Quote from Sandybestdog:
You don't want your painter to be certified? I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that agents be licensed, teachers be qualified and businesses to follow general regulation.
I don't care if a painter is certified. I just want the job to be properly done. Simple painting is time-consuming and menial but is pretty straightforward. Flattenning a curved wall cirface requires higher degree of knowledge and skill but not everyone needs such more complex tasks done.
People pain their own houses all the time and it works out fine. Now if they want to ask a friend or relative for help, it suddenly breaks the rules.
Same as with babysitting. People can babysit their own children and children of close relatives. However, as as soon as an unrelated person is hired as a part-time nanny (anhd works more than a few hours per year), the baby's family is suddenly treated like a busines. So, they need to get the nanny vetted by the authorities, produce wage slips, deduct taxes at source etc
For comparison, I do wont the person who repairs my bolier to be certified... because there is a lot that can go wrong with grave consequences such as a gas leak.
Teachers are a special category. As a lobby group they promote regulation that requires that anyone who teaches children is qualified in somethign called pedagogy. As a result there are plenty of teachers who teach the subject they know nothing about... but because they are trained in pedagogy, it's considered OK.
Quote from Sandybestdog:
The HFT is trading his own money (or his managed money). If he loses it, it doesn't affect anybody but himself. You have the right to ruin your own life, you do not have the right to ruin other people's life's.
In practice algo mistakes affect a lot of unrelated people. There are strict rules about maintaining solvency of financial companies. People who look after finances require qualifications and registration. However, an algorithm mistake has a potential to render the company insolvent in seconds... and people who write algorithms aren't force to have any special qualification, nor peopel who are in charge of switching algorithms on/off and otherwise looking after them have to know anything about algorithms or technology.
Further, a mistke in an algorithm can lead to sending a large number of orders which overloads the exchange order matching system and leads trading to a standstill. This affects a lot of people.
Both of the above have happened.
In comparison, a painter doing a lowsy job only affects people who live/work in the building and possibly a contractor who sub-contracted the painter.
Further, a contructor probably interviews the painter and gets a good idea of whether the painter is qualified. It's only the original customer who knows nothing about painting who is a genuine victim.
Quote from Sandybestdog:
I understand that a contractor is probably easier, but I think in the long run that can only lead to problems and abuse of the system.
Hiring a contractor for a job that in it's nature lasts indefinitely is probably a wrong move. However, for jobs that are genuinely temporary or on ad-hoc basis, it is valid alternative to a temporary employee.
Quote from Sandybestdog:
How can anybody complain about illegal immigrants working here and then complain about the regulation requiring employers to verify an employee's legal status?
Quote from Sandybestdog:In the case of the US compliance requirements is just shifting responsibility. There are millions of illegal immigrants (mostly from Mexico) in the country and neither Bush nor Obama administration want to do anything about it. (Probably offer some way to legalise based on their long stay, perhaps, in exchange for applying for such legalisation from outside the US and securing a job offer... and speed up deportation for those who prefer to stay illegal.)
I don't know off of the top of my head, but I would guess that maybe 250 people work at my company. I think there is one person that does the whole payroll. I'm sure it is not too complicated when using a simple payroll company. You punch the info in and it tells you exactly how much to allocate where. I'm sure all of the transactions are done automatically and electronically.
Like with many things payroll is something that requires an effort to learn to do properly (especially without a mentor as it would be with most business start ups or families who want to hire a babysitter/cleaner) and after it's on a certain scale incremental cost gets small.
This is exactly what I am saying. For a 1-person business and especially for a family (as they will be hit with an additional record-holding requirement) hiring an employee is substantial increase in paperwork. For a large business, it's marginal.