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> Investment gains are not work Say, for example, my job is allocating capital across the S&P 500. My work is picking the stocks, the fruits of my labour are
by Ntrails 3mo ago
> Investment gains are not work
Say, for example, my job is allocating capital across the S&P 500. My work is picking the stocks, the fruits of my labour are excess returns.
Are those excess returns not work? What are they?
- inigyou 3mo agoSay I dig a hole and then fill it back in and dig a hole and fill it back in and make a mud pie then throw it on the ground and then a stranger gives me $100. Is that work?
- ForHackernews 3mo agoYou did something difficult and ultimately futile in exchange for money? Sounds like work to me.
- demorro 3mo agoWinnings.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- saghm 3mo ago> Are those excess returns not work? What are they? Wealth extracted from a market, which is what the parent commenter said in the first place
- twoodfin 3mo agoWhat do you mean “extracted”? The wealth is sitting there in his 401(k) being risked through (highly) fractional ownership of various publicly traded business ventures.
- saghm 3mo agoI mean "not earned through work", as evidenced by your description of it "as as sitting there". Risk isn't the same as work.
- twoodfin 3mo agoWhat is being “extracted” from what? I described it as “sitting there” to contrast my viewpoint that in fact it’s not being “extracted” from anything as far as I can tell.
- inigyou 3mo agoSome Nvidia employees are making graphics cards, that cost $1000, and use $300 of materials, and being paid $200. $500 is being extracted from the value chain at that point and some of that is going to you because you own Nvidia stock.
- twoodfin 3mo agoAh, the labor theory of value. That makes sense. It’s totally incoherent and unreliable as an explanation for an economy, but it explains the comments in this thread.
- atq2119 3mo agoPart of it is work, yes. But consider. How much is your take home as a fund manager with 100M AUM? How much is your take home with 10B AUM? The work is the same, yet if the take home is different, you've proven that your income is not in fact earned through work in a moral sense.
- taffer 3mo ago> The work is the same, yet if the take home is different, you've proven that your income is not in fact earned through work in a moral sense. You could say the same about musicians and authors. Are they immoral as well?
- atq2119 3mo agoYes, the same is absolutely true for many other professions. And artists are probably more aware than most, at least on average, how much luck plays a role. But note that I have been very careful not to call the fund managers individually immoral.
- taffer 3mo agoI fail to see the moral problem with being able to write a book that millions or even billions of people can enjoy. To me that's a feature, not a bug.
- ForHackernews 3mo agoWork on your reading comprehension. The comment you're replying to specifically said they were not impugning the morality of artists or fund managers. Making great art is wonderful, but it's certainly not "work" the same way that digging a ditch or answering tech support calls is.
- taffer 3mo agoPlease respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. [1] I was talking specifically about the moral implications of books that can be read without any additional work from the author. This statement is about books, not authors. > but it's certainly not "work" the same way that digging a ditch I don't think so. Value comes from utility, not from toil. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- ForHackernews 3mo agoAre you good at picking stocks, or just lucky? How do you know? Say, for example, my job is allocating capital across the roulette wheel. My work is picking the numbers, the fruits of my labour are excess returns. Are those returns not work? What are they?
- hnthrow0287345 3mo ago>Are those excess returns not work? What are they? Normally you'd get a low percentage fee instead of getting all of the returns unless you got that capital for free (inheritance?), so yes, you are a worker compared to the person controlling the capital.