Why are we creating less jobs for people and not more? Universal Basic Income?

[Sparagmos]

Most people in their free time don't knit or crochet or read a book or pray, they go out partying and socializing watching porn and going on dating apps.

This is such an odd take. That is not how most people I know spend their free time. And most people have kids or other family obligations. People over 30 generally don’t want to be hungover/sleep all day. If anything , working long hours drives ppl to the mindless and wasteful pursuits. When I work 60 hour weeks, on my one day off I just want to watch TV and veg out. On vacation I’m super active.

 

[partinobodycular]

I gave you links to the information.

And what link would that be?

 

[Sparagmos]

So your rationale against UBI is the same as the south's rationale as to why they needed to enslave black people, because black people are so uncivilized that they couldn't possibly be allowed to just run free. Just think of the debauchery they'd revert to.

But then again the church doesn't condone people thinking for themselves either, so your position is no surprise.

Wow, you nailed it.

 

[RDKirk]

And what link would that be?

The links in this post.

 

[partinobodycular]

The links in this post.

Thanks

But it's actually this bit that I'm having a problem with:

Wage-slavery is baked into the bones of the USA.

Characterizing mercantilism as wage-slavery is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

Ten Facts About the Early American Economy

 

[Pommer]

. How does having more free time mean more evil deeds? If people aren’t stressed about work or money, we’d see less crime considering the high correlation between poverty and crime.

That’s exactly what a UBI is intended to do. Allow people to work less.

I think you misunderstood the intent snd structure of an UBI. Everyone would absolutely not be sitting around not working. UBI isn’t supposed to support people completely. It’s intended to be supplemental or just provide a bare bones existence that most people wouldn’t find to be “enough."

. I don’t think God created us to do meaningless work just so that a few people can get rich. That’s what many if not most people do. It’s good to move, to build and create, to care for others, to innovate and steward the land. Most jobs don’t resemble that, or the division of labor alienates people from the benefit of their work.

In the future, 50-60 years, only the very very rich and the very very poor will have “jobs”; same goes for ICE automobiles.

 

[Pommer]

Characterizing mercantilism as wage-slavery is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

Fair enough.
How about the slavery-slavery, would THAT count as wage-slavery?

 

[RDKirk]

Thanks

But it's actually this bit that I'm having a problem with:



Characterizing mercantilism as wage-slavery is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

Ten Facts About the Early American Economy

It should be obvious that if colonial charters were granted as investments, the investors expected dividends.

Here is a quite extensive article about the economics of the colonies prior to the more general taxation by the Crown that began in the mid 1700s.

Lord Baltimore offered a contract to each free married man who paid £20 for his transportation to Maryland that provided 100 acres of land, with extra allotments for his wife, adult indentured servants (hereafter servants), and children. Any individual who brought five more persons to Maryland received an additional 1,000-2,000 acres. The proprietors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Carolina offered similar terms. William Penn offered 200 acres to any settler able to pay an immediate quitrent, with 50 additional acres for every servant he brought over, but the recipient was required to improve his land within three years or have it recovered by the proprietor. Undeveloped land generates no income.

This policy worked well for Lord Baltimore. By the end of the seventeenth century, his subjects numbered 30,000. The plantations along the lower Potomac and Chesapeake Bay were producing 50 thousand hogsheads of tobacco a year (a hogshead is 63 imperial gallons), worth some £100,000 at then market prices. The proprietor collected £12,000 from his tax on tobacco, port fees, quitrents of 2 shillings per hundred acres of land, and fees for preparation of legal documents. After paying his officials and other expenses, he netted £5,000, a huge sum for that time.

The Colonial Roots of American Taxation, 1607-1700 | Hoover Institution The Colonial Roots of American Taxation, 1607-1700

 

[Sparagmos]

In the future, 50-60 years, only the very very rich and the very very poor will have “jobs”; same goes for ICE automobiles.

I’d say that depends a lot on which direction we choose to go

 

[Nithavela]

I’d say that depends a lot on which direction we choose to go

I agree with pommer, only because I think that in 50 to 60 years, there will only be the very very rich and the very very poor. And of course the very very poor will be the vast majority.

 

[Hvizsgyak]

Multitasking is of the Devil

I'm not sure if you are joking or not but in a way I agree with you. Here's how: I'm a linear guy (meaning I usually can (and most preferably want) only do one task at a time) and do tasks better this way. Unfortunately, the corporate world wants multitaskers, multitaskers, multitaskers. I am not alone in my linear life, there are many, many others. Are we bad because we prefer to work that way? Many supervisors/managers think so, hence not to man people hire us. Automation is replacing many low paying jobs, putting people out of work and being unable to pay there bills.

 

[comana]

I'm not sure if you are joking or not but in a way I agree with you. Here's how: I'm a linear guy (meaning I usually can (and most preferably want) only do one task at a time) and do tasks better this way. Unfortunately, the corporate world wants multitaskers, multitaskers, multitaskers. I am not alone in my linear life, there are many, many others. Are we bad because we prefer to work that way? Many supervisors/managers think so, hence not to man people hire us. Automation is replacing many low paying jobs, putting people out of work and being unable to pay there bills.

The corporate world has fixated on certain personality types as ideal to their own detriment.

 

[Hvizsgyak]

I checked out this person's You Tube account. She's in Iceland...

Is that a good thing or bad thing?

 

[Hvizsgyak]

Did you ever think that maybe we’re a capitalist society because we’ve been a capitalist society for too long? Or just “too long to change anything now”?

Maybe capitalism isn’t “God’s way” and we’re holding ourselves back from some economic system that might be, I dunno, better, in regards to the ones at the very bottom of the economy?

I think we are a capitalistic society because too many Americans are satisfied with the status quo. Those who are "making it" in society have the attitude "it's not broke so why fix it". They look down on those who aren't "making it" as it being their own fault. And that is very untrue.

I have offered a different economic system that would work for every one. I am not an economist so I sure the system would need so dire tweaking but if I can come up with a common sense solution just think what real economists could do. I would look at this step as "the Continental Congress of the Economy".

 

[RDKirk]

I think we are a capitalistic society because too many Americans are satisfied with the status quo. Those who are "making it" in society have the attitude "it's not broke so why fix it". They look down on those who aren't "making it" as it being their own fault. And that is very untrue.

I have offered a different economic system that would work for every one. I am not an economist so I sure the system would need so dire tweaking but if I can come up with a common sense solution just think what real economists could do. I would look at this step as "the Continental Congress of the Economy".

Plus, their concept of "making it" is at a very low bar.

The greatest number of Americans are making $33K or less in individual annual income...but they think they are "making it."

 

[Hvizsgyak]

My daughter reminded me that every US colony was set up as a for-profit enterprise. Wage-slavery is baked into the bones of the USA. Making profit for investors is the American base code.

If that is really true (and I have no reason to doubt it) then I am shocked that our founding fathers (many of whom were some type of Christian or another) would think that way.

 

[RDKirk]

If that is really true (and I have no reason to doubt it) then I am shocked that our founding fathers (many of whom were some type of Christian or another) would think that way.

Up until the mid 1700s, the colonies were mostly paying back investors. The taxes were on the investors' returns. In the 1760s, the king began charging direct taxes to the colonists, and that is what got the Founding Fathers riled.

 

[Arcangl86]

This is such an odd take. That is not how most people I know spend their free time. And most people have kids or other family obligations. People over 30 generally don’t want to be hungover/sleep all day. If anything , working long hours drives ppl to the mindless and wasteful pursuits. When I work 60 hour weeks, on my one day off I just want to watch TV and veg out. On vacation I’m super active.

I also love how socializing and going on dating apps is put in the same category as watching porn.

 

[rjs330]

Did you ever think that maybe we’re a capitalist society because we’ve been a capitalist society for too long? Or just “too long to change anything now”?

Maybe capitalism isn’t “God’s way” and we’re holding ourselves back from some economic system that might be, I dunno, better, in regards to the ones at the very bottom of the economy?

No because the society we have had provided for the best economies and opportunities for everyone. There is no better economic system and never has been anywhere in the world.

What economic system has there been that has proven better?

 

[rjs330]

One of the benefits of living an aesthetic lifestyle is that fasting is often a part of that, even in the Christian tradition there is a call for fasting.
The main reason for this is that with fasting, one is able to strip away some comfort of simply doing the same things, every day that keep us alive but also deaden us to what we allow ourselves to become.
If, God forbid, you’ve* ever had a time in your life when there simply wasn’t enough food in your* belly for days-on-end, then you’ll* know exactly what your* morals are and how precarious they can be.

*generic, not calling anyone out

The thing is people are not committing crime because there is no food for their bellies. Poor people in America have a higher rate of obesity. They are not starving.

The people who commit crimes have poor character. And poor character is not caused by poverty. We don't live in wnci my times where people stole food and clothes cause no one cares. We also don't live in 3rd world countries where there is nothing and no jobs.

We live in America in 2022. There are jobs, there is government and non-government assistance. If you are committing crime it's because you have poor character.