Are you familiar with the concept of Bullshit Jobs? In short, I'm not convinced that all or even most jobs are actually necessary.
Surely it's reasonable to expect that people will be passionate about the things that actually need to be done, precisely because they are necessary. One of the most intense people I've ever met has cleaned SUPERFUND sites for decades. I'm not sure how well paid they are, but I am sure it isn't about the money. If they have trouble attracting people, they'll raise wages, and surely we can expect that what some people enjoy is making lots of money. Would it be so bad if working a shitty job no one would do voluntarily was well compensated, instead of poorly?
In experiments with UBI, many of the people who quit do so to spend more time with their family - and keep in mind, domestic work is _work_ that is _necessary_ and incredibly valuable to society - or to retire earlier. Doesn't that sound reasonable? Do we really need to force people to work when they could be engaged in other activities valuable to society or to themselves? Wouldn't it be nice if there was more room for young people to be promoted?
Another thing idea I've been toying with is the devil's bargain of trading UBI for eliminating minimum wage. I was watching a video about getting into locksmithing, and the speaker joked that if you made some faux pas, your potential employer would value you at $2/hr and send you packing.
But that begged the question for me; what if I could work for $2/hr, with very few barriers, and get enough experience to earn more? In order to be hireable, I'd have to work at a negative rate, investing money in tools and locks to practice on. I have the privilege of having a family that could support me while I did something like that. But what if we could all do that, not because you won a socioeconomic lottery, but because our society was willing to invest in you and take a chance on you, regardless of your background?
Surely it's reasonable to expect that people will be passionate about the things that actually need to be done, precisely because they are necessary. One of the most intense people I've ever met has cleaned SUPERFUND sites for decades. I'm not sure how well paid they are, but I am sure it isn't about the money. If they have trouble attracting people, they'll raise wages, and surely we can expect that what some people enjoy is making lots of money. Would it be so bad if working a shitty job no one would do voluntarily was well compensated, instead of poorly?
In experiments with UBI, many of the people who quit do so to spend more time with their family - and keep in mind, domestic work is _work_ that is _necessary_ and incredibly valuable to society - or to retire earlier. Doesn't that sound reasonable? Do we really need to force people to work when they could be engaged in other activities valuable to society or to themselves? Wouldn't it be nice if there was more room for young people to be promoted?
Another thing idea I've been toying with is the devil's bargain of trading UBI for eliminating minimum wage. I was watching a video about getting into locksmithing, and the speaker joked that if you made some faux pas, your potential employer would value you at $2/hr and send you packing.
But that begged the question for me; what if I could work for $2/hr, with very few barriers, and get enough experience to earn more? In order to be hireable, I'd have to work at a negative rate, investing money in tools and locks to practice on. I have the privilege of having a family that could support me while I did something like that. But what if we could all do that, not because you won a socioeconomic lottery, but because our society was willing to invest in you and take a chance on you, regardless of your background?