Hacker News with Generative AI: Inequality

In Farewell Address, Biden Warns of an 'Oligarchy' Taking Shape in America (nytimes.com)
President Biden on Wednesday warned that an “oligarchy” of the ultrawealthy was emerging in America, sounding the alarm about unchecked power as he gave a farewell speech to the nation just days before he surrenders office to a man he disdains.

Politics, United States, Inequality, Wealth

9 points by whack 1 day ago | 0 comments

Bank of Mum and Dad: why we all now live in an 'inheritocracy' (2024) (theguardian.com)
Family wealth dictates our life choices. So is the Bank of Mum and Dad now behind so many of society’s growing inequalities?

Economics, Inequality, Family, Social Issues, Inheritance

25 points by herbertl 4 days ago | 28 comments

The cod-Marxism of personalized pricing (pluralistic.net)
The social function of the economics profession is to explain, over and over again, that your boss is actually right and that you don't really want the things you want, and you're secretly happy to be abused by the system. If that wasn't true, why would your "choose" commercial surveillance, abusive workplaces and other depredations?

Economics, Social Commentary, Capitalism, Inequality

11 points by lapcat 6 days ago | 2 comments

It's Still Easier to Imagine the End of the World Than the End of Capitalism (astralcodexten.com)
No Set Gauge has a great essay on Capital, AGI, and Human Ambition, where he argues that if humankind survives the Singularity, the likely result is a future of eternal stagnant wealth inequality.

Capitalism, Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Future, Inequality

6 points by toomuchtodo 16 days ago | 1 comments

McKinsey, technocratic management, and structural inequality (theatlantic.com)
Technocratic management, no matter how brilliant, cannot unwind structural inequalities.

Management, Inequality, Business, Social Issues

40 points by lifeisstillgood 20 days ago | 13 comments

Remote Work Is Increasingly a Right of the Rich (nytimes.com)
When it comes to remote work, the C-suite wants workers to do as they say, not as they do.

Remote Work, Inequality, Work-Life Balance, Corporate Culture

5 points by mooreds 28 days ago | 0 comments

How the 1980s Engineered the Collapse of the Working Class (thewalrus.ca)
Forty years later, policies to prop up the super rich are still going strong

Economics, History, Inequality

13 points by xyst 30 days ago | 2 comments

The science behind winning a Nobel Prize? Being a man from a wealthy family (theguardian.com)
A lot of talent is wasted in a world where more than half of laureates come from households in the richest 5%

Nobel Prize, Inequality, Science, Gender Bias, Wealth

7 points by xqcgrek2 41 days ago | 3 comments

How the 1980s Engineered the Collapse of the Working Class (thewalrus.ca)
Forty years later, policies to prop up the super rich are still going strong

Economics, History, Social Issues, Inequality

16 points by pseudolus 52 days ago | 3 comments

How the Ivy League Broke America (theatlantic.com)
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.

Higher Education, Social Issues, Inequality, Meritocracy

25 points by chrisaycock 65 days ago | 16 comments

The data hinted at racism among white doctors. Then scholars looked again (economist.com)
BLACK BABIES in America are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. This shocking statistic has barely changed for many decades, and even after controlling for socioeconomic differences a wide mortality gap persists. Yet in 2020 researchers discovered a factor that appeared to reduce substantially a black baby’s risks.

Healthcare, Race, Inequality, Statistics

15 points by like_any_other 67 days ago | 2 comments

The silly rule that keeps housing costs high (nytimes.com)
In too many American cities, numerous downtown office buildings sit barely used, their absence of workers gutting nearby businesses. Meanwhile, hundreds of residents, too poor to afford shelter, sleep on the streets. Addressing these problems is within our grasp.

Housing, Urban Planning, Economics, Inequality

3 points by dr_dshiv 72 days ago | 0 comments

Billionaires are 'ultimate beneficiaries' linked to €3B of EU farming subsidies (theguardian.com)
The European Union gave generous farming subsidies to the companies of more than a dozen billionaires between 2018 and 2021, the Guardian can reveal, including companies owned by the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and the British businessman Sir James Dyson.

Agriculture, Business, Politics, Inequality

13 points by rntn 75 days ago | 1 comments

Scurvy in the Age of Billionaires (jacobin.com)
Once banished to history books, scurvy is making a comeback in wealthy countries thanks to soaring economic inequality.

Health, Inequality, Social Commentary

4 points by Pfhortune 92 days ago | 0 comments

My Country Is Cruel to Anyone Outside of a Car (oliverobscure.xyz)
My country is cruel to anyone outside of a car.

Social Commentary, Transportation, Inequality

13 points by oliverobscure 93 days ago | 0 comments

Off grid is a win for some, but a threat for poorer families and the environment (theconversation.com)
How would you like to never have another electric bill? Advances in technology have made it possible for some consumers to disconnect from the power grid — a move that was once only available to the ultra-wealthy who could afford the associated costs, or survivalists willing to trade convenience for freedom. This is no longer the case.

Energy, Sustainability, Inequality, Environment

9 points by gnabgib 97 days ago | 0 comments

Ask HN: Why aren't you solving real problems? (ycombinator.com)
We live in an age of mass inequality. Many are sleeping in the streets. Tent villages have popped up all over the country. Many more live in their cars. We have an obesity epidemic and now rather than addressing the root problems that lead to the obesity epidemic we have an expensive highly profitable pharmaceutical solution. Kids don't feel safe in schools and rightfully so.

Social Issues, Inequality, Healthcare, Education

26 points by mdgrech23 114 days ago | 51 comments

Corruption Fuels Inequality: Staggering Graft Warps China's Economy (foreignaffairs.com)
After Chinese President Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, his government launched a sweeping anticorruption campaign that attracted worldwide attention for its scope and determination.

Corruption, China, Inequality, Economics

9 points by haltingproblem 127 days ago | 1 comments

Billionaires and the Evolution of Overconfidence (forkingpaths.co)
To understand billionaires, you need to understand horizontal inequality, illusory control, self-selection bias, quantified self-worth, and the evolution of overconfidence.

Billionaires, Psychology, Inequality, Self-Perception, Overconfidence

16 points by onemoresoop 127 days ago | 5 comments

Wisdom of Kandiaronk–Indigenous Critique, Myth of Progress and Birth of the Left (theanarchistlibrary.org)
Anthropologist David Graeber has been working for seven years, with archaeologist David Wengrow, on a work devoted to a history of inequality. A first excerpt from this work was published online in 2018.

Anthropology, History, Inequality, Indigenous Cultures

4 points by wahnfrieden 130 days ago | 0 comments

America's best-paid CEOs have the worst-paid employees (pluralistic.net)

Business, Economics, CEO Compensation, Employee Compensation, Inequality

110 points by janandonly 131 days ago | 134 comments

Starlink and Inequality (manypossibilities.net)

Space Exploration, Technology, Social Issues, Inequality

8 points by talos 134 days ago | 1 comments

CEOs earn big bucks at nonprofit hospitals. But does that benefit patients? (npr.org)

Nonprofit Organizations, Healthcare, Business, Inequality

4 points by rntn 152 days ago | 0 comments

The Haves and Have-Nots at the Center of America's Inflation Fight (wsj.com)