Hacker News Reader

It sounds like you are mixing the positive and normative. Yes, corporations now don't represent the values of their workers and lobby for all kinds of awful things. Yes, there is no social net now provided by unions or the government in the United States.

But wouldn't it be excellent if these things were true?

View on HN

In theory, if it all magically worked, then sure. In reality, no. Because no matter the good intentions, I can not trust the government to not screw it up.

If a company screws something up, I can just switch jobs and move to another company. If the government screws up, there is little I can do.

Move to another country?

While theoretically possible, I do not see this solution scaling well for the majority of a population.

The Nordic model shows that it is possible to have a highly unionized workforce with free higher education, free healthcare, and social welfare. They have been very effective in fighting poverty this way.

Yeah, everything "works" until it doesn't.

See: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/finlands-government-resigns-...

"Financial constraints are colliding with the healthcare costs imposed by Finland’s fast-aging population. But cutting those costs is a major political obstacle in a Nordic country that historically has provided an extensive -- and expensive -- healthcare system."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com