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But we've had thousands of years of testing of your hypothesis, and no, individuals do not step up in any great number to solve massive societal problems of pov
by jellicle 12y ago
But we've had thousands of years of testing of your hypothesis, and no, individuals do not step up in any great number to solve massive societal problems of poverty.
Which is why we invented governmental action to solve them. Which has proved extremely effective.
- msandford 12y agoWe also had thousands of years where basically everyone was poor and there wasn't anywhere near enough production so that there was a hope or a prayer of not everyone being poor. The middle class is a relatively recent phenomena. A great example of this is "The $3500 shirt" article that made it to HN a while ago: http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/06/the-3500-shirt-history-lesson-in.html http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/06/the-3500-shirt-history-l... > Which is why we invented governmental action to solve them. Which has proved extremely effective. I was under the impression that the whole point of the article -- and also the book -- was that the programs in place currently are not effective. If they were, there would be no "Mary Sue"s, there'd be only "Miriam"s and there would be no problem.