There are not people who are "150 years old collecting social security checks"
But, this effort by a billionaire to generate resentment against imaginary people getting a few hundred measly bucks is transparent. Trying to make all people who use the social security checks they EARNED and paid for out to be moochers
Why are some people so foolish to hate an (imaginary) ordinary person for having a little? This is welfare queens with Cadillacs all over again.
This is why people jumping the turn styles in the subway gets so much press ... and no one asks "why are there people so broke they feel the need to do that?" and "why isn't pubic transportation (free per use) for everyone?"
I guess it's just easier to resent those who are similar to ourselves than the people who live with wealth that isn't easy to even comprehend.
Sure, it would be great if public transport were gratis.
But if you think the vast majority of people who enter the subway without paying are poor, come to the High St station and take a look. Even rich European tourists have gotten the message that only suckers pay.
The whole thing is dismaying on many levels. But two technical aspects keep bothering me:
1) When people "move fast and break things" without understanding why things are the way they currently are. Even ridiculous sounding line items cited as waste, even if they are accurate, was there originally a valid rationale for them?
2) When institutional knowledge is lost, it's going to be a long time recovering.
Social Security in the US runs on mainframes using code written in COBOL going back to the late 1950s. It predates the idea of undefined data in a database! So they picked an arbitrary date in the past—1875—to mean "undefined" (nobody that old was then claiming SS).
Dilbert Stark's teenage minions may know how to program in Rust or Javascript but are just plain ignorant about anything older than their parents.
Every person who ever had any contact with existing data in a database knows this type of “problem” in many variants - and by encountering it they can tell something about the origin of the data. This mistake shows that these people are deep in Dunning Kruger territory and that Musk is a con without any idea of information technology.
He might well know it's and error and keep repeating it anyway. Anything to stoke resentment for social security as they would love to liquidate the entire program. In theory this should be a "political third rail" but this isn't a philosophy that asks permission or assumes anything is off limits.
I really hope they don't manage to gut the state teacher pensions. I'll be PISSED if they do. I just got mine corrected and it was very annoying.
The great appeal of deciding that anyone else receiving welfare must be undeserving is to convince one self that our own success is based on merit alone.
We hate to admit that we were born lucky, let alone that we live in a society that helped us become successful.
It's easy and tempting for all of us to believe what we WANT to be true is true when someone tell us the thing that we always suspected.
I try to remember this and not do it when I can but it's frustrating when there are so many people who just don't really like the other people who are basically in the same boat as all of us.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Sensitive content
This is why people jumping the turn styles in the subway gets so much press ... and no one asks "why are there people so broke they feel the need to do that?" and "why isn't pubic transportation (free per use) for everyone?"
I guess it's just easier to resent those who are similar to ourselves than the people who live with wealth that isn't easy to even comprehend.
Photo Ewen 📷 reshared this.
Lew Perin
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Sensitive content
Sure, it would be great if public transport were gratis.
But if you think the vast majority of people who enter the subway without paying are poor, come to the High St station and take a look. Even rich European tourists have gotten the message that only suckers pay.
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •Sensitive content
@0x5021
Given the way things are going it could be either SS around here jeeeeez.
I am so sick of these clowns and every person lacking the will to tell them "no" when they overstep their bounds.
I really hope I don't have to leave this country. I like it here generally.
Peter Kisner ≈
Unknown parent • • •Sensitive content
@garbados
I also heard this suggested.
The whole thing is dismaying on many levels. But two technical aspects keep bothering me:
1) When people "move fast and break things" without understanding why things are the way they currently are. Even ridiculous sounding line items cited as waste, even if they are accurate, was there originally a valid rationale for them?
2) When institutional knowledge is lost, it's going to be a long time recovering.
Charlie Stross
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Sensitive content
The "people 150 years old" meme is bullshit.
Social Security in the US runs on mainframes using code written in COBOL going back to the late 1950s. It predates the idea of undefined data in a database! So they picked an arbitrary date in the past—1875—to mean "undefined" (nobody that old was then claiming SS).
Dilbert Stark's teenage minions may know how to program in Rust or Javascript but are just plain ignorant about anything older than their parents.
chris@strafpla.net
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •Sensitive content
This mistake shows that these people are deep in Dunning Kruger territory and that Musk is a con without any idea of information technology.
Rince reshared this.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to chris@strafpla.net • • •Sensitive content
@chris @cstross
He might well know it's and error and keep repeating it anyway. Anything to stoke resentment for social security as they would love to liquidate the entire program. In theory this should be a "political third rail" but this isn't a philosophy that asks permission or assumes anything is off limits.
I really hope they don't manage to gut the state teacher pensions. I'll be PISSED if they do. I just got mine corrected and it was very annoying.
Photo Ewen 📷
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •The great appeal of deciding that anyone else receiving welfare must be undeserving is to convince one self that our own success is based on merit alone.
We hate to admit that we were born lucky, let alone that we live in a society that helped us become successful.
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@ShiitakeToast
It's easy and tempting for all of us to believe what we WANT to be true is true when someone tell us the thing that we always suspected.
I try to remember this and not do it when I can but it's frustrating when there are so many people who just don't really like the other people who are basically in the same boat as all of us.
chris@strafpla.net
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Sensitive content
> Why are some people so foolish to hate an (imaginary) ordinary person for having a little?
Maybe it’s a try at a counterspell?