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Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

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Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#351

Post by alecco »

EasyTiger_ wrote: post #223
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> America is in the midst of a new gilded age Why not golden instead of gilded? Per capita incomes are at an all time high, in real terms, and growing; violent crime per capita a historical low; and life expectancy high, though it could be higher. We are on the verge of tremendous technological advances in propulsion, AI, biology and energy. And more people are educated enough to wonder at those advancements than eve…

Life expectancy has actually begun falling: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/21/health/us-life-expectancy...

Thank obesity.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#352

Post by speedplane »

lixtra wrote: post #341
fullshark wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goods are cheaper, Rent + College Education + Healthcare is much more expensive.

I agree that certified education got more expensive. Education price in general got much cheaper with the Information Age. Just look at the body of knowledge that is available to everyone through scihub but also through legal venues. With enough of drive you can pick up a lot of knowledge for free. If you’re smart you can self-educate yourself in many areas to a better level than 80% of the ivy-league alumni. What yo…

You're minimizing the value of "certificates with prestige". The reason they are valued is that they are a very quick and easy indicator of ability, even if they are only moderately accurate. It's incredibly difficult to judge the ability of someone who is self-taught, you have to dig into their self-study plan and prior projects. If you need to evaluate and sort 10 candidates in 2 hours, you don't have time for that type of research.

With the internet what it is, there ought to be a way to make this evaluation process less labor intensive.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#353

Post by [deleted] »

bobwaycott wrote: post #247
e12e wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One in three households or thereabouts. It's certainly not "most" - but not sure "vocal minority" is accurate either? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/29/ameri...

So that’s 33%— of households, not people —at best. Definitely a minority—a minority that appears to be growing even smaller if the trends continue. They’re definitely vocal. What part of calling them a vocal minority seems inaccurate?

[deleted]

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#354

Post by amorousf00p »

sidlls wrote: post #143
aphextron wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except we actually had a functioning federal government during the last gilded age, so we ended up with things like the Sherman Antitrust Act, and eventually the New Deal. I doubt we'll be so lucky this time around. Things are about to get absolutely brutal for the 90%.

"About to?" It already is brutal for the bottom half. And the 90th percentile is too low: people in that range are paupers by comparison even to the top 5. I think the 95th to the 99th percentile is the region to look at. There are some seriously deluded individuals in that group who think they won't be on the outside with the rest of us when the top pull the gates closed behind them.

You are right about one thing: If you are not in the 1% being 95%-99% is being out in the cold. Debt being a cold bed fellow.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#355

Post by DoreenMichele »

amorousf00p wrote: post #354
sidlls wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"About to?" It already is brutal for the bottom half. And the 90th percentile is too low: people in that range are paupers by comparison even to the top 5. I think the 95th to the 99th percentile is the region to look at. There are some seriously deluded individuals in that group who think they won't be on the outside with the rest of us when the top pull the gates closed behind them.

You are right about one thing: If you are not in the 1% being 95%-99% is being out in the cold. Debt being a cold bed fellow.

If only it were merely a cold bed fellow. It's downright vampiric.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#356

Post by amorousf00p »

lev99 wrote: post #171
refurb wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the top 1% is ~$450K per year per household, I'd wager plenty of folks on HN are in the top 1% if they are a two income household.

The top 1% of income is very different than the top 1% in wealth.

hear, hear.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#357

Post by jacobush »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #337
jacobush wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait what? Makes up for it why? It's not like you couldn't virtualised servers elsewhere.

Anyone could have. Amazon did.

What about Azure and Google Cloud and a bunch of smaller players? Several did and do, not just Amazon.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#358

Post by RugnirViking »

Symmetry wrote: post #276
pitaj wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the same New Deal that likely extended the length of the Great Depression by a significant multiple?

You can't just sum up the huge variety of programs that was the New Deal like that. Yes, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) probably did halt the existing recovery but it was a recovery that FDR had started by reversing the hard money policies of his predecessors. And you can certainly argue all day about whether stuff like FDIC was a net improvement if you want to but that didn't really affect the length of…

Don't tease us! We aren't all familliar with economic theory - what is the consensus on what worked during the great depression?

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#359

Post by RugnirViking »

irrational wrote: post #75
FussyZeus wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or the 1%. Something Rich people tend to forget is that the system of law and order we have now prevents armed uprising of the lower classes, which has a history of cropping up during very hard economic times. Not advocating, and I doubt I'd be one of them holding a pitchfork, but it is something to keep in mind.

Back in the day, most people grew up working on a farm/ranch/etc. and actually knew how to use a pitchfork. I'm trying to imagine today's obese generation trying to physically overthrow the government and can't help thinking that it wouldn't go so well.

Physical violence isn't the only way that the working class can seriously disrupt the normal functioning of society.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#360

Post by RugnirViking »

speedplane wrote: post #352
lixtra wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that certified education got more expensive. Education price in general got much cheaper with the Information Age. Just look at the body of knowledge that is available to everyone through scihub but also through legal venues. With enough of drive you can pick up a lot of knowledge for free. If you’re smart you can self-educate yourself in many areas to a better level than 80% of the ivy-league alumni. What yo…

You're minimizing the value of "certificates with prestige". The reason they are valued is that they are a very quick and easy indicator of ability, even if they are only moderately accurate. It's incredibly difficult to judge the ability of someone who is self-taught, you have to dig into their self-study plan and prior projects. If you need to evaluate and sort 10 candidates in 2 hours, you don't have time for that…

And not only that, it's crazy how much the simple act of going to a university and surrounding yourself with other university educated people contributes to raised wages. For example, I have met a factory worker who through the internet have read a ton and learned several topics to a high level in his free time and he is undoubtably driven but there are so many behvioural and cultural reasons why people would pass over him in an instant.
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