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I'm curious why no one is asking if this is hacker related news? An article like this seems very similar to the article posted about Obama winning the Democrat

I'm curious why no one is asking if this is hacker related news? An article like this seems very similar to the article posted about Obama winning the Democratic nomination and that posting received a significant amount of criticism. Is it that the effort expended ranting in the comments of the Obama article has exhausted you? Is it that you haven't seen this news covered by as many news sources? Or, do you genuinely find this information different than that of Obama's nomination?

smanek 18y ago
To be perfectly honest, the primary reason I posted this was that I found it interesting. It's just fun to know how things really are - even if there is no direct applicability to my current circumstances. I didn't see this covered much in the mainstream news, so I posted it here in the hopes others would also find it interesting. For a more tangible reason, I'd say it's important for would be entrepreneurs to understand the state of the US (and world) economy. The fact is that America is borrowing vast sums of money, which is going to have a direct impact on us. In the short term, it's likely to increase inflation, telling us that maybe we shouldn't be hording cash right now (and maybe it's a good time to borrow money ;-)). In the long run, it may deepen the credit crunch and cut many consumer's effective discretionary spending power. But mostly I just posted it cause I found it interesting ;-)
andyn 18y ago
I gave up caring. It seems there's some sort of irresistable force that compels people to post articles about the government or the man. I suppose it appeals to this sort of audience, there's always the comment afterwards that "well I found it interesting" and enough people agree. In the end anyone who doesn't care for this sort of thing becomes the minority and moves elsewhere. It's like an inevitable cycle.
goodkarma 18y ago
This information is "different than that of Obama's nomination". It is about how numbers can be misleading. In this case, the government is holding corporations to a higher standard than they hold themselves. They are obscuring the truth about the deficit by using a different method of accounting. I don't really think it is hacker related news, though.
gills 18y ago
I think it's interesting because most hackers also like math. This article is about people who obviously suck at math and/or are complete liars. Further, most of the folks here are probably above-average in productivity. They should care that their extra efforts are being blown away by politicians. Sure, you can read the linked article anywhere, but you will probably have a more intelligent discussion here about what to do about it, or if it even matters to those you may consider your peers.
gojomo 18y ago
I'm more tolerant of this than usual descents into politics and general news because: (1) it's not expressly political/partisan (2) it's not transient 'news of the day'/horse-race frivolity -- it's about an underlying trend of many decades (3) it's not been widely covered -- you can't turn on any cable news station and get this repeated every 1/2 hour (like politicking updates) (4) it's something not many people realize, and yet is relevant to the long-term financial stability of the startup environment and the US/world as a whole (5) as others note, it involves playing with numbers and organizational/systemic standards, which are somewhat hacker/startup related
TrevorJ 18y ago
Hackers have always tended to be interested in the affairs of our government, at least in my observation. At the very least, it's nice to have a heads up that America may be a bit late paying the rent next month. ;-)

smanek 18y ago

To be perfectly honest, the primary reason I posted this was that I found it interesting. It's just fun to know how things really are - even if there is no direct applicability to my current circumstances. I didn't see this covered much in the mainstream news, so I posted it here in the hopes others would also find it interesting. For a more tangible reason, I'd say it's important for would be entrepreneurs to understand the state of the US (and world) economy. The fact is that America is borrowing vast sums of money, which is going to have a direct impact on us. In the short term, it's likely to increase inflation, telling us that maybe we shouldn't be hording cash right now (and maybe it's a good time to borrow money ;-)). In the long run, it may deepen the credit crunch and cut many consumer's effective discretionary spending power. But mostly I just posted it cause I found it interesting ;-)

andyn 18y ago

I gave up caring. It seems there's some sort of irresistable force that compels people to post articles about the government or the man. I suppose it appeals to this sort of audience, there's always the comment afterwards that "well I found it interesting" and enough people agree. In the end anyone who doesn't care for this sort of thing becomes the minority and moves elsewhere. It's like an inevitable cycle.

goodkarma 18y ago

This information is "different than that of Obama's nomination". It is about how numbers can be misleading. In this case, the government is holding corporations to a higher standard than they hold themselves. They are obscuring the truth about the deficit by using a different method of accounting. I don't really think it is hacker related news, though.

gills 18y ago

I think it's interesting because most hackers also like math. This article is about people who obviously suck at math and/or are complete liars. Further, most of the folks here are probably above-average in productivity. They should care that their extra efforts are being blown away by politicians. Sure, you can read the linked article anywhere, but you will probably have a more intelligent discussion here about what to do about it, or if it even matters to those you may consider your peers.

gojomo 18y ago

I'm more tolerant of this than usual descents into politics and general news because: (1) it's not expressly political/partisan (2) it's not transient 'news of the day'/horse-race frivolity -- it's about an underlying trend of many decades (3) it's not been widely covered -- you can't turn on any cable news station and get this repeated every 1/2 hour (like politicking updates) (4) it's something not many people realize, and yet is relevant to the long-term financial stability of the startup environment and the US/world as a whole (5) as others note, it involves playing with numbers and organizational/systemic standards, which are somewhat hacker/startup related

TrevorJ 18y ago

Hackers have always tended to be interested in the affairs of our government, at least in my observation. At the very least, it's nice to have a heads up that America may be a bit late paying the rent next month. ;-)