4 ms·

Okay I’m just some dumb guy without the advantage of a college education who lives in flyover country but like, so what? Why should I care? It just strikes me a

by wincy 3y ago

Okay I’m just some dumb guy without the advantage of a college education who lives in flyover country but like, so what? Why should I care? It just strikes me as midwit intellectual class sneering at people better off than them. Especially on Hacker News, it’s mostly millionaires being upset by the existence of billionaires. My quality of life is amazing, all of this capitalism’s working out great for me. I’m someone who doesn’t even have a high school diploma but thanks to tech I make a wage that makes my family and react in shock when I’ve revealed it to them. I get to go on vacation twice a year, I live in a great neighborhood, I love my job. The thing is, Jeff Bezos has done far more to push up my wages indirectly by virtue of Amazon existing and hiring talent, and offering great salaries. I don’t care at all how much money Jeff Bezos makes and it strikes me as mean spirited the complaining surrounding “wealth inequality”. As long as my objective quality of life is unimaginably good compared to any of my ancestors that have ever existed, what am I supposed to be getting riled up about? When I read a statement like “inequality is “extreme”, I feel it’s strongly implying a call to action to “tip the scales” against it. That it’s an injustice that ought to be remedied. With what, government action? Some new laws? I feel like any attempt to mess with this good thing we’ve got going on would destroy it, either unintentionally or not.

monero-xmr 3y ago
> In 2008, the EU and the US economies were roughly the same size. But since the global financial crisis, their economic fortunes have dramatically diverged. As Jeremy Shapiro and Jana Puglierin of the European Council on Foreign Relations point out: “In 2008 the EU’s economy was somewhat larger than America’s: $16.2tn versus $14.7tn. By 2022, the US economy had grown to $25tn, whereas the EU and the UK together had only reached $19.8tn. America’s economy is now nearly one-third bigger. It is more than 50 per cent larger than the EU without the UK.” > The aggregate figures are shocking. Underpinning them is a picture of a Europe that has fallen behind — sector by sector. https://www.ft.com/content/80ace07f-3acb-40cb-9960-8bb4a44fd8d9 https://www.ft.com/content/80ace07f-3acb-40cb-9960-8bb4a44fd... Because of the magic of compound interest, the EU will continue to fall behind at an increasing pace, as well as their quality of life. EU is already very poor if you travel around outside the tourist cities. American capitalism is the greatest wealth engine ever created, and I pray it continues to exist. It is currently the only hope the world has for increased standards of living.
dennis_jeeves2 3y ago
> The thing is, Jeff Bezos has done far more to push up my wages indirectly by virtue of Amazon existing and hiring talent, and offering great salaries Well, you got to understand how the mind of a socialist work. They would rather have everyone equally poor and equally miserable quality of life, than a rich society where there might be huge disparities of wealth, and even the poorest may have a reasonably good quality of life. It's a purely an envy thing. Nothing else.
- defrost 3y ago
  Don't look now, there's a socialist under your bed with red glowing eyes. I think they might be Nordic or Australian, maybe from the EU ... It's just terrifying what these monsters get up to. > They would rather have everyone equally poor and equally miserable quality of life, What, you "learnt" about socialism, social policy, and socialists from reading Harrison Bergeron and never looked any further? At least add a /s tag to such obvious claptrap.
  - Jensson 3y ago
    > I think they might be Nordic or Australian, maybe from the EU ... None of those caps wealth, plenty of billionaires there, they are capitalist as well.
    - defrost 3y ago
      "Socialism" and "Socialist Policy" are huge tents - the definition implied by the GP comment is an extreme. Sound bite dictionary definitions look like: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. "Owned or Regulated" as in the people police the commons and those capitalist industries that seek to profit from and supply to the people. It's quite alright to laugh at those that take Harrison Bergeron as a socialist text and claim that the goal is to reduce everybody down to some lowest common denominator. They are, quite literally, just being very very silly and attempting to invoke a bogeyman to scare children.

by wincy 3y ago

monero-xmr 3y ago

> In 2008, the EU and the US economies were roughly the same size. But since the global financial crisis, their economic fortunes have dramatically diverged. As Jeremy Shapiro and Jana Puglierin of the European Council on Foreign Relations point out: “In 2008 the EU’s economy was somewhat larger than America’s: $16.2tn versus $14.7tn. By 2022, the US economy had grown to $25tn, whereas the EU and the UK together had only reached $19.8tn. America’s economy is now nearly one-third bigger. It is more than 50 per cent larger than the EU without the UK.” > The aggregate figures are shocking. Underpinning them is a picture of a Europe that has fallen behind — sector by sector. https://www.ft.com/content/80ace07f-3acb-40cb-9960-8bb4a44fd8d9 https://www.ft.com/content/80ace07f-3acb-40cb-9960-8bb4a44fd... Because of the magic of compound interest, the EU will continue to fall behind at an increasing pace, as well as their quality of life. EU is already very poor if you travel around outside the tourist cities. American capitalism is the greatest wealth engine ever created, and I pray it continues to exist. It is currently the only hope the world has for increased standards of living.

dennis_jeeves2 3y ago

> The thing is, Jeff Bezos has done far more to push up my wages indirectly by virtue of Amazon existing and hiring talent, and offering great salaries Well, you got to understand how the mind of a socialist work. They would rather have everyone equally poor and equally miserable quality of life, than a rich society where there might be huge disparities of wealth, and even the poorest may have a reasonably good quality of life. It's a purely an envy thing. Nothing else.

defrost 3y ago
Don't look now, there's a socialist under your bed with red glowing eyes. I think they might be Nordic or Australian, maybe from the EU ... It's just terrifying what these monsters get up to. > They would rather have everyone equally poor and equally miserable quality of life, What, you "learnt" about socialism, social policy, and socialists from reading Harrison Bergeron and never looked any further? At least add a /s tag to such obvious claptrap.
- Jensson 3y ago
  > I think they might be Nordic or Australian, maybe from the EU ... None of those caps wealth, plenty of billionaires there, they are capitalist as well.
  - defrost 3y ago
    "Socialism" and "Socialist Policy" are huge tents - the definition implied by the GP comment is an extreme. Sound bite dictionary definitions look like: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. "Owned or Regulated" as in the people police the commons and those capitalist industries that seek to profit from and supply to the people. It's quite alright to laugh at those that take Harrison Bergeron as a socialist text and claim that the goal is to reduce everybody down to some lowest common denominator. They are, quite literally, just being very very silly and attempting to invoke a bogeyman to scare children.