The view from flyover country

What Hacker News says

1. japhyrDec 2018
   The View from Flyover Country

   Sarah Kendzior is my favorite political analyst today. She has called so much of what's happened over the past few years long before others, and she cuts right to the heart of what's happening. This book is a collection of essays she published about the changing economy and political scene over the past ~5 years.

   https://www.amazon.com/View-Flyover-Country-Dispatches-Forgo...

   https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior

   Show morethread
2. jostylrAug 2018
   He explored in detail his theory of five different kinds of bullshit jobs and supplied some very memorable anecdotes. He had some analysis of economic trends coinciding. For example, 40% of the workforce in the 1940s was in farming, now it is 1%. Automation happened and his theory is that instead of massive unemployment, our system basically created this bullshit jobs level. It is kind of a feudal capitalist version of a guaranteed job benefit.

   I found it quite enjoyable and particularly the explanation and relation to feudal ideas. Why are productive workers being squeezed out while the managerial class is expanding? Shouldn't the opposite actually happen (fewer workers with better automated oversight controls should need less managers, not more).

   His final chapter leads to a proposal about UBI as a way of walking out of this trap.

   He explores the explosion of administration in universities. Basically, lots of money flowing in and it has to go somewhere. So it goes to a level that can be easily cut (administrators) instead, of say, paying adjuncts more which is not easy to walk back from.

   It is a fast read and has some interesting ideas in it. It is not a definitive scholarly piece of work, but it provides a starting point for understanding how bs jobs arise when there is plenty of excess going on (lots of profits => bs jobs )

   Some related readings: "Debt, A 5,000 Year History" and "The View from Flyover Country"

   Show morethread
3. pnathanOct 2016
   For a more formal look at this, I'd suggest looking at Sarah Kenzidor's work over the past year. She's a journalist in St. Louis with a PhD in... sociology? (I think?), specializing in the Uzbekistan country & regime. She's brought that knowledge to bear on the Trump campaign and has spent a lot of time trying to explain to the 'coasts' Why Trump. Her book on this is called the "View from Flyover Country". I haven't read the book, specifically, but I've read most of her articles on the matter since the spring.
   Show morethread