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> There are plenty of people in the world who would think that anything over $500/month is way more than enough for one person. Should your compensation be redu

> There are plenty of people in the world who would think that anything over $500/month is way more than enough for one person. Should your compensation be reduced to that amount? This is an absurd slippery slope, and a bizarre appeal to "plenty of people" to boot. There is a significant and categorical difference between $500/mo and $1 billion. You undermine your own point by not addressing it. In fact, if there were a wealth cap of $500/mo as you posit, it would take over 150000 years to accumulate $1 billion, which frankly only reinforces how excessive that amount of money is.

tomcam 4y ago
Who determines excessive? How do high risk ideas get executed when there are no billionaires?
- Johnny555 4y ago
  How do high risk ideas get executed when there are no billionaires The same way most of them do now -- through venture capital firms. Or maybe if they had more tax revenue, the US government could sponsor more speculative research and companies.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    It would be nice if there was more public funding for basic research. Why aren't the benevolent billionaires this thread is talking about paying for that?
    - tomcam 4y ago
      Are Microsoft, Google, and Tesla not doing basic research?
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Venture capital firms are often formed by… billionaires, at last check.
- epicide 4y ago
  Perhaps part of the problem is that we incentivize high-risk ideas too much.
  - Johnny555 4y ago
    I think it's the opposite. I'm not talking about "Let's start a social media app for Aardvarks!" kind of ideas, but actual scientific research. We used to have pure research orgs like Bell Labs, but companies aren't funding pure research any more, so we need more investment from government. Not every idea should have a path to monetization before it's funded.
    - pedro2 4y ago
      It has been read somewhere that's due to the possibility to gobble up/buy competitors with no blocking by the state of such behaviour, specially since state deregulation in the 70s. So there is the possibility the market can be made to care again.
    - epicide 4y ago
      I should clarify, as I think we're saying the same thing in different ways. I don't equate "skunkworks" with high risk. To me, that's not "risk" as much as "I don't care about monetization in the first place", like you're saying. I agree that research without promise of a payout is sorely missing these days. When I say "maybe we should have less high risk", I'm thinking of fly-by-night companies that do make a social media app for aardvarks, spend a bunch of money on slick marketing so they can pump their IPO, and then pull the rug with them when they bail. But billionaires don't become billionaires by doing skunkworks projects. They often do the latter.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Well most high risk ideas fail, which is why it’s handy that we have billionaires willing to risk. Why should taxpayers be on the hook?
    - epicide 4y ago
refurb 4y ago
It's a thought exercise and by examining extreme you start to see holes in the theory. It's the same problem when it comes to tax increases - everyone thinks raises taxes on everyone else is a great idea, themselves? Oh, not me, I'm not rich. This even happens on HN which is a pretty well off crowd. When the SALT deduction was capped everyone complained - even the same ones that claimed "I'm fine paying higher taxes".

tomcam 4y ago

Who determines excessive? How do high risk ideas get executed when there are no billionaires?

Johnny555 4y ago
How do high risk ideas get executed when there are no billionaires The same way most of them do now -- through venture capital firms. Or maybe if they had more tax revenue, the US government could sponsor more speculative research and companies.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  It would be nice if there was more public funding for basic research. Why aren't the benevolent billionaires this thread is talking about paying for that?
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Are Microsoft, Google, and Tesla not doing basic research?
- tomcam 4y ago
  Venture capital firms are often formed by… billionaires, at last check.
epicide 4y ago
Perhaps part of the problem is that we incentivize high-risk ideas too much.
- Johnny555 4y ago
  I think it's the opposite. I'm not talking about "Let's start a social media app for Aardvarks!" kind of ideas, but actual scientific research. We used to have pure research orgs like Bell Labs, but companies aren't funding pure research any more, so we need more investment from government. Not every idea should have a path to monetization before it's funded.
  - pedro2 4y ago
    It has been read somewhere that's due to the possibility to gobble up/buy competitors with no blocking by the state of such behaviour, specially since state deregulation in the 70s. So there is the possibility the market can be made to care again.
  - epicide 4y ago
    I should clarify, as I think we're saying the same thing in different ways. I don't equate "skunkworks" with high risk. To me, that's not "risk" as much as "I don't care about monetization in the first place", like you're saying. I agree that research without promise of a payout is sorely missing these days. When I say "maybe we should have less high risk", I'm thinking of fly-by-night companies that do make a social media app for aardvarks, spend a bunch of money on slick marketing so they can pump their IPO, and then pull the rug with them when they bail. But billionaires don't become billionaires by doing skunkworks projects. They often do the latter.
- tomcam 4y ago
  Well most high risk ideas fail, which is why it’s handy that we have billionaires willing to risk. Why should taxpayers be on the hook?
  - epicide 4y ago

refurb 4y ago

It's a thought exercise and by examining extreme you start to see holes in the theory. It's the same problem when it comes to tax increases - everyone thinks raises taxes on everyone else is a great idea, themselves? Oh, not me, I'm not rich. This even happens on HN which is a pretty well off crowd. When the SALT deduction was capped everyone complained - even the same ones that claimed "I'm fine paying higher taxes".