3 ms·

This is an incredibly blinkered viewpoint. Sure if you're insulated from the effects of economic downturns (you have a secure job or no dependents, and you have

by smcl 7y ago

This is an incredibly blinkered viewpoint. Sure if you're insulated from the effects of economic downturns (you have a secure job or no dependents, and you have a lot of savings and a diverse investment portfolio, and you're healthy and/or have no need to worry about losing health insurance benefits) then sure, you can relax and tell yourself that everything will work out alright in the end. However the reality is that recessions mean a lot of suffering and uncertainty for a sizeable chunk of the population. Pretending this isn't the case is extremely bizarre.

RickJWagner 7y ago
You're right. I sometimes feel conflicted about bad economic news-- a lot of my reading materials suggest this is 'good', because it's an opportunity to buy distressed assets and make more money. Then I think about the cost to others, and I realize I'd rather not make the money and let others have an easier time of it.
gehwartzen 7y ago
I think it can be a fairly reasonable viewpoint; there are many systems where "downturn" type events are good for the system as a whole and also disproportionally good to some members. A natural forest fire is good for the forest from time to time, good for certain well established individual trees, and good for future generations but of course terrible for those trees that get culled out.
- oblio 7y ago
  The issue with this is that there's a lot of "culling" happening during these recessions. And people aren't trees.
  - umvi 7y ago
    Right but we aren't incinerating people during the culling. Very few (if any) people actually die compared to trees in a forest fire.
    - oblio 7y ago
      During recessions there's higher rates of suicides, divorces, depressions. People don't have to die for their lives to be miserable. (And people on HN don't have to be so literal or pedantic, especially when analogies are used...)

by smcl 7y ago

RickJWagner 7y ago

You're right. I sometimes feel conflicted about bad economic news-- a lot of my reading materials suggest this is 'good', because it's an opportunity to buy distressed assets and make more money. Then I think about the cost to others, and I realize I'd rather not make the money and let others have an easier time of it.

gehwartzen 7y ago

I think it can be a fairly reasonable viewpoint; there are many systems where "downturn" type events are good for the system as a whole and also disproportionally good to some members. A natural forest fire is good for the forest from time to time, good for certain well established individual trees, and good for future generations but of course terrible for those trees that get culled out.

oblio 7y ago
The issue with this is that there's a lot of "culling" happening during these recessions. And people aren't trees.
- umvi 7y ago
  Right but we aren't incinerating people during the culling. Very few (if any) people actually die compared to trees in a forest fire.
  - oblio 7y ago
    During recessions there's higher rates of suicides, divorces, depressions. People don't have to die for their lives to be miserable. (And people on HN don't have to be so literal or pedantic, especially when analogies are used...)