Unpopular opinion: macroeconomically, “need” is tricky as a bar for purchase decisions.
In our pretty-efficient and specialized system people make way more stuff than is needed, and often stuff that isn’t “needed” in exchange for their salary which goes to food, shelter, etc.
Without consumer demand for their specialized labor, they can’t afford necessities in the current system.
If you pare down the economy to things that are truly Needed, then so much of our work and livelihood is on the chopping block. I don’t think we should all go to being isolated subsistence farmers - rather we need to establish a baseline of support so that everyone’s real needs are met and if folks want to labor in exchange for advertised luxuries, they can
There are SO MANY supposedly “menial” jobs I would love to do, if they were part time, or temporary, and I had some guarantee that my needs would be met throughout. In other words, under current circumstances, if there were no concerns about future employability and the chasm of “quality of life” such behavior now guarantees crossing.
I’m a curious person and I also deeply enjoy physical labor of almost any kind (when it isn’t constant, wildly underpaid, and thus soul crushing). I’ve also been around long enough to discover I am not very unique lol, I am certain there’s a sizable bunch of folks who would actually just enjoy spending their time in all kinds of supposedly shitty ways, if things simply didn’t feel so goddamn permanently “existential personal risk”. We’re doing all of this (gestures broadly) so, so stupidly.
[Edit: instead, I presently write software, like a fucking asshole. At least I never write anything I can’t feel proud of, and in exchange for that (substantial!) privilege I also get to enjoy a continuously narrowing field of places I can go and work and still respect myself. Lovely stuff.]
Unpopular opinion: macroeconomically, “need” is tricky as a bar for purchase decisions. In our pretty-efficient and specialized system people make way more stuff than is needed, and often stuff that isn’t “needed” in exchange for their salary which goes to food, shelter, etc. Without consumer demand for their specialized labor, they can’t afford necessities in the current system.
If you pare down the economy to things that are truly Needed, then so much of our work and livelihood is on the chopping block. I don’t think we should all go to being isolated subsistence farmers - rather we need to establish a baseline of support so that everyone’s real needs are met and if folks want to labor in exchange for advertised luxuries, they can
So what you’re saying is everyone could do short work rotations and spend the majority of their time just living life.
Hell I’d do a month in a coal mine if I got the rest of the year off
There are SO MANY supposedly “menial” jobs I would love to do, if they were part time, or temporary, and I had some guarantee that my needs would be met throughout. In other words, under current circumstances, if there were no concerns about future employability and the chasm of “quality of life” such behavior now guarantees crossing.
I’m a curious person and I also deeply enjoy physical labor of almost any kind (when it isn’t constant, wildly underpaid, and thus soul crushing). I’ve also been around long enough to discover I am not very unique lol, I am certain there’s a sizable bunch of folks who would actually just enjoy spending their time in all kinds of supposedly shitty ways, if things simply didn’t feel so goddamn permanently “existential personal risk”. We’re doing all of this (gestures broadly) so, so stupidly.
[Edit: instead, I presently write software, like a fucking asshole. At least I never write anything I can’t feel proud of, and in exchange for that (substantial!) privilege I also get to enjoy a continuously narrowing field of places I can go and work and still respect myself. Lovely stuff.]