NYSee Radar

Tag: inequality

  • And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”

    Kurt Vonnegut • The New Yorker

    True story, Word of Honor:

    Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island.

    I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?”

    And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”

    And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”

    And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

    Not bad! Rest in peace!

    —Kurt Vonnegut

  • ‘pain point’ : the maximum amount you are willing to pay

    ‘pain point’ : the maximum amount you are willing to pay

    Noah Giansiracusa · Harvard Law Today

    Retailers are looking for what’s called the “pain point.” That’s the maximum amount that you as an individual customer are willing to pay for a specific product
    …
    [an app’s] knowledge of your phone battery’s life to determine how desperate you might be for a ride home, and therefore charge you more for it
    …
    now imagine … they look at me and they know every video I’ve watched on YouTube, everything I’ve searched in Google, and everything I have liked on Facebook, every conversation I’ve had with an AI chatbot. Does that feel like a fair situation?

    Does that feel like a fair situation?

    The wage slaves of the Gilded Age had it easy

  • At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich

    George Monbiot · The Guardian

    There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to