I personally feel a little bit of hope each time you post on this topic. You could easily have decided not to worry about it. I can only hope that others who rolled a 6 at birth will decide it's time to change the rules to serve everyone better. I appreciate you. We need voices from all over the socioeconomic spectrum to care about inequality.
My son told me about this recently. In the video game Cities: Skylines II the issue of high rent got so bad the game developers had to eliminate landlords. From Wired: "The rent is too damn high, even in video games. For months, players of Colossal Order’s 2023 city-building sim, Cities: Skylines II, have been battling with exorbitant housing costs. Subreddits filled with users frustrated that the cost of living was too high in their burgeoning metropolises and complained there was no way to fix it. This week, the developer finally announced a solution: tossing the game’s landlords to the curb."
In the Great Depression, many formerly rich people saw their fortunes evaporate immediately when Wall Street tanked. The ones who were not the ones who did not famously commit suicide almost immediately by throwing themselves out of high windows and off balconies (a symptom of how they could not "live" under changed circumstances) found themselves in the same circumstances of those which they had exploited to become wealthy. (The song "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" is written from the perspective of one such ruined businessman).
Unfortunately, Musk et al. have such a high level of wealth that they will likely never experience such a humiliating reversal of fortune, and we all suffer because they cannot.
If we strenuously go after big corporations for anti-trust and if we foster unions and if we increase taxes on the wealthy we can just stop spawning these billionaire hellsters.
I agree with everything you say. And at the same time, I often encounter people who just… can’t seem to be competent at their job, just not that bright. And it’s incredibly frustrating whether you’ve hired them, are working with them as coworkers or are a customer encountering them. Having someone respond to every question in your business email is unusual - they usually just get one or two. Same with responding/following up in a timely manner on the timeline they themselves laid out. And it makes me feel like a Republican to complain about it (though I think people who aren’t that bright deserve a decent living wage!) but surely I’m not crazy? Do you not find that people incompetent in their jobs are very common? It is such a relief and pleasure when you find someone competent and diligent.
There’s a lot of incompetence but also a lot of apathy. I blame the hiring process, which is broken. I can’t get a job to save my life and neither can many others my age who I know to be very capable.
I love how you referenced games we played growing up. It's uncanny how all of them represent real life in many ways. I also played Trouble and Life...and Sorry, where you had to backslide if you land on the wrong spot. But the ultimate insult of board games was monopoly. I hated it because it reminded me way too much of trying to get by. Often I went bankrupt in the game lol. Hated it.
They would cheat,I dont know how,and the other players wouldn't be able to spot it even trying,but they'd cheat or maximize their opportunity. We played Monopoly as a kid and my brother would get "loans" from the bank to pay his "rent' every time he landed on Mayfair. My sister was always the Banker and we read the rules carefully but it nowhere said you COULD NOT have a loan.
You're right that they'd try. But it would be so, so satisfying to deny them, wouldn't it? My guess is they'd do what my son did when he was a toddler and always lost to his slightly older sister -- He'd yell, "Cheatow!" He couldn't even say "cheater" but he would make the accusation. (But he grew out of it. I doubt certain billionaires learned that lesson.)
I'm grappling personally with this very question,, which is one of morality.
I personally feel a little bit of hope each time you post on this topic. You could easily have decided not to worry about it. I can only hope that others who rolled a 6 at birth will decide it's time to change the rules to serve everyone better. I appreciate you. We need voices from all over the socioeconomic spectrum to care about inequality.
Yes we do!
My son told me about this recently. In the video game Cities: Skylines II the issue of high rent got so bad the game developers had to eliminate landlords. From Wired: "The rent is too damn high, even in video games. For months, players of Colossal Order’s 2023 city-building sim, Cities: Skylines II, have been battling with exorbitant housing costs. Subreddits filled with users frustrated that the cost of living was too high in their burgeoning metropolises and complained there was no way to fix it. This week, the developer finally announced a solution: tossing the game’s landlords to the curb."
That's ... I don't know what that is. I had no idea. Wow. I can only assume the game designers followed reality a little too closely?
Still, each time I read about this, I thank my lucky stars that I live in a place where a poorly paid writer can afford two houses!
In the Great Depression, many formerly rich people saw their fortunes evaporate immediately when Wall Street tanked. The ones who were not the ones who did not famously commit suicide almost immediately by throwing themselves out of high windows and off balconies (a symptom of how they could not "live" under changed circumstances) found themselves in the same circumstances of those which they had exploited to become wealthy. (The song "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" is written from the perspective of one such ruined businessman).
Unfortunately, Musk et al. have such a high level of wealth that they will likely never experience such a humiliating reversal of fortune, and we all suffer because they cannot.
If we strenuously go after big corporations for anti-trust and if we foster unions and if we increase taxes on the wealthy we can just stop spawning these billionaire hellsters.
I agree with everything you say. And at the same time, I often encounter people who just… can’t seem to be competent at their job, just not that bright. And it’s incredibly frustrating whether you’ve hired them, are working with them as coworkers or are a customer encountering them. Having someone respond to every question in your business email is unusual - they usually just get one or two. Same with responding/following up in a timely manner on the timeline they themselves laid out. And it makes me feel like a Republican to complain about it (though I think people who aren’t that bright deserve a decent living wage!) but surely I’m not crazy? Do you not find that people incompetent in their jobs are very common? It is such a relief and pleasure when you find someone competent and diligent.
There’s a lot of incompetence but also a lot of apathy. I blame the hiring process, which is broken. I can’t get a job to save my life and neither can many others my age who I know to be very capable.
That’s horrible and so frustrating! So many jobs really don’t need any particular background - just general competence, literacy etc. Sigh.
This was soooo good in so many ways.
I love how you referenced games we played growing up. It's uncanny how all of them represent real life in many ways. I also played Trouble and Life...and Sorry, where you had to backslide if you land on the wrong spot. But the ultimate insult of board games was monopoly. I hated it because it reminded me way too much of trying to get by. Often I went bankrupt in the game lol. Hated it.
I think I still have Sorry around here somewhere. Need to play more games!
They would cheat,I dont know how,and the other players wouldn't be able to spot it even trying,but they'd cheat or maximize their opportunity. We played Monopoly as a kid and my brother would get "loans" from the bank to pay his "rent' every time he landed on Mayfair. My sister was always the Banker and we read the rules carefully but it nowhere said you COULD NOT have a loan.
You're right that they'd try. But it would be so, so satisfying to deny them, wouldn't it? My guess is they'd do what my son did when he was a toddler and always lost to his slightly older sister -- He'd yell, "Cheatow!" He couldn't even say "cheater" but he would make the accusation. (But he grew out of it. I doubt certain billionaires learned that lesson.)