Elite do-gooders 'fixing' the world are part of the problem: Giridharadas

Re:Elite do-gooders 'fixing' the world are part of the probl... by SpicyLemonZest on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:13PM (#24124600)

I do, as do most people. When you hear talk about subsistence farmers who live on less than a dollar a day and don't have running water, that's what the "few acres of land to be self sufficient on" lifestyle looks like in the absence of a strong market economy.

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Re:Elite do-gooders 'fixing' the world are part of the probl... by StillBored on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:43PM (#24125061)

Have you looked at the homeless in your city? Sure they might be fed with cheap food, but they are living under bridges. So, that is what a "strong market economy" gets you too.

So don't compare the worse case subsistence farmer, with what was middle class in the US a few decades ago, where suburban houses on a couple acres were affordable my the top 70% of the population. We have more trinkets, but the price of basic necessities are becoming more "expensive" every day.

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Re:Elite do-gooders 'fixing' the world are part of the probl... by SpicyLemonZest on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:53PM (#24125173)

These are the average case subsistence farmers. The worst case ones live even harder lives than an homeless person, very often dying of starvation after a bad harvest.

The middle class in the US a few decades ago lived pretty good lives, but were very much dependent on market economies and innovation for their standard of living.

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