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I've already seen that video. What does it have to do with the fact that many, many freelancers don't have $1250 to spend? Good for you. It's great that $2250

by xiaoma 10y ago

I've already seen that video. What does it have to do with the fact that many, many freelancers don't have $1250 to spend? Good for you. It's great that $2250 is a pittance compared to a single invoice you send. You sound like you're easily in the top 10% of the US in terms of your income. That's commendable. You were probably in fine shape without this law, but by any ethical measure the law still needs to protect those who can't afford to have lawyers send letters to their clients. Starting from the base assumption that everyone in a fluid economy has four figures to put down on legal when they first start freelancing in a new field just isn't a reasonable assumption... especially when the 41% of US adults have less than $500 in personal savings and millennials are also crushed by student debt.

dozzie 10y ago
> What does ["Fuck You, Pay Me" talk] have to do with the fact that many, many freelancers don't have $1250 to spend? Then they are not in a position to conduct freelancing and they risk starving and/or getting homeless. A freelancer usually cannot assume stable 40 hours per week for four weeks per month. He/she has to have a money buffer that allows to live for weeks without additional income. $1250 is not an expense too big to be covered by this buffer.
- xiaoma 10y ago
  As you may or may not be aware, decreasing rates of labor participation in the US have pushed many who cannot secure full-time work to seek freelancing gigs in order to avoid starving and/or homelessness. Saying "they are not in a position to conduct freelancing" doesn't make the problem go away. If it did, US construction, fruit picking, home cleaning and other manual labor industries could be reorganized with a single utterance.
  - dozzie 10y ago
    Apparently you talk about a thing different from what everybody else in this thread call a "freelancer".
    - xiaoma 10y ago
      If you read the article, you'll see there are 55 million Americans freelancing. Surely you don't think all of those people are highly paid designers or engineers like those visiting Rackspace in the video! Yes, a few fit that demographic, but it's a small group. On the whole, freelancers are more likely to be drivers or home cleaners than tech workers.

by xiaoma 10y ago

dozzie 10y ago

> What does ["Fuck You, Pay Me" talk] have to do with the fact that many, many freelancers don't have $1250 to spend? Then they are not in a position to conduct freelancing and they risk starving and/or getting homeless. A freelancer usually cannot assume stable 40 hours per week for four weeks per month. He/she has to have a money buffer that allows to live for weeks without additional income. $1250 is not an expense too big to be covered by this buffer.

xiaoma 10y ago
As you may or may not be aware, decreasing rates of labor participation in the US have pushed many who cannot secure full-time work to seek freelancing gigs in order to avoid starving and/or homelessness. Saying "they are not in a position to conduct freelancing" doesn't make the problem go away. If it did, US construction, fruit picking, home cleaning and other manual labor industries could be reorganized with a single utterance.
- dozzie 10y ago
  Apparently you talk about a thing different from what everybody else in this thread call a "freelancer".
  - xiaoma 10y ago
    If you read the article, you'll see there are 55 million Americans freelancing. Surely you don't think all of those people are highly paid designers or engineers like those visiting Rackspace in the video! Yes, a few fit that demographic, but it's a small group. On the whole, freelancers are more likely to be drivers or home cleaners than tech workers.