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skhuntedon Pink Floyd's David Gilmour: the wealthy have siphoned off music industry money

What is your point? He is talking about the situation for artists today. He says,

I was lucky to be part of the golden years when there was a much better share going to the musicians, so I support anything that could be done to make that easier. The working musician today has to go out and play live – they can’t survive any other way. They won’t do it by the recording process and that’s a tragedy because that is not encouraging new music to be created.

skhuntedon Greening of Antarctica shows how climate change affects the frozen continent

…the secular cult.

There is a singular secular cult? Who are the members of it? More interestingly, are you suggesting a person who believes climate change is real can’t also believe in a religion?

skhuntedon The Fed Took $3k from You and Gave It to Jamie Dimon

I think you have it backwards. I dislike the people who are the problem.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

Because for 40 years now the Republican party has demonized regulations as a concept. So now we are in a situation where people like you write:

Regulations as a concept are the category of thing which is causing the problem.

No sensible person thinks regulations as a concept is bad but, well, roughly 1/3 of the U.S. population is not sensible on this topic. No sensible person thinks all regulations are good. Regulation is not the thing to talk about since the issue isn't regulation but bad governance and oversight. The issue is politicians in the pockets of insurance companies. The issue is that we live in a country where profit is the holy of holies that must not be messed with.

skhuntedon Ask HN: Will Apple's hearing aid feature lead to lower volume in movie theaters?

I'm speaking of what some people call smart phones. I was referring to the QR code thing. The statement that products don't change $Service is incorrect.

skhuntedon Ask HN: Will Apple's hearing aid feature lead to lower volume in movie theaters?

Portable computers are a product and they have changed how some places operate.

skhuntedon Ask HN: Will Apple's hearing aid feature lead to lower volume in movie theaters?

Some restaurants only have QR code menus.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

We tried the no regulation method after the Civil War. It lead to robber barons and an overall shitty country. Regulations as in the concept is not the problem. Bad oversight and governance is.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

Most people in the U.S. think regulations are bad in and of themselves. Regulations as a concept are the wrong target.

Lack of government oversight and regulations almost always leads, eventually, to cartel pricing and/or monopolistic type pricing.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

The healthcare outcomes in most European countries are better than in the U.S. The wait time of someone without access to the healthcare system is infinity. In all healthcare systems there is rationing of care. In the U.S. we ration in an immoral way.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

You would be onto something if the ACA was the cause. The status quo ante was an equally complex mess that covered far fewer people. The ACA more or less kept the same system in place but now covers more people.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

… it's some other regulatory differences which are driving up costs in the US.

It suggests regulatory capture and/or lack of proper governmental oversight.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

The fact that healthcare is far cheaper in every European country that has universal healthcare suggests that you are wrong.

skhuntedon The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms

Many individuals don't want to run their own practice due to the complexities (insurance, etc) that exist beyond the work (treating people).

It’s interesting that the one specific thing you mention is insurance. That particular complexity doesn’t come from regulation. It comes from the immoral insurance industry.

skhuntedon [dead]

The federal system for allocating power badly needs a rewrite. The number of Representatives hasn’t been adjusted in over 100 years. A Representative from North Dakota represents far fewer people than one from California. The rules of the Senate need to be rewritten. Having one Senator hold up military promotions for a year is absurd. California should have more than 2 senators. Etc.

skhuntedon California's $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Sees No Job Loss, Slight Price Hikes

I didn’t read the article but I took this to be a rare. So the price increase on an $8 hamburger would be $0.30.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

The fact is that the FRED blog post shows there is decoupling starting at 1970 and they give an analysis about this to show isn’t as bad as it seems. But this analysis shows that there is still a decoupling that starts at 1970. I don’t think one can credibly believe that there hasn’t been massive wealth extraction from labor the past 40 years.

skhuntedon California bans legacy admissions at private universities

In the old days Ivy league type schools gave “gentleman C’s”. Harvard rarely fails someone. Grade inflation is highest at Ivy league type schools.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

Sure. But in general there was no decoupling prior to 1970 and there is now decoupling. There has been wealth extraction from labor. That it is more prominent in some sectors than others is not too relevant in my opinion.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

We should ignore that a million plus people are working for minimum wage. They don’t count. I agree with you.

It’s better to say that the statistics aren’t changed much by increasing the federal minimum wage as it pertains to the productivity/pay gap. But one should acknowledge that for those making minimum wage it is a disgrace that it hasn’t increased for a long time and that it is far too low. Those people do matter. This isn’t just a discussion about statistics. There is a human element to the issue and morality is part of what one ought to consider when thinking about the issue.

EDIT: I edited my comment while you were responding. The discussion in the present thread is not about the dockworkers. It’s about the pay/productivity gap in the U.S. In that discussion a person said that minimum wage workers were irrelevant and that the minimum wage was just a political talking point.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

Indeed. And we shouldn’t ask if it is in society’s best interest only when the discussion is about benefits for labor.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

Notice though that the FRED blog post does not explain away the discrepancy but merely mitigates it a bit. Note the decoupling still starts in the 70s. The great wealth disparity that exists today started at the same time. I don’t believe this is a coincidence.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

Someday negative externalities will have to be factored into the costs of doing business. Hopefully it will occur before we turn the world into a toxic shithole. Likely not though.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

Would that we ask if it is a net benefit for society that so much wealth extraction from labor has occurred the last 40 years.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

Yes, let’s ignore the million plus workers getting minimum wage. A wage that hasn’t increased in a very long time. It’s not a political talking point; it’s a moral talking point.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

To be honest, this comment reads like a political campaign statement, and I’d like less of this on Hacker News.

To be honest this comment reads like a statement from someone who can’t dispassionately discuss something. The validity of what I wrote is independent of the motivation for writing it.

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

This next paper is funny. Notices the decoupling and tries to hand wave it away without explaining why there was no decoupling before the 80s. At any rate note that the graph is from FRED.

https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/03/when-comparing-wages...

skhuntedon US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

There is no need to make a case. They have the right to strike. In general though one should support workers when they seek higher wages since the pay has increased at a much lower rate than productivity the last 40 years or so. Enough wealth has been extracted from labor. It’s time to give labor its due.

skhuntedon Grocery Territories of America

I see. Thanks for the clarification. If enough large companies are able to merge then we will end up in a situation where regionally there is too little competition. This is what has happened with producers of food products. A few companies control too high a percentage of the products. I think this naturally leads to cartel pricing.

skhuntedon Grocery Territories of America

I think the question you ask has it backwards. Why should society allow a critical industry to become so concentrated that it has enough pricing power to cause harm?