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If working a job will prevent financial ruin, then it's a good job. No job has to be permanent.

by k33n 7y ago

bsanr2 7y ago
There's no reason people should have to suffer "busy work" while they're looking for some place to be truly productive, just to assuage the grievances of Puritan work ethic folk. "Any job" doesn't help people find stable work as well as training and a safety net do. SOME jobs provide this, but forcing people into jobs that don't is counterproductive. This is a common misunderstanding people have.
adamsea 7y ago
What if the job has terrible safety conditions and a high injury rate. Is it still good? I’m not arguing that it doesn’t provide some value if it staves off financial ruin, but, the world is composed of more than only “good” and “bad”. If it wasn’t things would be so simple that sites like HN would not exist.
rumanator 7y ago
> If working a job will prevent financial ruin, then it's a good job. No job has to be permanent. That seems to be the definition of an acceptable job. To me a good job is one which you wouldn't mind doing every day for the rest of your life. The occupation needs to actually be desirable in the long run, and a decent paycheck does not fit the bill.
- Consultant32452 7y ago
  I've been noticing things like this and I wish I could come up with a good name for it. It's about noticing how the scale has slid up quite a bit in just a generation or two. The "American Dream" used to be something a 1200 sq ft house in the burbs with a white picket fence in a clean/safe neighborhood. Just a couple generations ago that was the dream that most Americans worked towards. Now when people talk about the American Dream they talk about Gates, Musk, Kardashians, etc. Of course many people still live in unsafe neighborhoods, but things have gotten so relatively good for so many people that now the scale has slid up and the dream is to become millionaires/billionaires. I think you are presenting a similar thing with your concept of acceptable jobs. During the Great Depression a GREAT job was working for the CCC digging up the bowels of the Earth for $1/day, most of which you sent home to feed your family who was on the brink of death. And there was no "health insurance." If a boulder fell on you and crushed your legs, your family just starved. Another poster parallel to you brought up, "What if your job isn't safe?" Imagine that notion just a few generations ago. Now, just a couple of generations later a job that prevents financial ruin is merely "acceptable." And I agree with you in that depiction. It's amazing how far we've come.

If working a job will prevent financial ruin, then it's a good job. No job has to be permanent.

by k33n 7y ago

If working a job will prevent financial ruin, then it's a good job. No job has to be permanent.

There's no reason people should have to suffer "busy work" while they're looking for some place to be truly productive, just to assuage the grievances of Puritan work ethic folk. "Any job" doesn't help people find stable work as well as training and a safety net do. SOME jobs provide this, but forcing people into jobs that don't is counterproductive. This is a common misunderstanding people have.

adamsea 7y ago

What if the job has terrible safety conditions and a high injury rate. Is it still good? I’m not arguing that it doesn’t provide some value if it staves off financial ruin, but, the world is composed of more than only “good” and “bad”. If it wasn’t things would be so simple that sites like HN would not exist.

rumanator 7y ago

> If working a job will prevent financial ruin, then it's a good job. No job has to be permanent. That seems to be the definition of an acceptable job. To me a good job is one which you wouldn't mind doing every day for the rest of your life. The occupation needs to actually be desirable in the long run, and a decent paycheck does not fit the bill.

Consultant32452 7y ago
I've been noticing things like this and I wish I could come up with a good name for it. It's about noticing how the scale has slid up quite a bit in just a generation or two. The "American Dream" used to be something a 1200 sq ft house in the burbs with a white picket fence in a clean/safe neighborhood. Just a couple generations ago that was the dream that most Americans worked towards. Now when people talk about the American Dream they talk about Gates, Musk, Kardashians, etc. Of course many people still live in unsafe neighborhoods, but things have gotten so relatively good for so many people that now the scale has slid up and the dream is to become millionaires/billionaires. I think you are presenting a similar thing with your concept of acceptable jobs. During the Great Depression a GREAT job was working for the CCC digging up the bowels of the Earth for $1/day, most of which you sent home to feed your family who was on the brink of death. And there was no "health insurance." If a boulder fell on you and crushed your legs, your family just starved. Another poster parallel to you brought up, "What if your job isn't safe?" Imagine that notion just a few generations ago. Now, just a couple of generations later a job that prevents financial ruin is merely "acceptable." And I agree with you in that depiction. It's amazing how far we've come.