ctw

> Are people scared of books these days?

No, but books are more difficult to access than online tutorials and more expensive.

If I suddenly decide I want to learn Common Lisp one night, I'm going to Google "learn common lisp" and read/watch tutorials before I buy/borrow a book. That's not to say I won't move to a book eventually, but tutorials are infinitely easier to access.

Based on my own experience, the large majority of students looking for industry jobs (including myself) will apply to many jobs without even hearing back. To read about people complaining about being recruited is the complete opposite of our problem.

Ontario recently announced raising minimum wage from $11.40 to $15 by 2019. I've seen a negative response to this by everyone I know, as many of them say there will be less jobs available and consumer prices will go up. I thought the change would be great though, so I found it interesting that the first source in the further reading section of this report has this in its conclusion:

> "Businesses will absorb the additional 3.3 percent in payroll costs partly through savings on employee turnover costs, higher worker productivity gains, and some automation (the substitution effect). Most of the increase in costs will likely be passed on to consumers via increased prices. Since labor costs make up only about one-fourth of operating costs, consumer prices will increase only slightly—about 0.14 percent per year over the phase-in period." [0]

So yes, there will be automation, and yes, there will be increased prices, but neither of those negative points come close to negating the huge benefit of increased pay.

> "Based on our analysis, we conclude that the proposed minimum wage will have its intended effects in improving incomes for low-wage workers. Any effects on employment and overall economic growth are likely to be small. The net impact of the policy will therefore be very positive." [0]

[0] http://irle.berkeley.edu/files/2016/The-Effects-of-a-15-Mini...

This is just one example, but my university recently revamped their football stadium due to a huge donation from an either an alumni or coach (I can't remember exactly) who donated specifically for this cause. If money comes from a donation, sometimes it's not the school's decision how money should be spent.

I get your point but that seems like a bad example to me. If the startup is the local indie band that makes it big then yeah, maybe they lose the trendy first users, but presumably they "made it" and are far more profitable by staying on the radio, even if they lose the few original fans.