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> The 40h a day week and modern-day work contracts come as a direct evolution of medieval servitude, with little modification. Well, in Europe it is more the e

by HSO 7y ago

> The 40h a day week and modern-day work contracts come as a direct evolution of medieval servitude, with little modification. Well, in Europe it is more the estate system and urban manufactures, I think, that have influenced the culture of work. In the US, you have something much worse even. I found this recent article eye-opening for me: [1] M. Desmond. In order to understand the brutality of american capitalism, you have to start on the plantation. New York Times Magazine, Aug 18 2019. web: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slav... > a desperate need for people to continuously prove the need for their own role, as automation and informatization eat away more an more jobs. While I agree with this (go @AndrewYang! ;), I don't think it is the only (or even the biggest) factor. It is the long shadow of WWII and the resulting demographic imbalance coupled with a self-serving but fundamentally wrong narrative around "economic growth". This has led to what some have called "the big institutional lie" where throughout society you have institutions that rely on promises of advancement or necessity to lure the fresh blood but that can not keep these promises to all of them. It's basically a pyramid scheme. Peter Turchin pointed to this as a contributing factor to polarization as the educated "elite" of such countries/societies must increasingly fight among itself for the increasingly rare places or resources (relatively speaking). → revolutionary potential

lotsofpulp 7y ago
>"the big institutional lie” The big lie is all the lavish promises people made to their future selves. Expensive medical treatments (Medicare), retirement funds (social security/pension payments), expensive infrastructure (constant access to clean water/electricity/gas/sewage/etc). Maybe the biggest lie is pretending to be able to predict the future. All those aforementioned promises require future resources, population, growth, technological advances, all of which are just guesses as to what will be available in the future.
- lostjohnny 7y ago
  > Expensive medical treatments Again. Universal healthcare solved that in Europe. It is expensive, but it's a shared cost that benefits everybody. > Maybe the biggest lie is pretending to be able to predict the future Maybe, but back then they didn't have the means to care for more than a few days at a time, to think about the future. If they could have done it, they would have done it.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    I guess my comment was specific to the US, but pay in the medical field is vastly lower in Europe than in the US. Regardless, Europe is still subject to the biggest factor, which are demographic changes and they will have an impact on the availability of future benefits. I would say these past 20 years and maybe next 10 will have been the peak, and then there will be visible cuts in services or quality of services due to lack of people (and/or taxes) to service the debt.
  - Pungsnigel 7y ago
    It's not by any means solved in Europe. // Swede
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
      Compared to the system in the US it is. How did one researcher put it? "Every healthcare system has its flaws, but the US somehow manages to have all of them."
    - elindbe2 7y ago
      Compared to the US it is. Obviously there are going to be ongoing problems in any large undertaking, but Sweden pays half the cost for healthcare per capita. A 50% discount for equal quality care. Americans like myself are getting absolutely screwed in terms of the cost of healthcare.
    - lostjohnny 7y ago
      Well, you're right! It's not entirely solved yet, we still have to die sometimes...
  - ernst_klim 7y ago
    > Universal healthcare solved that in Europe. As a person which lives in Russia and Germany, I'm really interested in what you mean by solved? Universal healthcare in Russia is a total mess. Universal healthcare (edit: in Germany) have a lot of problems too, of which the most significant is underpayment, low salaries, and such a lack of personnel, that CDU people did really suggest to use conscription to draw the free workforce. The very flaw of positive rights is that you can't guarantee them, since they cost money. If you have no money, your positive rights end there. Yet people still believe that one could guarantee such rights.

by HSO 7y ago

lotsofpulp 7y ago

>"the big institutional lie” The big lie is all the lavish promises people made to their future selves. Expensive medical treatments (Medicare), retirement funds (social security/pension payments), expensive infrastructure (constant access to clean water/electricity/gas/sewage/etc). Maybe the biggest lie is pretending to be able to predict the future. All those aforementioned promises require future resources, population, growth, technological advances, all of which are just guesses as to what will be available in the future.

lostjohnny 7y ago
> Expensive medical treatments Again. Universal healthcare solved that in Europe. It is expensive, but it's a shared cost that benefits everybody. > Maybe the biggest lie is pretending to be able to predict the future Maybe, but back then they didn't have the means to care for more than a few days at a time, to think about the future. If they could have done it, they would have done it.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  I guess my comment was specific to the US, but pay in the medical field is vastly lower in Europe than in the US. Regardless, Europe is still subject to the biggest factor, which are demographic changes and they will have an impact on the availability of future benefits. I would say these past 20 years and maybe next 10 will have been the peak, and then there will be visible cuts in services or quality of services due to lack of people (and/or taxes) to service the debt.
- Pungsnigel 7y ago
  It's not by any means solved in Europe. // Swede
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    Compared to the system in the US it is. How did one researcher put it? "Every healthcare system has its flaws, but the US somehow manages to have all of them."
  - elindbe2 7y ago
    Compared to the US it is. Obviously there are going to be ongoing problems in any large undertaking, but Sweden pays half the cost for healthcare per capita. A 50% discount for equal quality care. Americans like myself are getting absolutely screwed in terms of the cost of healthcare.
  - lostjohnny 7y ago
    Well, you're right! It's not entirely solved yet, we still have to die sometimes...
- ernst_klim 7y ago
  > Universal healthcare solved that in Europe. As a person which lives in Russia and Germany, I'm really interested in what you mean by solved? Universal healthcare in Russia is a total mess. Universal healthcare (edit: in Germany) have a lot of problems too, of which the most significant is underpayment, low salaries, and such a lack of personnel, that CDU people did really suggest to use conscription to draw the free workforce. The very flaw of positive rights is that you can't guarantee them, since they cost money. If you have no money, your positive rights end there. Yet people still believe that one could guarantee such rights.