The Very High Cost of Enforcing the "Work Ethic"
san_jose_guy
money was invented for handing to women, but buying dances is a chump's game
Remember back in the 1992 election, Ross Perot ran against Bill Clinton and incumbent G. H. W. Bush?
Well most of his criticism fell on Bush, just because he was the incumbent. But then after Clinton was inaugurated, he tried to give a running commentary on Clinton's Presidency. He came to the subject of a Clinton campaign promise of "Creating Jobs". And so Perot got all excited and was saying as forcefully as anyone could imagine, "Do you know how much it costs them to create one job, I mean one job for one person for one year? It costs them $90,000! It would be better if they just cut that up 6 ways and passed it out saying, 'here go have fun for a year.'"
Well Ross Perot was being facetious. He did not really want that to be done. But what he had discovered was something already well known.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan had written about it more than a decade before. "Welfare is the cheapest solution."
So why don't we just go that way? Well, people like to believe in Social Darwinism, they like to delegitimate the poor. And this is all Libertarianism is, Social Darwinism.
And we have welfare, not to provide for the needs of the poor, but to regulate the poor.
https://www.amazon.com/Regulating-Poor-F…
So all of this costs our society money. We could just go to UBI, and where that was not really needed, it is gotten back by taxes. So what is the problem? The money lets the poor participate in our economy, as well as meeting their basic needs. This makes our society better across the board.
So what is the cost of not doing this, of trying to enforce that non-sensical notion of the "Work Ethic"?
Lots of programs people for creating jobs and for welfare to work. Is there any advantage to this, creating jobs for which there is no demand?
Forcing people to submit to a program, just to get their welfare benefit?
How does that benefit anyone?
And then, do we really care about workers? If we did, we would make sure that their retirement and disability and health care benefits are absolutely guaranteed. We would put to rest at once the idea that Social Security could collapse, or be privatized, or that workers need to be saving money for a private retirement.
No, we would protect and honor workers, and they would do jobs which are necessary, not "created" by tax breaks or attacking unions or safety protections.
And while everyone has to pay taxes, as that is what keeps our economy going in an advanced industrial and information era, we would make sure that workers get the value of their labors. Their housing would always be there for them, and be affordable.
We would never let the surplus value be appropriated by the Financializer Class. They would be eligible for UBI or Welfare, but no, they cannot scoop up the fruits of our workers. And they cannot take large sums out of our economy, without paying progressive income and wealth taxes.
But no, we do not honor workers. The "Work Ethic" has always been a scam, just a denigration of social status for those who are not already rich.
You want to know what work is supposed to be, its more like the Buddhist notion of Right Livelihood.
https://www.amazon.com/Chop-Wood-Carry-W…
It's not like what we have, for most people that being what Marx called, "Alienated Labor".
We expend vast resources just to promote and enforce the ideology of the Work Ethic. And there are all kinds of collateral consequences too.
We need to start putting a price on this, as it is huge. It is the difference between the material utopia which we could be enjoying, and the crazy nonsense of anxiety, social stratification, crime, and environmental degradation which we do have. It is the cost of promoting a sham!
SJG
Yes - Yours Is No Disgrace - Live at Beat-Club - 1971 - Remastered
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93y9wfB3…
TJ Street
https://tuscl.net/photo.php?id=3560
https://tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1132
Well most of his criticism fell on Bush, just because he was the incumbent. But then after Clinton was inaugurated, he tried to give a running commentary on Clinton's Presidency. He came to the subject of a Clinton campaign promise of "Creating Jobs". And so Perot got all excited and was saying as forcefully as anyone could imagine, "Do you know how much it costs them to create one job, I mean one job for one person for one year? It costs them $90,000! It would be better if they just cut that up 6 ways and passed it out saying, 'here go have fun for a year.'"
Well Ross Perot was being facetious. He did not really want that to be done. But what he had discovered was something already well known.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan had written about it more than a decade before. "Welfare is the cheapest solution."
So why don't we just go that way? Well, people like to believe in Social Darwinism, they like to delegitimate the poor. And this is all Libertarianism is, Social Darwinism.
And we have welfare, not to provide for the needs of the poor, but to regulate the poor.
https://www.amazon.com/Regulating-Poor-F…
So all of this costs our society money. We could just go to UBI, and where that was not really needed, it is gotten back by taxes. So what is the problem? The money lets the poor participate in our economy, as well as meeting their basic needs. This makes our society better across the board.
So what is the cost of not doing this, of trying to enforce that non-sensical notion of the "Work Ethic"?
Lots of programs people for creating jobs and for welfare to work. Is there any advantage to this, creating jobs for which there is no demand?
Forcing people to submit to a program, just to get their welfare benefit?
How does that benefit anyone?
And then, do we really care about workers? If we did, we would make sure that their retirement and disability and health care benefits are absolutely guaranteed. We would put to rest at once the idea that Social Security could collapse, or be privatized, or that workers need to be saving money for a private retirement.
No, we would protect and honor workers, and they would do jobs which are necessary, not "created" by tax breaks or attacking unions or safety protections.
And while everyone has to pay taxes, as that is what keeps our economy going in an advanced industrial and information era, we would make sure that workers get the value of their labors. Their housing would always be there for them, and be affordable.
We would never let the surplus value be appropriated by the Financializer Class. They would be eligible for UBI or Welfare, but no, they cannot scoop up the fruits of our workers. And they cannot take large sums out of our economy, without paying progressive income and wealth taxes.
But no, we do not honor workers. The "Work Ethic" has always been a scam, just a denigration of social status for those who are not already rich.
You want to know what work is supposed to be, its more like the Buddhist notion of Right Livelihood.
https://www.amazon.com/Chop-Wood-Carry-W…
It's not like what we have, for most people that being what Marx called, "Alienated Labor".
We expend vast resources just to promote and enforce the ideology of the Work Ethic. And there are all kinds of collateral consequences too.
We need to start putting a price on this, as it is huge. It is the difference between the material utopia which we could be enjoying, and the crazy nonsense of anxiety, social stratification, crime, and environmental degradation which we do have. It is the cost of promoting a sham!
SJG
Yes - Yours Is No Disgrace - Live at Beat-Club - 1971 - Remastered
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93y9wfB3…
TJ Street
https://tuscl.net/photo.php?id=3560
https://tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1132
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28 comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mtKNOnS…
SJG
Lincoln Project
https://lincolnproject.us/
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6000 to 8000 people sleeping on the street in Oakland. This does not count those in shelters or insecurely housed.
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/14/o…
SJG
We Can’t Be Silent Anymore: Rev. Barber & Poor People’s Campaign Push Presidential Debate on Poverty
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We have not lived in a society of scarcity for over 100 years. We live in a society of gross surplus.
Productivity increases and enlarging the labor force would only make the problem worse.
And of course poor people need to start standing up for themselves, and that has to sometimes include demonstration of willingness to use deadly force.
SJG
“No one should have to choose between a hot meal and paying their rent,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Yet again, the Trump Administration has failed to offer any legitimate evidence to justify decisions that have real consequences for the health and well-being of our residents.”
https://www.dailydemocrat.com/2020/01/17…
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/01/16/…
SJG
This Xavier Becerra is quite impressiveness. This is why we have elected him to a position of such responsibility.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/16/c…
SJG
We need more like him!
SJG
SJG
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/24/m…
SJG
No, Capitalism came into play when the technology was reaching the point that labor was in surplus. I mean around 1600.
So regulating this, and profiting from this, became the mode for the rising movers and shakers. And it is done with social legitimacy arguments. And this today is exactly how much of the population in a place like the United States is kept poor.
SJG
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SJG
Psychedelic Jazz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=331p9WRn…
Joe Bonamassa Official - "I'll Play The Blues For You"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoX0Olfq…
1. Strong Public Housing Offering, as this is where you would have the greatest demand increase. Say set it at 1/2 of UBI.
2. Medicare for all.
3. Some sort of free college.
Remember, this is just a Basic Income, not an extravagant income.
Do this, and we have a material utopia.
More job and business opportunities too. Just less money to inflate the stock and real estate ponzi schemes.
If their has to be some rationing, don't make it needs based. Make it age based. UBI kicks in say for those over 65, and then each year this age limit drops down by 5 years. So you get the greater of what would have been you Social Security bene, or UBI, but not both.
Keeps a lid on things, avoids Gun Barrel Communism.
We live in a society of extreme surplus. So the only reason we have any poverty is because some people are being continually denigrated, yet they are responding with lethal force, yet.
SJG
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Debate: Does Supporting Trump Work for Working People?
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Republican Senators ask question of Trump Lawyers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgO3STNS…
White House has issued formal threat to John Bolton to keep him from publishing book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbmBQepA…
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIBAYult…
How Dangerous Could John Bolton Possibly Be For President Donald Trump?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lS3Yhl3…
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https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/29/t…
Mehdi Hasan: Trump’s Middle East Plan Is a Policy of Apartheid & Settler Colonialism
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/29/t…
Mehdi Hasan: The Impeachment Trial Has Been a Farce Since Day One Filled with GOP Lies
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/29/j…
Senators Grill Trump’s Lawyers, House Managers in New Phase of Impeachment Trial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZ1M2zi…
John Bolton Bombshell Revelation Upends Trump's Impeachment Defense, Sends His Legal Team Scrambling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6atvMOjp…
LIVE House GOP talk Trump Impeachment & meltdown over John Bolton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14N0UYCO…
Psychedelic Jazz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=331p9WRn…
Joe Bonamassa Official - "I'll Play The Blues For You"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoX0Olfq…
Frampton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0wVJE3V…
Like two bits!!
You still have never described gun barrel communism, just more meta narrative. Wrong!
Right now they allow themselves to be subjected to shaming.
SJG
SJG
SJG
https://www.amazon.com/Enforcing-Work-Et…
SJG
Geroge Seldes writing about Mussolini
"There is no program, no policy, no ideology and certainly no philosophy back of Fascism, as there is back of almost every other form of government. It is nothing but a spoils system."
http://thirdworldtraveler.com/George_Sel…
That there could come to be 2 new parties, seems likely to me.
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Democrats' bid for witnesses in impeachment trial is defeated, 1 hour ago
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Trump's impeachable crimes and the Republican Party's sham trial will be the number 1 issue for this election.
Trump has done nothing good for this country. And he never will. Just as George Seldes said of Mussolini's economics, its just a spoils system.
After Brexit Day, Britain still has to work out its future relationship with the E.U.
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Hard to push that wagon when it is loaded up with fat financial speculators leeching off of workers.
SJG
Trump! Trump! Trump! Let the re-election process start by handing out acquittal pens. Lmfao!
SJG
Promote. You are the problem which is why you hate Trump so much. Start
Passing out those acquittal pens! Lmfao!!
You produce nothing of any value or worth.
I wouldn't deny you UBI. But I would MAKE YOU STFU!
SJG