Comment by sprout | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sprout | Hacker News Reader

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I'd go with the people to be sure.

I don't really know what I'd be willing to sacrifice. It seems like most of the things I would be willing to sacrifice (my personal Social Security, Medicare, a high-paying job) have already been helpfully sacrificed for me by prior generations.

Time is a very fluid thing. What sort of time am I giving up? Money is time, as they say. I don't mind working for small wages if the work helps people (and doesn't enrich a chosen few to the exclusion of others.)

That last one is, I think, a mostly rhetorical question. Suffice it to say I think the relationship has become unquestionably dysfunctional. The concept of corporate personhood, and many things about the international corporate system have caused unprecedented growth, and certainly given me a very high standard of life.

But strolling down the streets of the town I grew up in, I can see I'm in the minority. So I guess the real question is, would I be willing to sacrifice my standard of living? Many things I live with, I've been conditioned to believe it would be a hardship to live without. Things that this corporate culture has given me. Would I give those up? It would take some convincing, but for the right value, sure. Mostly, I want to be sure I'm not living easy on someone else's labor.

In fact, all were rhetorical questions.

There is nothing wrong with having a high paid job, you will be supporting more economic activtiy that provides more job opportunities than somebody with a lesser pay. In fact the best thing you can do is to maintain your ability to keep that high paying job or keep getting a higher pay, so that you can cause more economic activity here, where you live.

And the chosen few are not always a chosen few, they might have been the most hardworking and ingenious few. And quite often its those few who build places like University of Chicafo (Rockfeller), build 3000 libraries (Carnegie), build Stanfords, Yales, Harvards which create more people like you. Even if I want, I would not be able to help as many people to that an extent because I am not rich.

The problem is there are not enough rich people, to create enough economic activity to provide enough jobs. A 20,000 sqft house will employ more people in its construction than a 2000 sqft house. 1000 caddillacs will provide more work than 1000 Neons. Its not that the rich are more important than the poor. The truth is that the rich need the poor to get richer, the poor need the rich to get richer.

Have you considered, you are in a minority in your town, because you may be in the minority who may have decided to work harder and study more than others in your town?

I think thats one area that one can help to change the tides, work with and convince youngsters to take on the tough subjects, the ones that can sustain high paying jobs.

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