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There is a clear cognitive dissonance in articles like this and the actions of protestors. They highlight on the extreme wealth of certain founders/executives, yet direct their wrath (and stones) on the entire tech industry.

Regular Facebook employees aren't Mark Zuckerberg, and certainly aren't paid like it. Most tech workers make less than twice the median family income in the Bay Area—good pay, but not obscene.

If people have a problem with income inequality, they should be siding with tech workers—we're way closer to barista wages than being in the 1%.

So why are tech workers the ones getting attacked? You can bet Larry Page isn't taking the bus, but he's the one making the money.



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For the 1%, I was using the $394,000 figure put forward by Emmanuel Saez. [1]

At $140k or anything near it, you're far closer to barista wages ($30k?) than the 1%.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/phildemuth/2013/11/25/are-you-ri...


140k is about 1/3 of 400k, but about 4x 30k. Perceptually, you're closer to the 1% than to the baristas.


They highlight on the extreme wealth of certain founders/executives, yet direct their wrath (and stones) on the entire tech industry.

Not even, the protestors manage to direct their wrath at the employees low enough level to be riding the shuttles.

It's pretty ironic seeing the ostensible radical leftists following the lead of the Valley Wag's middle brow demagoguery.


employees low enough level to be riding the shuttles

Yes, SF's banking-class and politicians are loving this. The middle-class is distracted fighting their middle-class peers.


Are you really unable to see the problem is not "the banking class" and a few politicians. The problem is thousands of developers making much more than normal people, and a way too big fraction of them wanting to live right smack downtown San Francisco ?

Or are you truly unable to see that you are not making anything remotely near average wages ? That you are not middle class, and certainly also not working as hard as the average middle classer ? You get sundays off, for one.

The result of these actions is people getting thrown into the streets by their landlords. Here's a tip : there does not exist an argument that will make people OK with that. Stop looking for it.


I am sad to see someone actually falling for the claim that someone else being willing to pay a higher price is to blame for the cycle of often illegal and generally unconscionable evictions that have happened in San Francisco and elsewhere.

I mean, the immediate cause is landlords and the ultimate market cause is the lack of housing in Silicon Valley. Tech workers in SF are just dominoes in a chain.

And the cause for Tech workers being better paid is the failure of the average workers to defend their wages. You could defend your living standard by the left-wing means of unionization or by the right-wing means of providing more value to your employer so if you just sit on your ass and attack higher paid workers, you deserve contempt from any point of view.




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