Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by sp332 on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @11:59AM
(#8763012)
I don't know how you missed the recurring outrage about the wages and conditions of iPhone workers. And the article isn't against your last point. In fact the article isn't even blaming Uber for the problems. It's just pointing out that Uber (and other services like it) only work where inequality is pervasive.
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by sighsigh on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:03PM
(#8763033)
Globalism works due to inequality. Nationalism works due to inequality. Tribalism works due to inequality. The dirty secret of civilization is that someone has to dig the graves. Why pretend it's an evil from your middle class morally righteous soap box instead of allowing people the means to participate as simply as possible?
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by sp332 on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:13PM
(#8763087)
Why don't I pretend it's an evil from the bottom of someone else's grave I just dug?
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by sighsigh on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:45PM
(#8763274)
Because that would make you... a believer of an out-of-touch white middle class moral framework that has failed to predict anything.
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by samman on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @03:12PM
(#8764055)
So, I'm kind of ambivalent about this thread so far, but it sounds like you have thought about this a bit. What sort of moral framework do you find preferable over the 'out-of-touch white middle class' one?
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by happyscrappy on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:26PM
(#8763167)
I can't believe the comment you are responding to was flagkilled. I just don't understand HN sometimes.
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by noarchy on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:51PM
(#8763308)
Agreed. I don't see why that comment, in particular, got killed. I think some groupthink was at work, in that case. This is an unfortunate trend on HN.
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by sighsigh on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @01:47PM
(#8763598)
Notice a pro-union/pro-mercantilist/pro-nationalist comment is at the top, while this comment was flagkilled. It is very possible some entity outside of the community hivemind is intentionally crafting a narrative... and this isn't the only thread they are targeting. Why? Because this post isn't even on the front page anymore.
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by swatow on Thursday December 18, 2014 @03:07AM
(#8766413)
In my experience (on HN and other places) economics orthodoxy is always unpopular. People like to believe "if only if weren't for X assholes, the world would be much better". Economics teaches that the assholes are us: the primary thing preventing the world from being much better is the political and economic barriers to redistributing wealth.
Redistributing wealth is hard. Much easier is to invent schemes like unions which enrich certain lower class people, while (silently) making other lower class people poorer.
As you point out, globalization and outsourcing has made Chinese and Indians much richer. But they are not very visible, so who cares about them? They should have waited their turn, and eventually Western unions would have granted them jobs with "fair" wages ;-)
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by uptown on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @11:58AM
(#8763006)
It's fine to believe that. It promotes an economy that essentially looks like this:
"Change in median net worth 1983-2013"
Upper income families $321k
Middle income $2k
Low -$2k
Source: https://twitter.com/conradhackett/status/545260970256252929
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by sighsigh on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:04PM
(#8763038)
Are you going to factor in China and India from the same time period?
Re:The Secret to the Uber Economy Is Wealth Inequality
by dropit_sphere on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @12:48PM
(#8763288)
I don't know why this keeps being brought up. Do China and India cheer when the economy picks up in the U.S., for reasons other than the increased demand they'll experience? Does GE include Microsoft's performance in its reports to shareholders?
I mean, fewer people starving is always awesome. But it is not the question being asked.
IPhones are affordable because of wealth inequality. Oil is cheap because of wealth inequality. Organic food is purchasable because of wealth inequality. Hipster clothes can be owned because of wealth inequality.
And yet, none of these goods are targeted because those who use them are susceptible to pro-union shilling.
Stop the painfully forced guilt complex from this out-of-touch middle class white perspective. I wish I could have easily sold my spare time for more money when I first moved here with P2P labor systems like Uber... but I had to wait for a central bank's liquidity push to eventually intice small business hiring, some union to not bump a new guy for someone's seniority, or some corporation wonk to figure out a new growth market. Oh, yes, I just felt so equal in that system of waiting for people "smarter" than me to justify needing me.
People should have access to the means to sell their time and labor where ever and when ever they want. Period.