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Fair enough, it is very frustrating to see the industry i am a part of be so...sociopathic.

HN is an ideological battle whether you like it or not, dang. Especially political threads like this one. Expressing views outside of the techno-libertarian norm around here should be allowed.

> Care to elaborate? Many of us held minimum wage positions for some period of time before gathering the skills / tools / time to move on to something better.

So did I, but I don't regard someone a failure who deserves misery if they did not 'gather necessary skills'. There are a lot of reasons why someone might not be able to move past minimum wage work in life, not all of them their fault. Even if it is and they threw away every opportunity they ever had does that mean they deserve a lifetime of hardship?

> A citizenry has moral obligations to its society. Demanding handouts for minimal contribution does not create a strong society.

Our society provides trillions to oligarchs like Bezos. If we're OK with that then we should be OK with giving more to those who need it most even if they dont work "hard enough".

Capitalism is a system created by humans, presumably for the benefit of humans. If it doesn't do a very good job of making the lives of humans better then it could be considered a failure.

As we're seeing now, wealth and income inequality are at terrible levels. Wage stagnation has been hurting the middle class. Housing is becoming increasingly expensive as jobs centralize on cities. Gentrification pushes out the working class.

We have climate change bearing down on us, the effects of which are already being seen through mass migration, fires, hurricanes, and other disasters. Meanwhile the fossil fuel industry would have us believe there are "two sides" to this argument so that they can continue to profit instead of adapting and doing the right thing. The first to feel it certainly won't be those of us making several hundred thousand dollars per year and looking down on those living paycheck to paycheck. It'll be those living paycheck to paycheck who feel it first.

Neither artists nor bartenders have the power over humanity that capitalists do.

Then capitalism has failed humanity.

I believe the person you're replying to may have been referring to themselves (look at their post history). That said I think you're giving SV a lot of credit if you're framing the choice as "Silicon Valley or Feudalism".

I will also challenge you on the idea that silicon valley is still disruptive as opposed to the status quo now. The largest companies in the world (by far) are tech companies now. These large companies are actively stifling competition, and they've been caught stifling wages.

Wealth and income inequality are at terrible levels now and climate change's adverse effects are really only starting to be seen. The Gilets Jaune movement in France is ultimately a proletarian battle against the global oligarchy, of which tech is certainly a part of.

We should not consider ourselves 'disruptors' or outsiders anymore. We are the elite.

LOL this is such a typical HN reply. "Just get room mates". Come on, the solution is to pay people so they can live a decent life and have a family if they want to.

Good.

The comment this person was replying to seems to be saying exactly that....

They're occasionally the largest company in the world, headed by the richest man in the world. I'm sure they can find the money somewhere to pay their employees a decent wage.

> If these workers succeed in unionizing, it will only just accelerate Amazon's quest to replace MOST of these workers with robots.

I'm sure they've thought this through more than some random poster on Hacker News.

> A simple fact is that all 7 billion people can't live like upper middle class Americans, it's impossible. Why not have one place in the world that a huge number of people sit at the top?

Because winning the birth lottery gets you to the top, otherwise if you're from somewhere else in the world...good luck.

Of course 7 billion people can't live like upper middle class americans. Upper middle class americans are going to have to bring their lifestyle down to a sustainable level.

We have a myriad of problems at this moment in time, some of them existential. I have very little sympathy for people who think we should maintain the status quo in the face of these problems.