5 ms·

The economy is not zero sum, other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Those athletes are paid that much because the fans (customers) v

by mucle6 3y ago

The economy is not zero sum, other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Those athletes are paid that much because the fans (customers) value them that much.

ajkjk 3y ago
> other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Why not? It clearly shows that there is a screw loose. Or put differently: it reminds us of the fundamental truth that in society, people without power get as little as is available to keep them alive and sometimes less, and people with power (in this case, the power of a good negotiating position) get as much as is available to pay them. The world doesn't _have_ to work this way. There is no reason we need to be okay with it. Poorer people could be paid more and rich people paid less and things would basically work the same way.
- wiseowise 3y ago
  > Why not? Because it's not productive. Yell and shake your fist at cloud all you want, it's not going to change.
  - ajkjk 3y ago
    Well yeah not with that attitude.
- mucle6 3y ago
  :s/power/ability to create value/ Anyone who can create returns greater than their cost of capital creates value. A screw isn't loose. If you can figure out how to add value to the world, then you get endless riches. > "People without power get as little as is available to keep them alive" Consider using less hyperbole in your worldview. Today has the highest living standards of any time.
  - jstarfish 3y ago
    > Consider using less hyperbole in your worldview. Today has the highest living standards of any time. And yet the suicide rate keeps ticking upward. All is not well in Paradise Earth.
  - ajkjk 3y ago
    ? That wasn't hyperbole. The average living standards are high and the low end isn't, as it has always been. The proportions of people in the low end vs middle are different than they have been, because the economy has advanced, but it's the same story. It doesn't change the fact that wealth inequality doesn't need to be this unequal. You are choosing that system, over another which is less unequal, when you defend it. I can't imagine why! It's the same system, but better, with happier people, and the only difference is the rules of the game--which we get to choose.
    - Dig1t 3y ago
      It’s okay to have inequality as long as the floor is sufficiently high. We literally have an obesity problem among America’s poorest people. Which speaks to having a decently high standard compared to the past, where being poor literally meant you starved to death. Similarly, hospitals will never turn you away in this country. Meaning you can show up at the emergency room and have life saving surgery and the worst case is you’ll get a bill in the mail, instead of dying in the streets (there are countries where this still happens). I’m not saying it’s perfect, I think the biggest problem has to do with mentally ill and drug addicted homeless, who don’t have the mental capacity to take care of themselves. But I do agree with GP that the conversation has more nuance.
      - ajkjk 3y ago
        I'll agree immediately that poverty is less-bad than it once was; food prices in particular are lower compared to labor than they have ever been in history and so people can basically survive with no income. Housing then becomes the actual limiting factor. For the purposes of criticizing power structures that allow structural inequality I don't... care? The floor is not sufficiently high right now, because tremendous swathes of people are in true poverty, aka existence that denies them dignity and self-determination, because living in this world is so expensive that they can't escape the trap of poverty. So yes, I feel totally fine saying that soccer players or whomever make way too much money, and I'd be the first to agree that the inequality is fine when it is. But we're not even close.
- throw10920 3y ago
  > the fundamental truth that This is wildly false - it's nowhere near a "fundamental truth", this is just the (incredibly warped and distorted) way that you personally see the world.
wiseowise 3y ago
> The economy is not zero sum, other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Apparently it upsets author of the article that AI PM makes 900k.
philipov 3y ago
The economy is not zero sum, but power is, and money is power.

by mucle6 3y ago

The economy is not zero sum, other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Those athletes are paid that much because the fans (customers) value them that much.

ajkjk 3y ago

> other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Why not? It clearly shows that there is a screw loose. Or put differently: it reminds us of the fundamental truth that in society, people without power get as little as is available to keep them alive and sometimes less, and people with power (in this case, the power of a good negotiating position) get as much as is available to pay them. The world doesn't _have_ to work this way. There is no reason we need to be okay with it. Poorer people could be paid more and rich people paid less and things would basically work the same way.

wiseowise 3y ago
> Why not? Because it's not productive. Yell and shake your fist at cloud all you want, it's not going to change.
- ajkjk 3y ago
  Well yeah not with that attitude.
mucle6 3y ago
:s/power/ability to create value/ Anyone who can create returns greater than their cost of capital creates value. A screw isn't loose. If you can figure out how to add value to the world, then you get endless riches. > "People without power get as little as is available to keep them alive" Consider using less hyperbole in your worldview. Today has the highest living standards of any time.
- jstarfish 3y ago
  > Consider using less hyperbole in your worldview. Today has the highest living standards of any time. And yet the suicide rate keeps ticking upward. All is not well in Paradise Earth.
- ajkjk 3y ago
  ? That wasn't hyperbole. The average living standards are high and the low end isn't, as it has always been. The proportions of people in the low end vs middle are different than they have been, because the economy has advanced, but it's the same story. It doesn't change the fact that wealth inequality doesn't need to be this unequal. You are choosing that system, over another which is less unequal, when you defend it. I can't imagine why! It's the same system, but better, with happier people, and the only difference is the rules of the game--which we get to choose.
  - Dig1t 3y ago
    It’s okay to have inequality as long as the floor is sufficiently high. We literally have an obesity problem among America’s poorest people. Which speaks to having a decently high standard compared to the past, where being poor literally meant you starved to death. Similarly, hospitals will never turn you away in this country. Meaning you can show up at the emergency room and have life saving surgery and the worst case is you’ll get a bill in the mail, instead of dying in the streets (there are countries where this still happens). I’m not saying it’s perfect, I think the biggest problem has to do with mentally ill and drug addicted homeless, who don’t have the mental capacity to take care of themselves. But I do agree with GP that the conversation has more nuance.
    - ajkjk 3y ago
      I'll agree immediately that poverty is less-bad than it once was; food prices in particular are lower compared to labor than they have ever been in history and so people can basically survive with no income. Housing then becomes the actual limiting factor. For the purposes of criticizing power structures that allow structural inequality I don't... care? The floor is not sufficiently high right now, because tremendous swathes of people are in true poverty, aka existence that denies them dignity and self-determination, because living in this world is so expensive that they can't escape the trap of poverty. So yes, I feel totally fine saying that soccer players or whomever make way too much money, and I'd be the first to agree that the inequality is fine when it is. But we're not even close.
throw10920 3y ago
> the fundamental truth that This is wildly false - it's nowhere near a "fundamental truth", this is just the (incredibly warped and distorted) way that you personally see the world.

wiseowise 3y ago

> The economy is not zero sum, other people making large sums of money shouldn't make you upset. Apparently it upsets author of the article that AI PM makes 900k.

philipov 3y ago

The economy is not zero sum, but power is, and money is power.