5 ms·

Most of my friends are blue collar workers. It's absolutely delicious to see valley types express concerns that "poor people from somewhere else will steal the

Most of my friends are blue collar workers. It's absolutely delicious to see valley types express concerns that "poor people from somewhere else will steal their jobs."

blihp 6y ago
More likely they want their SV-level paycheck while working from a low cost of living location. The reality is large companies typically don't work (or rather, pay) that way for their employees.
rapsey 6y ago
Maybe one day they will understand that free trade is better overall actually means better for the very rich and very poor and worse for everyone in the middle. A college degree is unfortunately no indicator of common sense.
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  The difference between them is that the blue collar workers knew they were in the middle, and the valley workers who thought they were at the top are about to find out they've been in the middle all along.
  - buboard 6y ago
    Freelancers and IT workers around the world know that too well
- ido 6y ago
  Why is being worse for the middle more important than being better for the very poor? We need to structure taxation such that (some of) the very top's gains gets redistributed to everyone else. It's crazy to me that I pay a larger % of taxes on my high-5-figures income than Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Larry Ellison (or other robber-baron types with worse PR if you prefer).
  - Consultant32452 6y ago
    >Why is being worse for the middle more important than being better for the very poor? It's not, except for the extremely disingenuous way it was all sold to us. We knew what would happen to the rust belt. We told them "the jobs would come right back" and "it's better for everyone." Well, it wasn't. And if they had the audacity to complain we called them every bad name in the book. And in the blue collar case the poor people that it helped were largely in other countries. Can you imagine a politician making that sales pitch honestly? "We're gonna fuck over the working class, but it's gonna really make our rich richer and some poor people on the other side of the planet will be a little better off." I dare say, that would not have gone over well.
    - samdamsamm 6y ago
      This is all exactly right. Taking issue with global trade has been called “nationalist” and taking issue with global labor is called “racist”. It’s the dirtiest political trick in my lifetime.
  - TomMarius 6y ago
    And why is your conclusion that someone needs to be taxed more? Why not that you should be taxed less?
    - millstone 6y ago
      That was not concluded.
    - joshuamorton 6y ago
      Presumably because taxing me less doesn't do anything to help those less fortunate than I. Taxing those who make more than me more than they are currently could.
      - TomMarius 6y ago
        Simply taxing the rich more won't help anyone. You need to reevaluate the budget in any case, and at that point you might just redirect most of the tremendous amount of money already there to the poor AND tax people less.
rainyMammoth 6y ago
EDIT: What I was trying to express (without being snarky) is that stereotypically what you see in the bay area is very rich successful people moralizing others on liberal values from their high horses. I have a hard time to put this together with people earning a fortune, doing minimal things to actually help others and feel threatened when there is a risk that other people might benefit from opening bay area jobs to a wider audience.
- millstone 6y ago
  Ok, but there's a reason we aren't hearing from non-SV employers threatened by the expanded SV hiring pool.
- pasquinelli 6y ago
  There's libs and then there's the left. The interests if libs never have been aligned with the left, even though a lot of air is pushed around saying otherwise.
- CuWj67GF3y 6y ago
  I don't understand how one can make such broad stroke judgements about tens of thousands of engineers, their opinions, their morality and their political affiliations all at once. What's even more amazing is these engineers that live in the bay area, many of them are from diverse backgrounds around the world, not just the US. I have no idea how one can bundle all that up with one generalization. Must feel good to think you're looking down from a higher horse.
  - rainyMammoth 6y ago
    You made a good point, I edited my comment. I didn't mean to be snarky about it.
gexla 6y ago
They won't be poor after stealing SV jobs.

Most of my friends are blue collar workers. It's absolutely delicious to see valley types express concerns that "poor people from somewhere else will steal their jobs."

blihp 6y ago

More likely they want their SV-level paycheck while working from a low cost of living location. The reality is large companies typically don't work (or rather, pay) that way for their employees.

rapsey 6y ago

Maybe one day they will understand that free trade is better overall actually means better for the very rich and very poor and worse for everyone in the middle. A college degree is unfortunately no indicator of common sense.

Consultant32452 6y ago
The difference between them is that the blue collar workers knew they were in the middle, and the valley workers who thought they were at the top are about to find out they've been in the middle all along.
- buboard 6y ago
  Freelancers and IT workers around the world know that too well
ido 6y ago
Why is being worse for the middle more important than being better for the very poor? We need to structure taxation such that (some of) the very top's gains gets redistributed to everyone else. It's crazy to me that I pay a larger % of taxes on my high-5-figures income than Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Larry Ellison (or other robber-baron types with worse PR if you prefer).
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  >Why is being worse for the middle more important than being better for the very poor? It's not, except for the extremely disingenuous way it was all sold to us. We knew what would happen to the rust belt. We told them "the jobs would come right back" and "it's better for everyone." Well, it wasn't. And if they had the audacity to complain we called them every bad name in the book. And in the blue collar case the poor people that it helped were largely in other countries. Can you imagine a politician making that sales pitch honestly? "We're gonna fuck over the working class, but it's gonna really make our rich richer and some poor people on the other side of the planet will be a little better off." I dare say, that would not have gone over well.
  - samdamsamm 6y ago
    This is all exactly right. Taking issue with global trade has been called “nationalist” and taking issue with global labor is called “racist”. It’s the dirtiest political trick in my lifetime.
- TomMarius 6y ago
  And why is your conclusion that someone needs to be taxed more? Why not that you should be taxed less?
  - millstone 6y ago
    That was not concluded.
  - joshuamorton 6y ago
    Presumably because taxing me less doesn't do anything to help those less fortunate than I. Taxing those who make more than me more than they are currently could.
    - TomMarius 6y ago
      Simply taxing the rich more won't help anyone. You need to reevaluate the budget in any case, and at that point you might just redirect most of the tremendous amount of money already there to the poor AND tax people less.

rainyMammoth 6y ago

EDIT: What I was trying to express (without being snarky) is that stereotypically what you see in the bay area is very rich successful people moralizing others on liberal values from their high horses. I have a hard time to put this together with people earning a fortune, doing minimal things to actually help others and feel threatened when there is a risk that other people might benefit from opening bay area jobs to a wider audience.

millstone 6y ago
Ok, but there's a reason we aren't hearing from non-SV employers threatened by the expanded SV hiring pool.
pasquinelli 6y ago
There's libs and then there's the left. The interests if libs never have been aligned with the left, even though a lot of air is pushed around saying otherwise.
CuWj67GF3y 6y ago
I don't understand how one can make such broad stroke judgements about tens of thousands of engineers, their opinions, their morality and their political affiliations all at once. What's even more amazing is these engineers that live in the bay area, many of them are from diverse backgrounds around the world, not just the US. I have no idea how one can bundle all that up with one generalization. Must feel good to think you're looking down from a higher horse.
- rainyMammoth 6y ago
  You made a good point, I edited my comment. I didn't mean to be snarky about it.

gexla 6y ago

They won't be poor after stealing SV jobs.