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Atlas Shrugged: the danger of communism/socialism and how close we are to a collapse. It’s easy to see the excess of the right and capitalisms, not so easy to s

by alfor 5y ago

Atlas Shrugged: the danger of communism/socialism and how close we are to a collapse. It’s easy to see the excess of the right and capitalisms, not so easy to spot when it’s going too far left. a hunter-gatherer’s guide to the 21st century: How the hyper-novel environment that we build for ourselves is not serving our physical and mental health. Very interesting to see how the downside to our technological progress. With the technology always accelerating, the side effects too are greater and greater.

chx 5y ago
Teens often like Atlas Shrugged. Then most people grow out of that. Beware if you are not.
- leobg 5y ago
  Else you become founder of Uber?
  - chx 5y ago
    Uber, on one hand, is exploiting drivers naivety and funnel their money to the investors. If people calculated the amortization of their cars they would see how their real income is far below minimal wage -- there are many blog posts analyzing this. On another hand by creating and valorizing "gig economy" it has become an excellent tool in furthering the rollback of everything organized labor have achieved in a hundred year plus. Your point...?
    - leobg 5y ago
      Point was that Uber’s co-founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick named Ayn Rand as his favorite author. So I thought of him as an example for someone who has not “growing out of“ Rand’s “objectivism”. I find it very fitting that is apparently has led him to the kind of one-sided success you are describing. And, if I remember correctly, his ousting from Uber started with him preaching the libertarian gospel to one of his company’s underpaid drivers. It seems to me that is precisely what the other commentator was trying to say with “growing out of it“. Ayn Rands books are really good and revolutionary and one should read them, perhaps even multiple times. But one probably shouldn’t take them as the final answer to the questions of life.
- alfor 5y ago
  That seems like a cheap shot. I live in a very socialist place (Québec) it’s everywhere and while it’s good for some things I think we are closer to a collapse than most people think. we have close to 50% tax rate on income + 14% tax on consumption (that was supposed to be temporary 30years ago ) + municipal tax (those make more sense) + lots of other fees for employment It’s very hard to start something productive without being tied with red tape. In a lot of cases those rules don’t make sense anymore but are just there forever. People generally have a disdain for private enterprise, like it something dirty to make money, but that is what still feed and employ everyone. If there is not a force to push in the other direction, it’s always more taxation, more laws, bigger government, less efficiency. If we don’t do anything to push back at some point it become too top heavy and it collapse. So this book provide some refreshing perspective and a way of thinking that is lost on most people today. That doesn’t mean that it contain all the solutions.

by alfor 5y ago

chx 5y ago

Teens often like Atlas Shrugged. Then most people grow out of that. Beware if you are not.

leobg 5y ago
Else you become founder of Uber?
- chx 5y ago
  Uber, on one hand, is exploiting drivers naivety and funnel their money to the investors. If people calculated the amortization of their cars they would see how their real income is far below minimal wage -- there are many blog posts analyzing this. On another hand by creating and valorizing "gig economy" it has become an excellent tool in furthering the rollback of everything organized labor have achieved in a hundred year plus. Your point...?
  - leobg 5y ago
    Point was that Uber’s co-founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick named Ayn Rand as his favorite author. So I thought of him as an example for someone who has not “growing out of“ Rand’s “objectivism”. I find it very fitting that is apparently has led him to the kind of one-sided success you are describing. And, if I remember correctly, his ousting from Uber started with him preaching the libertarian gospel to one of his company’s underpaid drivers. It seems to me that is precisely what the other commentator was trying to say with “growing out of it“. Ayn Rands books are really good and revolutionary and one should read them, perhaps even multiple times. But one probably shouldn’t take them as the final answer to the questions of life.
alfor 5y ago
That seems like a cheap shot. I live in a very socialist place (Québec) it’s everywhere and while it’s good for some things I think we are closer to a collapse than most people think. we have close to 50% tax rate on income + 14% tax on consumption (that was supposed to be temporary 30years ago ) + municipal tax (those make more sense) + lots of other fees for employment It’s very hard to start something productive without being tied with red tape. In a lot of cases those rules don’t make sense anymore but are just there forever. People generally have a disdain for private enterprise, like it something dirty to make money, but that is what still feed and employ everyone. If there is not a force to push in the other direction, it’s always more taxation, more laws, bigger government, less efficiency. If we don’t do anything to push back at some point it become too top heavy and it collapse. So this book provide some refreshing perspective and a way of thinking that is lost on most people today. That doesn’t mean that it contain all the solutions.