge yourself against those imperfections to your own benefit as well as you can, legally.

Secondly, companies that vomit platitudes about "we're all a family here" and "we look out for each other" are by default spewing lying, superficial PR bullshit. They should never be trusted for a second on such nonsense unless you've secured a written contract of provisions for how you'll be treated, have your healthcare taken care of or be compensated if dismissed for any reason. If you can't secure those things, then tread carefully and keep hedging.

edit: couple extra words.

Post reply on HN