“I want to do something with my life that actually benefits others; but if I go into a line of work where I care for other people, they pay me so little, and they put so much in debt, that I can’t even take care of my own family! This is ridiculous!”
Yet, the big swing in silicon valley is B2B.
The question we should asking ourselves is:
What can we, as software engineers and web developers, do to support our working class?
We need to reduce their debt, reduce their cost of living, and decrease the amount of time they waste dealing with the intricacies of living in modern society. How can we do this?
I like what Balgair has to say, to some degree - though voting without education may backfire, so it's not that simple.
Some off-the-cuff ideas re; debt reduction, in the hope that others find their flaws & suggest others:
- Facilitating P2P debt may help make debt cheaper by crowdsourcing the "overhead" of evaluating creditors. I believe there's a site that does this but can't recall the name.
- Reduce student debt by making expensive college degrees obsolete. I think the next step in that (now that we have libraries, wikipedia, coursera, udacity, etc) may be changing hiring practices: a startup that helps companies hire based on experience/aptitude rather than falling back to the college degree heuristic could have a big impact. Relatedly, other startups (or FOSS) might replace the traditional degree in other ways, like guiding students through free online tracks or connecting them to advisors, mentors, internships, peers, and jobs.
- Change how employers pay employees. Most large employers have cheap debt and/or lots of cash, while many of their lowest-paid employees have terrible credit. This means they have to rely on mind-bogglingly expensive services like Payday loans and credit cards to cover their basic expenses (which don't come due on payday). A startup that helps employers pay daily instead of fortnightly, or pay bills directly, or even provide credit directly to their employees could put a lot of money back in poor pockets.
- I don't know the other main sources of American debt. Car payments? Large houses? I just don't know. But a systematic investigation of the sources of the debt, the costs of servicing it, and the underlying reasons it's required may be a decent way to scout out some good ideas!
Ultimately, though, much of this comes down to Policy and Culture. Student debt would evaporate if we just had free education. Cost of Living would likely plummet if we had terrific public transportation. There may be tax schemes (land taxes?) that would lower rent/home ownership costs. A culture of minimalism would likely also reduce cost of living =)
> Facilitating P2P debt may help make debt cheaper by crowdsourcing the "overhead" of evaluating creditors. I believe there's a site that does this but can't recall the name.
There are a number. The one I'm most familiar with Prosper.com. (Most of them technically aren't really P2P debt because the central site is the lender of record, in order to deal with regulatory compliance, which can be quite involved when it comes to lending and debt collection, but they approximate P2P lending.)
> Facilitating P2P debt may help make debt cheaper by crowdsourcing the "overhead" of evaluating creditors. I believe there's a site that does this but can't recall the name.
I'm not sure if it's what you're thinking of, but www.wefinance.co is a new startup in P2P debt, hoping to do exactly that.
In the US at least, we could use a way to increase voter participation. I believe in democracy and this republic. Believe being the correct word here. So many times, I fear for my country. I see evidence here on HN that it's all shit. That people are stupid and can't be trusted, maybe less so than the politicians. But I still believe that democracy is the best way out of it all. I have seen when a little girl realizes that her classroom rules really do change based on her vote. I have seen that power and hope in the faces of children and adults alike. I believe in democracy.
If you want to alleviate the debt burdens of the working classes, get them to the polls. If you want to reduce their cost of living, get them to the polls. If you want to help them have more efficient lives, give them more freedom and rights by getting them to the polls. Find a way to get people voting and out and helping each other. Then, I believe that people will fix it themselves because they know that they can. You have to tech a man to fish, not fish for him. The best way to teach a man to reduce their debt, to reduce their cost of living, to decease the time they spend on waste and paperwork is to teach them that they have the power to do something about it.
For national issues, yeah, sure, I think you are correct. But for local and state issues? No way. Most of the issues you can get on a ballot are very local and have just as large, if not a larger effect on the cost of living of many people. For example, California has Prop13. This was a ballot initiative that caused your property taxes to be assessed ONLY at the sale of the property. In Arizona, it's every 5 years for reassessment. Prop13, arguably, hurts new home buyers much more than older settled owners as their taxes will be much higher, especially in SV.
In Colorado the Right-Left divide is real and is mostly a North (Boulder-Democrat) v. South (Colorado Spring, Republican), but pales in comparison to water rights. You want politics in Colorado, hell most big western states? It is ALL about water.
You are correct, it is not a magic pill. But the road that goes out from better participation is very long and broad. As I said before, I believe it, I do not know it. I believe that greater participation in republican democracy is the BEST way to help ourselves and country be better. It is not the ONLY way, but I believe it has the best bang for the buck.
I am trying. I'm going down the road of grad school this fall, but I, hopefully, will try to participate in democracy and represent people later in my life. I would be very honored to represent people in this grand experiment called the USA, especially locally.
You are right though, get on it! But the question is how? What kind of app could you write or website or whatever that would help increase voter participation? I haven't a clue. But, maybe someday, someone will.
And you consider yourself not working class? They (we) aren't irresponsible children, who need our finance and modern-world coping problems solved for us by the ever-more capable upper classes.
Yet, the big swing in silicon valley is B2B.
The question we should asking ourselves is:
What can we, as software engineers and web developers, do to support our working class?
We need to reduce their debt, reduce their cost of living, and decrease the amount of time they waste dealing with the intricacies of living in modern society. How can we do this?