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You misconstrued what the article was claiming... "capitalism sucks (... the gov should regulate even more)" is not the same as "market capitalism is inherently

by rw 19y ago

You misconstrued what the article was claiming... "capitalism sucks (... the gov should regulate even more)" is not the same as "market capitalism is inherently biased towards outcomes that enrich owners of capital at the expense of nonowners who innovate."

chaostheory 19y ago
given the title of the blog (Charity Focus), their past articles, and the tone of the current one - "We are favoring the interests of one class over another"; I don't feel that I misconstrued the article. I'm actually surprised this got up voted on a site populated mostly by the can-do, think outside of the box so I can move up the food chain crowd... is YC News readership changing? I could be wrong, but I feel another subtle message the article is giving is: "there's no point - just give up. the evil rich men will always outsmart and bully you no matter how hard you try or how clever u are"
- pg 19y ago
  is YC News readership changing? Unfortunately this was in fact mostly voted up by recently arrived users. But I'm not panicking yet; overall the quality of the top stories was good today.
  - icky 19y ago
    You can still take something positive away from this article if you look at it as a compelling argument to work for yourself. Charityfocus had an interesting story, but they spun it with the kind of sad, defeatist attitude that is antithetical to the hacker news ethos.
  - Xichekolas 19y ago
    I voted it up because I think it's a great reminder why we should want to be owners and not employees. That is the part of the attraction of a startup... it's definitely more financially secure than a job, from which you can get fired. At a startup the worst you can do is fail and have to get a job. John got the shaft in the short term, but Adidas got rid of their top salesman. John will recover and probably excel, while Adidas just guaranteed that their salesman will never try and achieve anything great. The most obvious effect of an action is not the most important, as stated above.
    - motoko 19y ago
      Not true. The idea that a startup is more financially secure than a job is not realistic for most people. At a startup, the worst you can do is lose all your invested capital, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and have such a large gap in your track record of gainful employment that getting a job at the level you would want is very difficult. Further, you _can_ get fired from a startup. Your investors become your owners, and they can fire you. Your cofounders can fire you (or screw you in other ways), too.
      - Xichekolas 19y ago
        But I would argue that at a job, the worst you can do is lose years of your life, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and get pidgeonholed into a career-path that makes getting a job at the level you would want in a different career-path very difficult. I'm not saying a startup is risk-free, but I wish people would quit treating employment as risk-free too. It just seems like you have a lot more control over your situation (picking your cofounders, picking your investors) than you do as an employee (who can be fired on a whim). You can work has as an employee and not have anything to show for it. If you work hard as a founder, customers are much less likely to 'fire' you at random.

by rw 19y ago

chaostheory 19y ago

given the title of the blog (Charity Focus), their past articles, and the tone of the current one - "We are favoring the interests of one class over another"; I don't feel that I misconstrued the article. I'm actually surprised this got up voted on a site populated mostly by the can-do, think outside of the box so I can move up the food chain crowd... is YC News readership changing? I could be wrong, but I feel another subtle message the article is giving is: "there's no point - just give up. the evil rich men will always outsmart and bully you no matter how hard you try or how clever u are"

pg 19y ago
is YC News readership changing? Unfortunately this was in fact mostly voted up by recently arrived users. But I'm not panicking yet; overall the quality of the top stories was good today.
- icky 19y ago
  You can still take something positive away from this article if you look at it as a compelling argument to work for yourself. Charityfocus had an interesting story, but they spun it with the kind of sad, defeatist attitude that is antithetical to the hacker news ethos.
- Xichekolas 19y ago
  I voted it up because I think it's a great reminder why we should want to be owners and not employees. That is the part of the attraction of a startup... it's definitely more financially secure than a job, from which you can get fired. At a startup the worst you can do is fail and have to get a job. John got the shaft in the short term, but Adidas got rid of their top salesman. John will recover and probably excel, while Adidas just guaranteed that their salesman will never try and achieve anything great. The most obvious effect of an action is not the most important, as stated above.
  - motoko 19y ago
    Not true. The idea that a startup is more financially secure than a job is not realistic for most people. At a startup, the worst you can do is lose all your invested capital, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and have such a large gap in your track record of gainful employment that getting a job at the level you would want is very difficult. Further, you _can_ get fired from a startup. Your investors become your owners, and they can fire you. Your cofounders can fire you (or screw you in other ways), too.
    - Xichekolas 19y ago
      But I would argue that at a job, the worst you can do is lose years of your life, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and get pidgeonholed into a career-path that makes getting a job at the level you would want in a different career-path very difficult. I'm not saying a startup is risk-free, but I wish people would quit treating employment as risk-free too. It just seems like you have a lot more control over your situation (picking your cofounders, picking your investors) than you do as an employee (who can be fired on a whim). You can work has as an employee and not have anything to show for it. If you work hard as a founder, customers are much less likely to 'fire' you at random.