3 ms·

These defenses based on how technology has improved are weak and hollow. Is the suggestion that technology would not have improved as quickly if quality of life

by dd36 5y ago

These defenses based on how technology has improved are weak and hollow. Is the suggestion that technology would not have improved as quickly if quality of life had remained the same? Single worker households, healthcare, education, home prices, etc. being what they were in the 1970s would’ve prevented LED TVs and iPhones? Really?

notahacker 5y ago
Pointing out that technology has improved drastically in response to an article making the specific, absurd claims that (i) that improvement can be quantified as $137.13 and (ii) actually that's generous because imported technology made is of significantly lower quality to US-made 1970s tech is not a weak and hollow response, though it wasn't exactly the focus of my response A weak and hollow response would be defending that absurdity by constructing a straw man to attack me with (ignoring what I actually said about welfare policies, which is that they have little to do with globalization).
- dd36 5y ago
  Are real wages measured by computers and TVs?
  - notahacker 5y ago
    Does this have anything to do with either of the points I'd made in the above posts about the crudeness of conflating financialization and globalization or the author's claims about the superiority of 70s consumer goods? Are you GPT-3?
  - 6510 5y ago
    Lets try, just to be sure? If I earn 1500 euro per month and pay 1100 worth of bills. I need a new computer and a new TV every 5 years or so. I have 400 left for food etc so saving more than 50 per month would be unreasonable. How much money do I have saved up after 5 years? 50125=3000! Should be enough for a modern computer. For comparison, doing the same job in 1985, earnings: 4500 guilders bills: 450. where 1 euro == 2.2 guilders. I set aside 3000 per month for the TV&PC. 3000125=180000 or 81818 euro. Hummm... Lets adjust that by 50% for possible inaccuracies(?) 40 000 vs 3000 seems like it wouldn't bother me if the TV&PC was 2, 3 or 13 times as expensive? I could be wrong of course but it seems to me consumer electronics need to be so cheap because people don't have money.

by dd36 5y ago

notahacker 5y ago

Pointing out that technology has improved drastically in response to an article making the specific, absurd claims that (i) that improvement can be quantified as $137.13 and (ii) actually that's generous because imported technology made is of significantly lower quality to US-made 1970s tech is not a weak and hollow response, though it wasn't exactly the focus of my response A weak and hollow response would be defending that absurdity by constructing a straw man to attack me with (ignoring what I actually said about welfare policies, which is that they have little to do with globalization).

dd36 5y ago
Are real wages measured by computers and TVs?
- notahacker 5y ago
  Does this have anything to do with either of the points I'd made in the above posts about the crudeness of conflating financialization and globalization or the author's claims about the superiority of 70s consumer goods? Are you GPT-3?
- 6510 5y ago
  Lets try, just to be sure? If I earn 1500 euro per month and pay 1100 worth of bills. I need a new computer and a new TV every 5 years or so. I have 400 left for food etc so saving more than 50 per month would be unreasonable. How much money do I have saved up after 5 years? 50125=3000! Should be enough for a modern computer. For comparison, doing the same job in 1985, earnings: 4500 guilders bills: 450. where 1 euro == 2.2 guilders. I set aside 3000 per month for the TV&PC. 3000125=180000 or 81818 euro. Hummm... Lets adjust that by 50% for possible inaccuracies(?) 40 000 vs 3000 seems like it wouldn't bother me if the TV&PC was 2, 3 or 13 times as expensive? I could be wrong of course but it seems to me consumer electronics need to be so cheap because people don't have money.