Perhaps laptops should be a local-for-hire service at airports for frequent travellers. Carry your SSD drive with you and plug it in at your destination.

Seriously, the number of inappropriate posts on here is shameful.

"It's not the band I hate, it's the fans"

Golden Goose, meet clever.

There is a design system that applies to anything from agriculture to energy to economics, and that is fundamentally centered on ethics, in which the objective is obtaining a surplus and these are the "profits" after the sustainable needs of the system (think planet and people) are first satisfied.
It's called Permaculture

The concept of a guaranteed minimum income could work within a system designed under these principles.

They won't - at least until one or several nations with seemingly less to lose surpasses the U.S. by embracing more forward-thinking policies. This is how empires fall and has always been so throughout recorded history.

On the contrary, the burger flipper now has less incentive to accept a low-paying wage for survival and can instead pursue more meaningful and better-paying positions. Effectively the company now has greater competition in the wage market.

You realize that comes off no different than saying the number one reason you can't be hired is because you have no skills. I presume you are on this forum because you work in a tech field, and that you set about developing skills in the field because it is a profession you desired. Why should the skill of self-promotion be any different? You'll need it to excel in life, whether you are a freelancer or not.
Unless your daddy hired you, you managed to sell yourself enough to get a full-time gig, so I also think you are selling yourself short on this aspect and just need some self-confidence.

Anecdotal evidence suggests old executive talent fails to understand new business.
Perhaps boards and stockholders should be creating an ageism story at the executive level if they want to influence the open market of compensation. More gains to be had at that level.

Hence heavy fines to the corporation + criminal prosecution to the executives responsible. When it comes to corporations, you need a deterrent that works for both the corporation (and shareholders), as well as the individuals involved.

As it stands, VW has already done significant damage to their brand. I've yet to hear anything about personal (executive) accountability for these illegal actions, which is a serious concern.

Add criminal prosecution with appropriate fines and jail time to the most senior manager(s) and executives who approved the implementation of the software. I'm sick and tired of immoral individuals hiding behind the corporate shield of invulnerability. Somebody approved this and made an illegal and immoral decision. They need to be held accountable.

I understand you points. I wasn't assuming or prescribing anything, My comment was a reflection on just how deep the culture of car ownership has influenced our lives in ways few even question. Entire industries, from dealerships and insurance to filling-station convenience stores, are vested in personal car ownership.

At least that is my hope. The concept of car ownership is archaic. I look forward to the offloading all the associated penalty costs of car ownership in favour of a service model.

So I can heat my home with cardboard waste and tree trimmings from my yard.

+1 - it isn't the party, stupid. When you have institutionalized a 2-party system, what are the odds that they're just different shades of the same?

+1
The gut reaction to the term "socialism" and its association to the iron curtain communist meanies, without an understanding of what a social democracy truly represents, is exactly why the 1% neo-cons are now dictating the political and economic policies of North America - to the detriment of the majority of its citizens.