The Uganda experiment is rather different - it provided a large capital investment to individuals in a capital starved economy. Basically, it allowed people to invest in their business. The US is not a capital starved economy, so it is unlikely that the same would occur.
The actual report about Dauphin Canada would be useful here rather than some reporters interpretation of it. Among other things, the drop in work related injuries strongly suggests work did go down, as do the anecdotes of people who "could wait for something [work] that better suited them." Anyone know where to find the real report? It does sound interesting.
The example of linux contributors compared to the development world is not really indicative of the economy at large. Software is infinitely reproducible, unlike most goods and services.
It's not that capital here doesn't exist - it's just concentrated to a toxic degree. Warren Buffett is a smart investor, but he can't squeeze the most out of every dollar, not at the scale he's obligated to invest at. Scale - especially the bespoke, "too big to fail" kind - invites waste.
Capital requirements in the US are also higher. In Uganda, people can become significantly wealthier and improve their standard of living simply by having a few chickens. But in the US, individuals are taking on debt just to have enough education to get a job! And the level of spending needed to operate in most US industries is similar to the costs of college education. Like you point out, software is exceptional in this respect since it has an extremely low capex - so we can conclude that, in fact, individuals are capital starved in the US as well.
The actual report about Dauphin Canada would be useful here rather than some reporters interpretation of it. Among other things, the drop in work related injuries strongly suggests work did go down, as do the anecdotes of people who "could wait for something [work] that better suited them." Anyone know where to find the real report? It does sound interesting.
The example of linux contributors compared to the development world is not really indicative of the economy at large. Software is infinitely reproducible, unlike most goods and services.