According to your link, world inequality as a whole is down. This article is about how inequality within a political system (say the USA) affects social stability. Within this context, it matters not whether or not millions of Chinese and Indians have been lifted out of absolute poverty, because those people are not part of our political system.
It's actually a pretty interesting article, you should read it, rather than dismissing it because of your political bias.
My wife and I were talking about a property we found in Central America that was pretty amazing. Having been a backpacker when I was younger (in the 90s) I always wanted to set up a small hostel/hotel type thing somewhere beautiful.
I wonder if you could build a business serving the Digital Nomad. Basically offer a place to live + a coworking space. The traveling hacker gets the benefit of having a good place to work, plus the benefit of hanging out with other hackers whom you can chat with, maybe even pick up new work.
We're open to talking to anyone, from web+mobile devs, to designers, to data scientists, etc. We even represent a guy who does bioinformatics.
The one caveat is that obviously demand varies based on the skill. Our dealflow is steadily picking up as our network grows and as we get press like this, but customers aren't exactly knocking down our door looking for Erlang hackers... yet.
(The bioinformaticist happens to also be a kickass iOS dev.)
That said, if you have your own dealflow for your skills -- no matter how obscure -- and are interested in our services beyond just sourcing gigs, we're happy to work with you.
Hmm, I've wondering why there isn't the concept of a recruiter who works for the developer. I'd like to have someone help me determine my worth and work with me to improve my marketability. I know companies pay a lot for this service, but it might be worth it. I know in the past I've not know how much I am worth and missed out on a lot of cash.
Not to make this too political, but this is the big issue no one talks about when discussing healthcare. For many small businesses, providing health insurance is a major cost, and a major distraction from their core business.
Whenever I talk to my conservative friends I try and point this out. Many entrepeneurs with kids who might be out there 'creating jobs' can't because the healthcare industry owns our politicians.
I've said this a few times here, and I'll say it again - I was able to start two businesses in Massachusetts precisely because of the MA health reform, i.e. "RomneyCare" (which, for the underattentive, has roughly the same model as the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. "ObamaCare").
As a self-employed Bay Stater, I am in complete agreement. I have a self-employed buddy in Hartford, he applied for health insurance with a CT agent. The questionaire he had to fill out for the application asked if he had ever felt depressed - not diagnosed as clinically depressed, just if he had ever been depressed. Well, as anyone who has ever worked for themselves can understand, it's hard to not ever experience a moment or two of depression. He answered honestly 'yes'; the agent told him that counted as a pre-existing condition and he was denied coverage.
I am so grateful that is something I didn't have to deal with on MA.
Not just those who are self employed, I think pretty much anyone that is human has probably felt depressed at one time or another. This seems similar to all the pharmaceutical commercials where they try to convince you that you need medication if you have ever felt tired, sore, nervous, etc.
It really does seem like a huge distraction from building a business that not only do you have to find and pay for health insurance, but that you have to run a gauntlet just for the opportunity to possibly be able to buy insurance.
'everybody has known that the U.S. is on an unsustainable spending curve due to entitlements'
I wouldn't agree with that. I would say that the problem is fighting two un-funded wars coupled with a decrease in revenues caused by the Bush Tax Cuts. Long term we have issues with popular entitlements such as SS and Medicare. But our immediate problems are generally due to the drop in revenues from the Bush era and an massive increase in military spending.
It's actually a pretty interesting article, you should read it, rather than dismissing it because of your political bias.