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The Ponzi Career

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Re: The Ponzi Career

#301

Post by quickthrower2 »

pjc50 wrote: post #257
LB232323 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a character flaw or lack of skills in not being able to "sell yourself". It's a sense of dignity and pride as a working person. You are not a commodity, you are a human being. You may look like a commodity to a business owner, but you refuse to allow yourself to become one. Honesty and honor are worth more than money. There is money to be made in making yourself into a sort of corporate dog, but it will leav…

> You are not a commodity, you are a human being You know who else talked about the commodification of labour? M- is dragged off stage by angry HN audience (Seriously, this is an interesting and important discussion to have - the dignity of labour and non-financial values - and it's interesting to watch a number of conflicting arguments made here which have been made loudly and vehemently by various historical figure…

M who?

Re: The Ponzi Career

#303

Post by paultopia »

jkhdigital wrote: post #194
paultopia wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. The indentured servitude character of this stuff is most clear when we look at the $ALEX example. Selling off a chunk of future autonomy and income in order to finance migration to a place with more economic opportunity is exactly what poor folks did circa the 17th and 18th centuries. Perhaps we should look at the history of how that went before replicating it.

My understanding is that economically it was usually a mutually beneficial arrangement, and servants often ended up better off than a normal immigrant. The second-class status of servants is somewhat hard to stomach by modern standards, but honestly it is not much different than the way members of the military are treated (source: I served five years enlisted in the US Navy).

The problem is that you can't separate the economic from the social---even a mutually beneficial transaction can have negative social externalities like undermining the political (and then the economic) power of a whole class of workers or potentially even undermining the individual capacity for independence of the individual involved on a psychological level.

The philosopher Debra Satz's book "Why Some Things Should Not be for Sale" has a great section on bonded labor that captures some of these consequences.

(I think the military isn't a good analogy because the public at large affords military personnel a special kind of respect that counteracts these social externalities.)

Re: The Ponzi Career

#304

Post by nabeelam »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #301
pjc50 wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You are not a commodity, you are a human being You know who else talked about the commodification of labour? M- is dragged off stage by angry HN audience (Seriously, this is an interesting and important discussion to have - the dignity of labour and non-financial values - and it's interesting to watch a number of conflicting arguments made here which have been made loudly and vehemently by various historical figure…

M who?

Karl Marx.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#306

Post by t0mas88 »

scotty79 wrote: post #157
t0mas88 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The European system with higher income tax and heavily subsidised universities practically has the same result. Anyone (that is a permanent resident) can go to a top school, but you're paying it back the 40 years after with 50%+ income tax if you get a good job.

Not really, because universities don't care if what the teach is useful in the job market because they get money from tax either way.

But just having any MSc / MA is greatly helping job market prospects, because every degree includes at the very least an understanding of scientific methods and statistics, and should have given you some critical thinking skills. For a lot of jobs having some kind of degree is a generic requirement without specifying in which field.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#307

Post by qubit000 »

US culture is already too self-absorbed focusing more on style than substance. Selling personal tokens to fund one's career trajectory will only create more extreme narcissism akin to unqualified/incompetent people running for office.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#308

Post by jopsen »

andxor wrote: post #300
jopsen wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also it's usually less than half. Average tax rate in Denmark is around 45%. In San Francisco I was paying 38%. Can you pay education for your kids with 7% of your income? How about healthcare? What is a social safety net worth?

Salary in SF is much higher than Copenhagen. Factor that into the equation.

But the tax rate isn't the reason salaries are higher in SF. (Oh, and most people aren't software engineers)

7% of 130k is that enough to cover education, healthcare, etc?

Note. To be fair, the us does have some pension through medicare. (But I was honestly shocked to learn that it was regressively taxed)

Re: The Ponzi Career

#309

Post by scotty79 »

t0mas88 wrote: post #306
scotty79 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, because universities don't care if what the teach is useful in the job market because they get money from tax either way.

But just having any MSc / MA is greatly helping job market prospects, because every degree includes at the very least an understanding of scientific methods and statistics, and should have given you some critical thinking skills. For a lot of jobs having some kind of degree is a generic requirement without specifying in which field.

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

Major complaint about paid US higher education is that for a lot of fields and universities what you get from them in the job market is less than tuition, often it's pretty much nothing. Not to mentioned yearsbof your life you've put into it.

I think it's absolutely wonderful idea to align interests of educational institution with your value in the job market after you finish it.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#310

Post by andxor »

jopsen wrote: post #308
andxor wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salary in SF is much higher than Copenhagen. Factor that into the equation.

But the tax rate isn't the reason salaries are higher in SF. (Oh, and most people aren't software engineers) 7% of 130k is that enough to cover education, healthcare, etc? Note. To be fair, the us does have some pension through medicare. (But I was honestly shocked to learn that it was regressively taxed)

130k is not a good salary in SF.
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