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This seems like it might have some unintended consequences. First off, it doesn't help people like students who both need to pay rent and also need time to stu

This seems like it might have some unintended consequences. First off, it doesn't help people like students who both need to pay rent and also need time to study. Secondly, if the only jobs available to a large segment of the population are low paying jobs in the employ of the federal government, which they don't have any realistic way to opt out of, it starts looking like a form of forced labor like many prisoners are subjected to now.

randyrand 9y ago
> it doesn't help people like students who both need to pay rent and also need time to study What's the issue? You'd work, save money for awhile, then enroll in some school after a few years. Your forced labor argument makes little sense to me. Particularly this argument: "which they don't have any realistic way to opt out of." Why not? You still have free time with a basic-employment job. Learn a skill in your free-time, and then get a job in that skill.
- fallingfrog 9y ago
  >Learn a skill in your free-time, and then get a job in that skill. The real world doesn't work like this - most jobs above entry level require a college degree or some kind of professional certification. If you have kids to feed and rent to pay, that's a hard row to hoe. I know it's possible to somehow get a job based on self-reported self-training but that's rare. If it was that easy why do you suppose there are so many people that are working as dishwashers and cashiers? Maybe you just think they're lazy and stupid?
Hasz 9y ago
Students have a number of opportunities available to them in both academic and private settings, so I doubt a significant amount of them would opt into a program like this. Another comment suggested AmeriCorps, which seems to be aimed at students. As for the second point, I would argue such a situation already exists in the private space. If Walmart is the only employer in your area, and you can't live on SS/Disability/Pension alone, you've got a similar situation -- work for a low wage or go hungry ad infinitum. A public works program with a mandate to improve both the worker and the public good presents a more attractive alternative to a private corporation with little care for the individual worker. Prisons, at least the one's I've visited, have no such mandate to improve prisoners, thus the forced labor.
- fallingfrog 9y ago
  I admit you're right in the sense that it wouldn't be necessarily worse than the situation now. I just don't think it would be a whole lot better.

randyrand 9y ago

> it doesn't help people like students who both need to pay rent and also need time to study What's the issue? You'd work, save money for awhile, then enroll in some school after a few years. Your forced labor argument makes little sense to me. Particularly this argument: "which they don't have any realistic way to opt out of." Why not? You still have free time with a basic-employment job. Learn a skill in your free-time, and then get a job in that skill.

fallingfrog 9y ago
>Learn a skill in your free-time, and then get a job in that skill. The real world doesn't work like this - most jobs above entry level require a college degree or some kind of professional certification. If you have kids to feed and rent to pay, that's a hard row to hoe. I know it's possible to somehow get a job based on self-reported self-training but that's rare. If it was that easy why do you suppose there are so many people that are working as dishwashers and cashiers? Maybe you just think they're lazy and stupid?

Hasz 9y ago

Students have a number of opportunities available to them in both academic and private settings, so I doubt a significant amount of them would opt into a program like this. Another comment suggested AmeriCorps, which seems to be aimed at students. As for the second point, I would argue such a situation already exists in the private space. If Walmart is the only employer in your area, and you can't live on SS/Disability/Pension alone, you've got a similar situation -- work for a low wage or go hungry ad infinitum. A public works program with a mandate to improve both the worker and the public good presents a more attractive alternative to a private corporation with little care for the individual worker. Prisons, at least the one's I've visited, have no such mandate to improve prisoners, thus the forced labor.

fallingfrog 9y ago
I admit you're right in the sense that it wouldn't be necessarily worse than the situation now. I just don't think it would be a whole lot better.