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Even coming from a place of no empathy for displaced workers lives, if we hang these people out to dry we will pay the price down the line. If america had inve
by kennywinker 7y ago
Even coming from a place of no empathy for displaced workers lives, if we hang these people out to dry we will pay the price down the line.
If america had invested in a social safety net for the past 30-40 years, we might be in a different place. People would be ok with change because they'd know that society was going to have their back while they find a new career.
- craftyguy 7y ago> if we hang these people out to dry we will pay the price down the line. If we continue promoting industries that cause the global climate to worsen more rapidly, we're going to pay a MUCH bigger price down the line. Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative.
- kennywinker 7y ago> Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative. The options are not fire them or keep screwing the planet. There's a third option: fire them but don't HANG THEM OUT TO DRY. Provide a social safety net - retraining, early retirement, health care, etc. This is the whole idea behind the "green new deal"... catch the people who would otherwise be ground up by the transition away from fossil fuels.
- bdamm 7y agoIt isn’t like governments haven’t been trying. Certain groups prefer “job creation” over “government programs” and then get angry when their industry collapses. America has an education problem, and we need more people taking microeconomics in high school.
- mikestew 7y agoWe could have a social safety net, but if the reporting and polls are to be believed, many of those in these collapsing industries have tended to vote for those trying really hard to dismantle what social safety nets we have. Let alone implement new ones. I imagine that is because candidates promised to save their jobs. But no one thought to ask, “what happens if they don’t?”
- kennywinker 7y agoSo do we get mad at the people who believed the lies and got swindled, or the people who told the lies and got rich?
- chillacy 7y ago> Taking jobs from folks who work in such an industry is a price worth paying, considering the alternative. I don't think that's worked out very well so far. America is polarized on economic lines, and as long as some people's interests are unaligned with the environment / global needs, then this will continue. The way you actually remove these jobs for good is to change the incentives for these workers so that they benefit from the new order. This is why I think elements of the Green New Deal are a good idea: because it says that these folks have an even better future with green jobs than the present.
- electriclove 7y agoLet's not hang them out to dry. But let's make the changes needed so we aren't hiring more 20 year olds into that skillset and perpetuating this endlessly.
- refurb 7y agoI don’t understand the comment “if American had invested in a social safety net”. Half of govt expenditures are for the social safety net. Would be more accurate to say “if America had expanded the social safety net”.
- paxys 7y agoAnd benefits of the social safety net overwhelmingly go to people who complain about its existence.
- kennywinker 7y agoI suppose so. I don't know how much the US spends, or how that compares to other countries, but I do know that from where I'm standing (Canada) it sure does not look like much of a safety net. e.g. gap in employment + health crisis = homeless? yikes!
- insulanus 7y ago"if American had invested in an effective social safety net”