3 ms·

We could all be working less but instead we’re not because reasons.

slg 8y ago
Those reasons all revolve around the people who already have money wanting more of the money. And considering the HN community is organized around entrepreneurship and wealth generation, most of us are at least complicit in it if not actively fighting to keep it that way.
ravenstine 8y ago
That's true, people could become more minimalist and work a lot less. Actually, minimalism seems to be a growing trend right now, but I think this has more to do with necessity than minimalism as a philosophy. For me, it's a little of both.
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  I think that's the case for most people. Especially as we age, healthcare becomes more important. And it's the healthcare that gets a lot of people. (At least that's the case in the US. I don't really know much about other nations and their retirement setups.)
  - isostatic 8y ago
    In the UK we treat healthcare as a common problem across the country. I believe in the US you only do this with the most expensive, wealthiest people (medicare), and let those who actually work for a living be ravaged by the russian roulette of things like cancer. There was a suggestion that people with large amount of unearned wealth (land) in the UK should have to pay towards their care homes out of whatever capital they had left at the end of their life, rather than increasing the burden on the non-wealthy workers who can barely make rent, let alone buy a house. That went down like a lead baloon with the wealthy pensioners, as if forcing brexit on the young wasn't enough, they want the young to pay for their healthcare. There are no major parties suggesting mass euthanasia of those age 70, I suspect such a party would do well.
    - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
      Strange - health care is like a civil right, unless they have money then its an excuse to fleece people? Do I have that right?
      - lamarpye 8y ago
        That is how I read it, maybe there is a subtlety I am missing.
      - isostatic 8y ago
        It’s a right, like defence, policing and education. It gets paid for by those that work hardest/smartest/longest. The Tory plan was to get those that benefited from unearned gained in wealth to pay for it too.
        JoeAltmaier 8y ago
        Hm. Or paid for by those that happen to have interest on accounts, and do nothing for it. Anyway, we decide on civil rights because we're a just society, not out of some column on a financial ledger. They should be separate issues.
        isostatic 8y ago
        The idea was the country would increase funding for the elderly, and increase taxation on the rich. This was rejected, mainly by rich old people.

slg 8y ago

Those reasons all revolve around the people who already have money wanting more of the money. And considering the HN community is organized around entrepreneurship and wealth generation, most of us are at least complicit in it if not actively fighting to keep it that way.

ravenstine 8y ago

That's true, people could become more minimalist and work a lot less. Actually, minimalism seems to be a growing trend right now, but I think this has more to do with necessity than minimalism as a philosophy. For me, it's a little of both.

bilbo0s 8y ago
I think that's the case for most people. Especially as we age, healthcare becomes more important. And it's the healthcare that gets a lot of people. (At least that's the case in the US. I don't really know much about other nations and their retirement setups.)
- isostatic 8y ago
  In the UK we treat healthcare as a common problem across the country. I believe in the US you only do this with the most expensive, wealthiest people (medicare), and let those who actually work for a living be ravaged by the russian roulette of things like cancer. There was a suggestion that people with large amount of unearned wealth (land) in the UK should have to pay towards their care homes out of whatever capital they had left at the end of their life, rather than increasing the burden on the non-wealthy workers who can barely make rent, let alone buy a house. That went down like a lead baloon with the wealthy pensioners, as if forcing brexit on the young wasn't enough, they want the young to pay for their healthcare. There are no major parties suggesting mass euthanasia of those age 70, I suspect such a party would do well.
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    Strange - health care is like a civil right, unless they have money then its an excuse to fleece people? Do I have that right?
    - lamarpye 8y ago
      That is how I read it, maybe there is a subtlety I am missing.
    - isostatic 8y ago
      It’s a right, like defence, policing and education. It gets paid for by those that work hardest/smartest/longest. The Tory plan was to get those that benefited from unearned gained in wealth to pay for it too.
      - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
        Hm. Or paid for by those that happen to have interest on accounts, and do nothing for it. Anyway, we decide on civil rights because we're a just society, not out of some column on a financial ledger. They should be separate issues.
        isostatic 8y ago
        The idea was the country would increase funding for the elderly, and increase taxation on the rich. This was rejected, mainly by rich old people.