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In countries with no safety net like the USA, people do prefer to work at tedious soul-deadening tasks like manually copy pasting into a CSV than to lose their
by droopyEyelids 3y ago
In countries with no safety net like the USA, people do prefer to work at tedious soul-deadening tasks like manually copy pasting into a CSV than to lose their housing and starve.
However, there is a benefit to the person who is no longer employed doing mindless toil! It gives them another chance to find healthier work. Again, in the USA this benefit is outweighed by the possibility of immiseration, but it is at least a small plus in the 'pros' column.
- jschveibinz 3y agoOk, but one issue with your comment: the U.S. has a huge safety net. Entitlements (social programs including social security, welfare, Medicare/Medicaid), etc.) compose 52% of the federal budget ($2 trillion). This equates to almost $10,000 per American. [1] In fact, the U.S. spends more per capita than the Nordic countries, as discussed in other comments. Norway is around $7,500 per person. [2] So what’s the difference? The U.S. is the “wild, Wild West” and Norway is not, according to [2]. [1] https://federalsafetynet.com/entitlement-programs/entitlement-spending/ https://federalsafetynet.com/entitlement-programs/entitlemen... [2] https://freakonomics.com/2010/05/who-spends-more-on-social-welfare-the-united-states-or-sweden/#:~:text=If%20we%20take%20into%20account,%245%2C800%2C%20and%20Finland%20at%20%244%2C900 https://freakonomics.com/2010/05/who-spends-more-on-social-w....
- wing-_-nuts 3y agoDoes any of this make a difference to the unemployed? I assure you, the unemployed in the US and norway have two very different experiences and I'd much rather be unemployed in a scandi country than in the US.
- chii 3y agoSo why is it worse in the US, when the spending is ostensibly higher? What is the root cause of this inefficiency?