3 ms·
Very much this. As our supposed standard of living rises, we blithely add in all sorts of costs we could never imagine living without. That's where you get the
by rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
Very much this. As our supposed standard of living rises, we blithely add in all sorts of costs we could never imagine living without.
That's where you get the joke: "how many people does it take to dig a hole?"
"One person to dig a hole. One person to make sure they are working under union regulations. Another person to make sure they are compliant with environmental regulations. Another person to handle payroll." And so on.
- Godel_unicode 10y agoI realize it's a joke, but it's also kind of not. We have environmental standards because otherwise businesses would not care about spillover costs. We take care of workers rights because the market is pretty one-sided in most professions. We have professional accountants to prevent embezzlement and make taxation possible. And so on.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agospecific to digging holes - there are strict safety rules about who can go into things like confined spaces, and holes may be close enough to qualify. This may seem "unioney" but it is decidedly not. If it's "make a pencil"[1] rather than "dig a hole", then the number seems to go up quite a bit. [1] reference to "I, Pencil"