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A comment on A Japanese cyber-security expert who defended basic decency was stabbed to death. Parent comment

Re:A Japanese cyber-security expert who defended basic decen... by emodendroket on Saturday June 30, 2018 @07:15AM (#17430395)
The federal poverty line in the US for a single person is about $12k (or $15k in Alaska) and it's higher for families. I am quite sure that living in a country like Japan, where the cost of living is not cheap, on $11,000 pear year can be called poverty. Also, "slacking off"? Have you considered that perhaps one or more people cannot find a job or is unable to work? Or that the poor often do not have full-time jobs with steady hours? Come on.

The cost of living in Estonia is much lower than Japan. You're not making an apples-to-apples comparison. The US comparison is more apt. Think about what your life would be like if you made the same amount of money as you do now but lived in Thailand (or if they did the same for the average Thai person) and you might understand why they choose to measure poverty this way.

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Re:A Japanese cyber-security expert who defended basic decen... by nl on Saturday June 30, 2018 @07:45AM (#17430491)
It depends on what's included in society, though.

In Japan, you get healthcare and pay as low as 5% of the cost of care. That's a pretty significant difference.

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Re:A Japanese cyber-security expert who defended basic decen... by emodendroket on Saturday June 30, 2018 @08:20AM (#17430605)
Certainly not having to worry about ruin from medical bills is one thing making life better for the poor, but that doesn't make being poor pleasant.
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Re:A Japanese cyber-security expert who defended basic decen... by nl on Saturday June 30, 2018 @08:23AM (#17430618)
Of course not.

Are you implying that a post-scarcity society will be pleasant for everyone? I don't think that.

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Re:A Japanese cyber-security expert who defended basic decen... by emodendroket on Saturday June 30, 2018 @08:43AM (#17430679)
If you have desperately poor people who struggle to afford life's basics I don't know in what meaningful sense it's a "post-scarcity" society.
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