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> A few people making rules can't stop that kind of force Can you elaborate please on what kind of force at work? Market forces? Also, do you have any idea wh

> A few people making rules can't stop that kind of force Can you elaborate please on what kind of force at work? Market forces? Also, do you have any idea why he's bringing up the subject of "social cohesion" repeatedly throughout the piece? Is social cohesion a hot button issue in the US now that warrants more attention from the general public? Because I believe that as long as the country is not at war with or in a national state of emergency or in other words, citizens are facing any kind of existential threat, the talk about social cohesion is meaningless and could be divisive as the term is tainted with not so favorable concepts from nationalism, nativism and the likes. > unless taxes are high enough to discourage people from creating wealth I don't want to discourage rich folks from creating wealth. I just want them for now to pay their fair share of taxes and close all the loopholes that fuel this income inequality gap and distribute more resources to the least privileged and most disfranchised groups in the society to alleviate their situation. As for technology has an inequality bias to it, I have to disagree with this assertion and point out that the availability of capital or lack thereof is the main catalyst in this equation not technology.

landryraccoon 11y ago
> the availability of capital or lack thereof is the main catalyst in this equation not technology. You mean if you can't afford a computer and an AWS account you can't get started? Sure, maybe not, but it's a far cry from the capital you needed in the 1960s to get started. I bet a lot of the readers of this forum know people personally that have made a million dollars or more with their laptop (to a first order approximation).
- MawNicker 11y ago
  Most of those people received educations costing upwards of $60,000.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- bespoke_engnr 11y ago
  I love HN as much as the next person but suggesting that the people who hang out here are somehow representative of anything except for the most lucky, wealthy, and privileged members of our society seems a bit strange. The point you're making about tech startup costs is true, of course, although it looks like statistically speaking the chances of hitting it big are only slightly better than 'will become a famous singer' or 'will play for the NBA.' But even if we assume that an average human with a laptop and AWS can now make it big, it seems like in the meantime so much of the other things that working-class people had going for them in the 1960s -- being able to support a family on construction wages, for example -- are gone.

landryraccoon 11y ago

> the availability of capital or lack thereof is the main catalyst in this equation not technology. You mean if you can't afford a computer and an AWS account you can't get started? Sure, maybe not, but it's a far cry from the capital you needed in the 1960s to get started. I bet a lot of the readers of this forum know people personally that have made a million dollars or more with their laptop (to a first order approximation).

MawNicker 11y ago
Most of those people received educations costing upwards of $60,000.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
bespoke_engnr 11y ago
I love HN as much as the next person but suggesting that the people who hang out here are somehow representative of anything except for the most lucky, wealthy, and privileged members of our society seems a bit strange. The point you're making about tech startup costs is true, of course, although it looks like statistically speaking the chances of hitting it big are only slightly better than 'will become a famous singer' or 'will play for the NBA.' But even if we assume that an average human with a laptop and AWS can now make it big, it seems like in the meantime so much of the other things that working-class people had going for them in the 1960s -- being able to support a family on construction wages, for example -- are gone.