4 ms·

This is the worst idea not proposed in jest that I have ever read. Uber and the "gig economy" are the death throes of an economy that is suffocating itself wit

This is the worst idea not proposed in jest that I have ever read. Uber and the "gig economy" are the death throes of an economy that is suffocating itself with rotten ideas about globalism ("We can all be rich if we stop making things and have other people do it for us!") hatched by corporate economists... Suggesting that we should all do each others' laundry more is just a brutal exacerbation of the underlying problem no one wants to confront. We need farms, factories and things so that the work of everyone can participate in creating actual value and system can create more value for the people working again.

yummyfajitas 11y ago
We never stopped making things. We have farms and factories and they produce more than ever before. https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/INDPRO https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/INDPRO https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/IPMAN https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/IPMAN http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/agriculture/2012/productivity.gif http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/agriculture/2012/productiv... No one is suggesting we all do each other's laundry. Instead, the article is suggesting that people currently producing nothing will do laundry for people who actually are producing things.
- pjc50 11y ago
  suggesting that people currently producing nothing will do laundry for people who actually are producing things This is called a "job". If we could find a job for everyone, we wouldn't be talking about unemployment. Unemployment is when people are not able to find a job.
  - yummyfajitas 11y ago
    The article is proposing a mechanism that would find a job for more people, reducing unemployment. It also proposes that if a person claims to be unemployed, but actually just refuses to take work, that their welfare payments should be stopped. But surely you aren't discussing those people, right?
    - pjc50 11y ago
      The article talks about work requirements, but does not specify a minimum wage or minimum effective wage. Is someone who is signed up for one of these task apps but only given one hour work a week "working"? The process of determining 'refusing' to take work is surprisingly fraught as well. But again the question arises: if you cut off the money that someone is using to eat, what happens to them? They do not magically find a job that pays enough to eat.
brbsix 11y ago
Very few people in the U.S. see the value (and necessity) of production. Classical economics is dead and in it's place people seem to think wealth can be created through consumption. It is absolute madness. Unfortunately government benefits from this mass delusion and is happy to oblige it. This isn't going to end well.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> This is the worst idea not proposed in jest that I have ever read. Well, I can think of worse ideas not proposed in jest (some of which have been implemented), such as the Bush tax cuts. Of course, many of those worse ideas come from the same general (or, in the specific case of the Bush tax cuts, in part the same specific) place. [0] [0] Cesar Conda being one of the two authors of this piece https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Conda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Conda

yummyfajitas 11y ago

We never stopped making things. We have farms and factories and they produce more than ever before. https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/INDPRO https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/INDPRO https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/IPMAN https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/IPMAN http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/agriculture/2012/productivity.gif http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/agriculture/2012/productiv... No one is suggesting we all do each other's laundry. Instead, the article is suggesting that people currently producing nothing will do laundry for people who actually are producing things.

pjc50 11y ago
suggesting that people currently producing nothing will do laundry for people who actually are producing things This is called a "job". If we could find a job for everyone, we wouldn't be talking about unemployment. Unemployment is when people are not able to find a job.
- yummyfajitas 11y ago
  The article is proposing a mechanism that would find a job for more people, reducing unemployment. It also proposes that if a person claims to be unemployed, but actually just refuses to take work, that their welfare payments should be stopped. But surely you aren't discussing those people, right?
  - pjc50 11y ago
    The article talks about work requirements, but does not specify a minimum wage or minimum effective wage. Is someone who is signed up for one of these task apps but only given one hour work a week "working"? The process of determining 'refusing' to take work is surprisingly fraught as well. But again the question arises: if you cut off the money that someone is using to eat, what happens to them? They do not magically find a job that pays enough to eat.

brbsix 11y ago

Very few people in the U.S. see the value (and necessity) of production. Classical economics is dead and in it's place people seem to think wealth can be created through consumption. It is absolute madness. Unfortunately government benefits from this mass delusion and is happy to oblige it. This isn't going to end well.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> This is the worst idea not proposed in jest that I have ever read. Well, I can think of worse ideas not proposed in jest (some of which have been implemented), such as the Bush tax cuts. Of course, many of those worse ideas come from the same general (or, in the specific case of the Bush tax cuts, in part the same specific) place. [0] [0] Cesar Conda being one of the two authors of this piece https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Conda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Conda