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> ...and that potentially meant that the government might force United Fruit to make costly changes, like raising wages. [...] Ideally, Guatemala would back do
by xg15 4y ago
> ...and that potentially meant that the government might force United Fruit to make costly changes, like raising wages.
[...] Ideally, Guatemala would back down and start praising United Fruit for being a job creator instead of a foreign plunderer.
Somewhat OT, but one of the feats of propaganda that impresses me the most is how "jobs" were successfully established as an end in itself instead of a means.
As a politician, you can easily run on the platform of "creating jobs" without ever discussing wages.
As an employee, it doesn't matter if the job is wrecking your health, making you neglect your family and pays less than living wage, just having a job on its own is something to be grateful of.
An employer is not needing services that employees provide, no, an employer is creating jobs and then in infinite grace giving them to the employees.
It's crazy, but it works.
- elecush 4y agoGermane: there can be no green new deal without a robust manufacturing sector in America. Some sort of higher-tech revolution could be possible, though.
- parineum 4y agoJobs are better than no jobs, across the board. More jobs increase the wealth of the employed. More jobs improves the job market for the employees (more demand for their services). More jobs helps (small and large) business owners (more wealth in the hands of customers). If there are 10,000 coal mining jobs and 9,000 coal miners, coal mining conditions will improve.
- hayst4ck 4y ago> Jobs are better than no jobs, across the board. What about slavery? What if there is a spectrum between chattel slavery and owning the means of production? How would you determine where "job" exists on that spectrum? Slaves still get fed and housed. If the only thing that a job offers is food and housing, how different is that from slavery? How free is a person who can only afford to house and feed themselves?
- Claudus 4y agoMore free than a person who can not afford to house themselves, and less free than a person who cannot feed themselves (because they are dead).
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- Alupis 4y agoFew, if any slaves felt purpose, belonging, responsibility, and personal discipline - all generally positive feelings that are associated with working on something for a reason.
- digging 4y agoBut jobs don't offer any of those things. Good jobs might. Ideally, at no cost to your health or relationships, but no guarantee.
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- pastacacioepepe 4y ago> purpose, belonging, responsibility, and personal discipline - all generally positive feelings that are associated with working on something for a reason If you think this statement reflects in any way the reality of the majority of the global workforce then you have no idea what work is like for most people.
- Alupis 4y agoThis has a slightly disparaging tone to it. Just because someone does a job you may not enjoy, does not mean it's not a good job or that it does not fulfill them personally. All jobs provide purpose, even if that purpose is simply to feed oneself while looking for a better opportunity. Humans need to work on something, anything. Idle minds rot, figuratively, and having no reason to wake up each day is hugely depressing.
- didgetmaster 4y agoI am amazed when self-proclaimed do-gooders hear about some poor person in India or Africa who works long hours for just a few dollars per day; and puts all their effort into eliminating that job to 'help' that individual. Boycotts, mandates, laws, and other forms of political pressure manage to put the employer (labeled an exploiter) out of business. Then everyone pats themselves on the back about what a good citizen they are for righting the injustice. Afterwards, the poor (now unemployed) person goes back to scavenging through an unsanitary garbage pile looking for their next meal.
- harvey9 4y agoThis needs a specific example to point to else it comes off as purely theoretical
- Haga 4y ago[dead]
- specialist 4y agoYup. > just having a job on its own is something to be grateful of Graber's book Debt challenged my worldview in many ways. For instance, the bits about the notions of employment. How the norm went from working for oneself to selling one's labor to another. Our predecessors considered employment akin to slavery. Years later, it still stretches my incredulity. The gig economy is bad, right? I struggle to imagine an entire modern economy, contemporary society where most persons are not wage slaves. Youngest me was obsessed with getting a good job, having a good career. Old burnt out me is wondering why I worked so hard to be make other people rich. What a waste. (But at least I got valuable work experience.)
- harvey9 4y agoGig economy in the sense of tech-mediated casual labor is not really the same thing as working for oneself.
- specialist 4y agoAgreed. Free Agent Nation [2001] advocated working for one self. But somehow we ended up with gig work. What happened? Was "free agent" just another self-help con? A pretty good idea subverted? Unrealistic whimsy given our winner-takes-all economy? I'm for more small businesses. I don't know how we get back to that. Ideas? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/165415.Free_Agent_Nation https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/165415.Free_Agent_Nation
- harvey9 4y agoI had not seen that book before. those more desirable kinds of self employment do exist too. It's hard for a person who is poor to build their skills and capital to get out of app gig work and into something better.
- _siis 4y agoIts David Graeber, and the book is good. I had similar epiphany's with The Wealth of Nations, and Wealth and Poverty of Nations. These things should be taught in public education but aren't, likely because of ideological indoctrination. Unbacked debt breaks the guard rails for rational pricing of both products and labor. In the 1770s, it was recognized that the price of labor couldn't go below what it costs to raise 4 children with a spouse, which was necessary to have 1 make it alive to 18.