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I generally wouldn't criticize someone's situation, but he decided to make this a political argument. He bemoans the government deciding that 11 million people
by sfeng 10y ago
I generally wouldn't criticize someone's situation, but he decided to make this a political argument.
He bemoans the government deciding that 11 million people not having health insurance was more important than his right to not have a job. You don't have a moral right to work on open source projects all day, people do arguably have a moral right to healthcare. The government did exactly what it was supposed to, move money from people who were existing extravagantly to people who desperately needed it.
All due credit to his wife, but generally if the marginal cost of insurance was what was keeping you employed, how much value were you delivering?
- jessaustin 10y agoMaking this "a political argument" might be his best possible strategy (although not necessarily a good one) for encouraging donations? ESR is a fairly divisive persona anyway, so it might be best to embrace that and really appeal to some potential donors even if that repels others.
- rbanffy 10y agoI would just like to point out that working on open source software does not prevent one from having a job. For many years my job was, precisely, to write free and open source software. I too don't want to criticize ESR for his personal choices - we all make mistakes - but he should really consider getting a more common work arrangement. He's neither young nor rich and he should start thinking about retirement by now.
- hapless 10y agoNotably his wife was a partner in her law firm. It is typically _very difficult_ to get yourself ejected from a legal partnership. Obamacare-related costs do not pass the smell test.