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I commented on this a year ago or so: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8154909

My opinion on this is unchanged and I'm still disturbed by the greed behind this lawsuit.



>I'm still disturbed by the greed behind this lawsuit.

I'm disturbed that people are taking the billionaires' side in a wage fixing cartel on the principle that breaking the cartel is "greed".


I am more disturbed at the greed behind the original injustice. The tech companies should be punished, the greed of the plaintiffs is completely irrelevant.


Why is it greed if a walmart worker was being stiffed of a dollar an hour its just as bad as a sales guy losing 20% of a five figure bonus.


Walmart workers and stiffed tech workers have more in common than the "masters of the universe" who rule them both.


That's a reach. Minimum-wage workers live an order of magnitude differently than either of the others.


Yet both are still reliant upon their labor for their livelihood.


...for some definitions of the word 'labor'.

A difference is, working for minimum wage leaves you at risk of housing, food, health. Anyone who escapes the trap of too-poor-to-live inhabits a different world.


They still have much more in common than either do with tech billionaires or the land owners to whom they both pay half of their income to in rent.

There are laborers - minimum wagers and programmers alike - and there those who are parasitic on the labor of others - CEOs, landlords, financiers. That's the real American divide.

Not "scraping by" vs "not scraping by".


Philosophy aside, after your living is secure all the rest is imaginary points. It has to mean less than risk-of-death or living in poverty. Maybe not to a 20-something idealist; but definitely to a parent.


Even supposedly secure, well compensated tech workers can usually still count the number of paychecks away from poverty they are. While you can do that you're not really 'secure'.

Especially when you're paying $3,200 a month for the privilege of living in a city where they can earn the good money.

But we're still taught to sympathize with the Steve Jobs and Larry Pages than the McDonalds servers who can also count the number of paychecks away from destitution they are.


I agree. Let's take these imaginary points away from corporations. They're imaginary, they shouldn't care.


Basic Income! Agreed!


But they are still "employees" and still have issues at work.


You may enjoy The Fallacy of Relative Privation - http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Not_as_bad_as

"Look, none of you were actually murdered, so it's unfair of you to complain about the beating you received."

I'm also curious as to why the greed of the companies doesn't disturb you?

To everyone else - join, or form, a union.




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