A quote from another page ("are you trying to say that being a drain on society is okay as long as you're happy ? screw everyone else who is working ??") made me realize that right-wingers are often like communists in that they want everyone to WORK the same, regardless of needs, abilities and job availability. It got me thinking...
Why force someone like me (mechanical engineer who speaks five languages) to compete with a lesser qualified person with five kids to support? If some people think being rich is important, then let them work their balls off and die of a heart attack by the time they’re forty, if that’s what thay want. I am quite prepared to be poor and sit on the beach all day chatting up female touirsts and playing guitar and volleyball- all for the mere sum of $125 a week from the taxman. And that’s exactly what I do. There are only a certain amount of jobs to go round, so why not pay folk like me a small sum so as not to compete?-- git, Jun 13 2003 "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" http://www.smithson...s98/aug98/hobo.html [snarfyguy, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Actually - it's left-wingers who will do anything for a buck.-- thumbwax, Jun 13 2003 Rantrantrant-- squeak, Jun 13 2003 Boil this down... you're saying 'pay qualified people not to take jobs so that lesser-qualified others can take them'? Why on earth would anyone do that?-- waugsqueke, Jun 13 2003 Your text beginning with "If some people think..." and ending with "...playing guitar and volleyball" sounds pretty much like the "right wing" manifesto with which I'm familiar. The part about "from the taxman" would be a problem, though, even with people of a more sinister mindset. Why don't you get the $125 a week from the "lesser qualified person with five kids to support" who gets the job you've so thoughtfully left open for him/her?-- beauxeault, Jun 13 2003 This will work well until you fall over playing vollyball, break something and have to rely on one of the less qualified to set your broken limb.-- oneoffdave, Jun 13 2003 Also, I'm beginning to touch on a subject on which I'm somewhat less than an authority, but I think it's either been proven or at least is widely accepted among economists that "There are only a certain amount of jobs to go round" is a false statement. I believe it's true, though admittedly paradoxical, that increased productivity actually creates more jobs (or at least more job opportunity) rather than less.-- beauxeault, Jun 13 2003 The US goverment has farm subsidies that pay farmers NOT to produce certain crops, in order to prevent a glut that would drive down prices. This is a similar program but for non farmers.
But as beauxeault pointed out above, is a "glut" of availability of a certain type of worker really a problem that affects people in that industry as negatively as a glut of a given product? And if not, why have this program?-- krelnik, Jun 13 2003 True that jobs can also be created (I myself was self-employed for 2 years), but why bother if you don't have to? To tell the truth, I DO work a few months a year, just to keep my social security payments up. (PS /beauxeault, that's the idea, though I must admit there can only be a limited number of loafers like me ;.)) PPS- why can't I see all the quotes on this page? PPPS- must go, I'm off to the beach.....-- git, Jun 13 2003 If you're sitting on the beach all day, doing that stuff, why should you be paid at all? Because otherwise you would threaten to take a job that someone else wants, and that person would then be unemployed? If there are "only a certain amount of jobs to go round", why not have a buyers' (= employers') market; those who want to work, and are able to do so to a sufficient standard, get the jobs (and the associated money), while the idle get to stay idle (with no money, particularly not my tax money).-- angel, Jun 13 2003 This is baked. Guaranteed minimum income is the rule in some european countries. Ideally, it allows those with non-commercial ambitions (artists, philosophers, etc.) a way to pursue their passions without worrying where their next meal is coming from. It may also allow for a lot of paid beach bums, but I am not prepared to analyze this without hard data...-- dbsousa, Jun 13 2003 [TomBomb]: There are always going to be people who are what I suspect you call "a drain on socity." But someone bragging about being a bum doesn't really make the problem any worse, does it?
What do you care if someone wants to hang out on the beach all day flirting with tourists? The world needs people who do this. So what if we spent money educating him? It's his right to get an education, and his right to decide what to do with himself.
Extorting society by threatening to get a job is quite amusingly ridiculous, [git]. Are you my friend Bert?-- snarfyguy, Jun 13 2003 Jobs are not finite commodities, but relationships of increasing numbers. As per my thing on banks, you are leaching off the system, but so are the fat cats. If you worked at $5/hr, you could make $125 at 25 hours a week--3.125 days.
Now you go to the beach with pride, take a lady or two out, avoid case-worker BS, possibly grow in the job, maybe a little gold-bricking, etc.-- Great Satan, Jun 13 2003 [TB]: How does bragging about being a bum make it acceptable?-- snarfyguy, Jun 13 2003 Leave [git] alone, it's the government who needs a kick for letting him get away with his paid vacation. There is always enough work around that should be done, but isn't done because nobody is willing to pay minimum wage for it. Since [git] is paid anyway he could be drafted for a job that is only worth $1/hour like planting trees for erosion control or sorting trash to increase the amount of recycled plastic.-- kbecker, Jun 13 2003 I really can't see why some are getting so mad (and unnecessarily rude)-I can only presume it's jealousy. I'm not asking you to stop working if you like it so much. PS- /snarf/, nope, I'm not Bert, but I do seem to be your friend ;.). /kbecker/- You're quite right, but I am actually advocating not working at all...-- git, Jun 14 2003 Re: last sentence: Well, I'm all for that.-- thumbwax, Jun 14 2003 [git] You want my money, you better do something for it ... unless you are the IRS.-- kbecker, Jun 15 2003 What about folks in countries like Zambia with no safety net? The cities of Southern Africa are full of people with advanced degrees with no jobs. Job creation seems to be the answer. Done in-country, by visionary local leaders. I'm trying to learn how to do this myself, first by creating my own job training Ph.D. students in job creation before they return home to Zambia, Congo, wherever. It's not easy.-- hyphenator, Nov 07 2003 random, halfbakery