Just a moment...
doctorow.medium.com

https://archive.ph/hMZPi

Remember when tech workers dreamed of working for a big company for a few years, before striking out on their own to start their own company that would knock that tech giant over?

Then that dream shrank to: work for a giant for a few years, quit, do a fake startup, get acqui-hired by your old employer, as a complicated way of getting a bonus and a promotion.

Then the dream shrank further: work for a tech giant for your whole life, get free kombucha and massages on Wednesdays.

And now, the dream is over. All that’s left is: work for a tech giant until they fire your ass, like those 12,000 Googlers who got fired six months after a stock buyback that would have paid their salaries for the next 27 years.

We deserve better than this. We can get it.

  • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
    123·
    1 year ago

    I spent 6 years saving $20,000 in investments

    He said without a trace of irony.

        • theparadox@lemmy.worldEnglish
          131·
          1 year ago

          Jesus Christ, I guess the capitalists are still winning. Keep us fighting amongst ourselves so we never unite. What, exactly, would convince you to have solidarity with a person able to save 3k a year? To quit and work for less? To donate all non-living expenses to charity until their QOL is on par with yours?

          Seriously though, there is no reason why labor at all levels can’t work together to improve the system and demand better treatment across the board.

          • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
            19·
            1 year ago

            I hope the capitalists will always be winning. Capitalism is awesome.

            Also the person you’re talking about saved that money and invested it, making them a capitalist.

            Class solidarity is nonsense.

            until their QOL is on par with yours

            I make a lot of money and live in a moderate COL area. It’s almost certain my QOL is higher than theirs.

            Fun fact: almost no one has the money to just start a business from scratch. That’s why investors exist. Banks give out business loans all the time. That’s capitalism, and that’s why it’s awesome.

            • theparadox@lemmy.worldEnglish
              3·
              1 year ago

              Apologies, I didn’t realize that your goal was to promote capitalism and defeat class solidarity.

            • bob_wiley@lemmy.worldEnglish
              13·
              1 year ago

              What are you talking about that no one has money to start a business from scratch? Start up costs are heavily dependent on the type of business. There are a lot of businesses which can be started with what people already have. The cost for an LLC varies by state, but averages out to $132. Most people can scrape together $132…. Or they can just start working and form the LLC once they get a little money.

              Here are some examples of businesses with a very low start up cost…

              • Landscaping. Knock on doors of homes with weeds that need pulling. Offer to do it for a price. Pull weeds, collect money. Use the money to buy equipment that will make life easier and make more services available. Once you get enough clients, hire people to help, congrats you’re a business owner.
              • YouTube. MKBHD started with the webcam in his laptop. Now he’s being quoted in Apple keynotes and interviewing billionaires. Mr Beast was offered $1B for his channels.
              • Teaching. Play an instrument? Cool, teach other people how to play it too, for money. This could be done with a bunch of things, cooking classes, various sports, etc.
              • House keeper. People hate cleaning, clean people’s homes for them and charge them for it.
              • Make stuff and sell it on Etsy.
              • Guys in a town near me grill chicken on the side of the road and people come buy and buy it. Sell enough roadside grilled chicken and use the money to open up something more legit.
              • Write a mobile app. Posting in the App Store is only $99/year. With social media there are plenty of ways to market for free. Not every app requires a giant dev team and millions in funding.
              • Be a handyman, fix random shit in people’s homes.
              • Make clothes. Fubu was started sewing shirts on his mom’s sewing machine and selling the shirts on the street. If you don’t want to make clothes from scratch, cool, be a tailor… fixing people’s existing clothes.

              When I was young I was told a story about a college business class where the students had to start a business, but the stipulation was they couldn’t spend any money. I don’t remember which one won, but I remember the top two (based on how much money they made). One sold their presentation time to the class of 300 to local businesses looking to advertise to students. The other, and more interesting one, went to nice restaurants on busy nights. They’d get in line early before the rush, then sell their place in line to people who had long waits.

              I don’t know how you can be so pro-capitalism, while not believing people can start from basically nothing and turn it into something just by bootstrapping a small business and turning it into something they can’t support a person. It doesn’t have to be the next Apple.

              • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
                11·
                1 year ago

                I love that you googled this without knowing I’ve literally started my own business.

                That doesn’t change the fact that the overwhelming majority of businesses involve both startup costs and the reality that, on average, businesses do not turn a profit for 2-3 years.

                Just really stellar posting my dude. Really brings the “pull weeds for people” home.

                • bob_wiley@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  12·
                  1 year ago

                  You should really link your biography at the bottom of all your posts if you wants to call people stupid for not knowing your life story. I don’t know who you are; I don’t really care. You said something stupid so I replied as if I was talking to a stupid person who couldn’t do anything more than pull weeds for $20, and my opinion of you hasn’t changed.

                  Have a nice life.

                  • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    11·
                    1 year ago

                    I called your post “stellar.”

                    And my point is that you’re wrong.

        • Stumblinbear@pawb.socialEnglish
          11·
          1 year ago

          You know it’s not terribly difficult to save a couple hundred a month so long as you’re not making minimum wage and budget for it

    • huginn@feddit.itEnglish
      51·
      1 year ago

      6 years saving 20k is legitimately the “skip lattes and cancel Netflix” levels of saving.

      It’s $270 a month extra.

      Only saving $270 a month in NYC means 1 month of layoffs wipes out 6 months of saving in rent alone.

      If you don’t see the violence inherent in that system then you’re fucking blind.