tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.comments2022-01-21T19:15:19.719-05:00netsettlementnetsettlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10256875390684654243noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-49911591707586559412022-01-21T19:15:19.719-05:002022-01-21T19:15:19.719-05:00Thanks, Kent. I think I made it through 4 or 5 ro...Thanks, Kent. I think I made it through 4 or 5 rounds of layoffs, at which point I decided (with enthusiastic prompting from my manager, Johanna Rothman) to head off to (undergrad) college at age 27.<br /><br />I know for certain that Symbolics had over 1100 employees at its peak.<br /><br />On the topic of layoffs, it was actually the layoff at Harlequin that was the most incredible to me, when the Dylan group was "let go". I tend to start work late, and as I was walking into the office at 1 Cambridge Center (now Microsoft, I believe) I saw a bunch of Dylan folks chatting in the plaza. I waved and continued in. When I got to the 8th floor it was empty. I walked around and finally came to the HR office where they told me what the deal was, so I gathered my stuff and joined the others outside.<br /><br />Just funny the way _I_ had to find _them_ in order to be laid off.<br /><br />Good times.Carl Gayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07652685376791933118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-7149379778917641662020-07-12T00:18:40.564-04:002020-07-12T00:18:40.564-04:00An issue this complex is necessarily approximate. ...An issue this complex is necessarily approximate. I'm sure there are a number of details I did not address, but the function of the post is into to draw a specific line, but rather to observe that there is a line, and that line is approximately already drawn. What we need to do, we are largely still doing. What people are complaining about is deviation from routine, not something that that compromises our society's survival. We are at far more risk of not surviving by attempting to return to routine prematurely than by worrying that continued staying safe from the virus will keep kids from going to school. Fundamentally, this is a post about survivability, not about desirable social policy in the steady state. Of course education is important, but right now the goal is to survive. Hopefully the other post alluded to above, Corny Economics, helps to make that point.netsettlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10256875390684654243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-40739878270258921802020-07-08T22:06:38.898-04:002020-07-08T22:06:38.898-04:00Thanks for doing this. And I agree, as far as you...Thanks for doing this. And I agree, as far as you go ... but I don't see that you address the field of child care, which is critical to many of the essential workers and only a luxury for others, nor education, which is about to be center stage.PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07856054776744889703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-68356243927513837912020-03-29T07:12:30.736-04:002020-03-29T07:12:30.736-04:00Hi Kent!
Interesting writing, as usual.
I took t...Hi Kent!<br /><br />Interesting writing, as usual.<br /><br />I took the liberty and shared this on my FB page.<br /><br />--Samir ZahraAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898331274287765947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-59582961277612786862019-04-02T11:37:22.162-04:002019-04-02T11:37:22.162-04:00If only more people understood the difference betw...If only more people understood the difference between being able to feed others and being willing to feed others...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09525544636946212434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-53026382003315828892017-06-14T02:52:39.337-04:002017-06-14T02:52:39.337-04:00Hi, Brett. Thanks for the thoughts.
I think you&...Hi, Brett. Thanks for the thoughts.<br /><br />I think you'd still have to have some kind of exemption for basic living expenses. People who are just breaking even shouldn't be expected to save. Saving is something you do with surplus, and below a level there really is none. But I think your basic premise that some form of set-aside, whether through taxes or savings, is warranted.<br /><br />Also, these things are inevitably solving more problem than just one, and have to take very complex stuff into account. I have a friend who is well-to-do who claims that no one should be taxed on money they spend, only on money they save. I think again his theory only makes sense if a certain basic planning for the future is done, but it's apropos here. His theory is that saved money doesn't help the economy much, while spent money is helping a lot. (There's a technical term for this, which is the "velocity" of money.) For example, if he eats out a lot, he's helping others in a way that reflects directly in local paychecks, so the government has an interest in encouraging that. So you want to incentivize people (presumably after they've saved for basics) to employ others.<br /><br />That, in turn, gets into the messy question of whether you are encouraging resource use or just services. If you haven't seen my article <a href="http://netsettlement.blogspot.com/2012/05/corny-economics.html" rel="nofollow">Corny Economics</a>, it gets into that a little. Can't do it all in one post. :)netsettlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10256875390684654243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-58969022083220184852017-06-13T18:56:49.441-04:002017-06-13T18:56:49.441-04:00One idea that comes to mind with reference to the ...One idea that comes to mind with reference to the idea of making people fill a bank account *before* they are taxed is that many aspects of our society are arranged to encourage us to spend our money (and incur debt) and not save at all. A friend of mine who is 65, has nothing set aside for retirement, and is 500K in debt, has a lifelong history of spending on his lifestyle instead of saving. He recently told me "if I had a second chance, I would have spent twice as much." Banks are trying to give us debt, TV is trying to tie buying trinkets to our sexual urges, and the War Machine is telling us we are under constant, imminent existential threat. So clearly we need to spend trillions of dollars on bombs and general domination. How about some kind of incentive for the saving for the less-well-off? Maybe for people below a certain wealth level, if you cannot show you have saved 20% of whatever income you did achieve, then you DO have to pay taxes? One way of looking at this would be "if you can't arrange to look after yourself, we will MAKE you pay so we can look after you later." Another very interesting topic which is coming up more lately is the universal basic income. I think I'm really starting to like the idea. How about a thought-provoking treatise on this Kent? And very glad to have found you here, thanks for the links from our Reddit conversation! Brett Bazanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15157955997416079927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-30035501316364495862017-01-13T17:26:58.606-05:002017-01-13T17:26:58.606-05:00What you want is Social democracy not Democratic s...What you want is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy" rel="nofollow">Social democracy</a> not <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism" rel="nofollow">Democratic socialism</a>. <br /><br />Social democracy is more "idelogically inpure" and works better. Nordic countries are good examples of countries where social democracy has been the leading ideology. Nick Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03605461284670931912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-13549028666941362472017-01-13T17:25:48.485-05:002017-01-13T17:25:48.485-05:00What you want is Social democracy not Democratic s...<br />What you want is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy" rel="nofollow">Social democracy</a> not <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism" rel="nofollow">Democratic socialism</a>. <br /><br />Social democracy is more "idelogically inpure" and works better. Nordic countries are good examples of countries where social democracy has been the leading ideology. Nick Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03605461284670931912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94745530352207663.post-60608298602404034572015-12-13T23:36:42.399-05:002015-12-13T23:36:42.399-05:00Thanks, Kent. I love it, the Tao is a lot like aut...Thanks, Kent. I love it, the Tao is a lot like autocorrect. It knows how to stir us and keep us in the moment. <br />RPRomantic Poetesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15197816051143591657noreply@blogger.com