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holaysuns • today at 5:56 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

Nobody is entitled to a job because they are 'good at software'.

The implication is that someone else should have to give you money for some kind of performative activity.

That's not how it works, it's a misunderstanding of the 'civil contract'.

If we wanted to Socialize All The Means of Everything, we could definitely have guaranteed work for everyone - it would be extremely inefficient - and you would almost never get to do the work you aspire to do.

You'd have to do the work the inefficient system required you to do.

But really nobody wants that, or almost nobody. Most people prefer some kind of economic dynamism that balances those things.

Being laid off is a bummer, and it 'feels unfair', and those chosen for furlough may not hav been chosen fairly, bit layoffs are not inherently unfair.

Probably in most US states, there could be a few inches more and better social systems to support people, but in some places, it's debatable if those systems are helpful.

In the Global South, this is a big problem.


Replies

StilesCrisis • today at 6:37 PM

I think your definition of fair is just different than mine. If you are making an amazing product and do incredible work, you can still get laid off if (say) Microsoft/Sony arbitrarily shuffles the VP deck chairs and the new leader decides to pivot to GaaS, invest in chatbots instead, etc. Is it economic-efficient? Maybe?--honestly I doubt that too. But it's not _fair_.