It is surprising to see people protesting the "working conditions" of rideshare. I thought the whole point of ridesharing was that it is not a taxi service.
> If the labor market is so robust why aren't people joining the workforce?
Because they don't need to work. They're not applying for unemployment and they're not taking jobs. So, logically, they're using their time on non-work-related activity. They're having fun, or otherwise doing stuff that they would rather do than work.
The media has this terrible tendency to promote work as the primary marker of life success, which is a valid opinion, for sure, but it's not a universal one. Some people step out of the workforce because they can, and good for them. I expect the wealthier our society becomes, the more people will have this opportunity.
That is such a wise and important point. I am no fan of Apple, but the one thing they have going for them is that they have never forgotten how to please their core fan base.
I was such big Google fan that they actually featured me on their blog over a decade ago. They have destroyed everything that I ever liked about them, piece-by-piece and replaced it with advertising, the scourge of humanity.
This comment makes it sound as if you don't think generating massive amounts of goodwill among your most passionate customer base "drives business." Google Reader was the loss leader that drove me deeply into Google's whole suite of applications and made me a paying customer of theirs.
>> 'They have the "best" app in the sector, but only because they have essentially the only sports social network out there.'
You could almost say this about any successful app. Facebook is by no means the best at any of the things they do, but they're the site that has the highest adoption rates, so it is what it is.
For whatever reason, people prefer Strava over the alternatives, and so they get to be the best as long as people don't go elsewhere.
Personally, I use Garmin Connect and Strava both, each for different reasons, and it really rounds out my data and social network needs.
I see this as win-win for both companies. I never would have heard of Footpath if not for this news story. A good percentage of readers will now download Footpath and give it a try. That's an audience they wouldn't have had otherwise, and the lifetime revenue stream of a lift like that can be in the thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the size of Footpath's user base and their ability to monetize the traffic.
Meanwhile, us Strava users get a cool new functionality.
The problem is mostly one of data availability. China has plenty of data, but not all of it is credulous. That, and the fact that comparisons of any two nations will always be susceptible to the accusation that the data has been "cherry-picked" to show a favorable result.
But the global data on poverty is basically unassailable. Poverty has declined absolutely everywhere. The rising tide lifted at least the very poorest boats, whatever can be said for the American middle class notwithstanding.
I have thought that for a long time, too. It's natural that, on a global scale, developed-economy wages would appear to "stagnate" if developing-economy wages are increasing while competing for the same jobs.
The funny thing is that I just wrote a blog post about people who make pedantic side-comments and act like this defeats the over-arching argument.
You began by suggesting that the cities I mentioned weren't in the Midwest. In other words, you began by ignoring my point. Now you're pulling sentences out of context to still rub against the point.
My point, now as then, was that places such as the cities I mentioned are increasingly attracting the best tech sector job applicants, and that New Yorkers ought to take the time to ask why that is. No matter what other pedantic problems you can find with my basic phraseology, my point stands. Ask yourself, why are places like Nashville growing so much? And why are there multiple such cities? And why are companies like TD Ameritrade shifting their employees out of New York and into Omaha and Dallas?
I don't live in Nashville, but I think it's a nice city. Low taxes, low cost of living, slow pace of life, no urine smell in the streets, and for the price of a NYC shoebox, you can have a 5-bedroom house with a nice yard. It's tough to argue against that lifestyle once you've lived it. I don't know many people who move back to NYC.
So, as I said, New Yorkers ought to think about that. If New York companies want to attract the best job applicants, then they ought to think about what else they can offer, seeing as how they can't offer 5-bedroom houses with nice yards and low tax rates.
I mentioned cities by name that have booming tech sectors and an influx of corporate headquarters. If the influx in Nashville is from Louisiana, that's still important, because it represents an influx that previously would have gone to some other city where there are attractive jobs. NYC used to be one of those cities, and now compared to Nashville it has far less to offer than it did in previous decades.
Do you understand my point now? It does not matter whether Nashville's population ever equals that of NYC. The population growth spread across 5 cities in formerly rural areas represents growth that otherwise would have gone to the great economic hubs of the nation, which must now compete for job applicants on something other than the MOMA and the smell of urine in the streets.
Because, if NYC doesn't compete, then it loses the best job applicants to places like Nashville.
> If people are moving from NYC to LA/Seattle/etc., your argument doesn't really hold much water.
Gee, I don't remember mentioning "LA/Seattle/etc." by name. Unlike some other cities that I mentioned by name. Did you see the part where I mentioned cities by name?
> As far as I can tell, NYC has had about a 6% population growth since 2010. It actually matches the US overall population growth pretty well
Great, now compare that to the growth rates of Dallas or Nashville or etc.
I mean, you could focus on whether the word "midwest" is accurate, or you could take my point that there is a reason why people are moving out of places like NYC in favor of less dense cities that don't smell like urine.
Tech market is hot everywhere. NYC has been an aberration on cost of living for my whole lifetime and more. What's new is the plethora of tech jobs outside of NYC and SF. Again, ask yourself why great tech jobs would suddenly appear in Nashville, TN. Why would that happen? Why do you think?
I guess I didn't realize how many commentators here were New Yorkers. XD
Everyone's moving to more comfortable places with lower costs of living. NYC is not an attractive place for job candidates unless those candidates are already in NYC. Even companies with a strong presence in NYC are expanding in places like Nashville, Omaha, Dallas, Denver, etc. rather than in NYC.
At some point, New Yorkers ought to ask themselves why everyone wants to move to these nice midwestern cities.