4 ms·
I'm a strong believer in the idea that a society can be judged by how it treats those weakest and least able to defend themselves. I do agree that encouraging a
by conorh 13y ago
I'm a strong believer in the idea that a society can be judged by how it treats those weakest and least able to defend themselves. I do agree that encouraging alternative employment is necessary, but if you read the article you will see that often the reality is that there is no other option. Therefore these people at the bottom of the employment pole are taken advantage of because they can be. I do not think this is a state of affairs that we should encourage, or that needs to exist, and companies like Costco show otherwise. I hope that those of us with the means will spend our money in as conscionable a way as we can (ie. not at companies encouraging this).
- mathattack 13y agoWouldn't it seem reasonable that it's better to give people better access to more jobs (through education or improving the environment for new business creation) than strong-arming existing employers? The former assumes that the pie can be grown. The latter assume we're fighting over a limited pie, which actually winds up shrinking it.
- Uchikoma 13y agoEducation in Germany is mostly free except a (unfortunate) selection process after 4th grade (most states). So people have access to education, and Germany made some great steps forward towards easy business creation (new limited company types, standard contracts, lower costs, ...) in the last 10 years [1]. So what's next? [1] That said the common idea is in school and on television since around the 70s: The coolest guy is the one with the worst grades - every celebrity boosts how bad they were at school. And living on welfare has become a verb ("harzen") and is the live goal (perspective?) of many young people.
- biafra 13y agoUniversities are not free anymore in most states of Germany. And the selection after 4th grade is very much determined by the area you live in because you have to send your kids to the public school where you live.
- Eiwatah4 13y agoTuition was common for a while, but it isn't anymore. Lower Saxony is the only state where you still have to pay it and they're abolishing next year [1]. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studiengeb%C3%BChren_in_Deutschland#.C3.9Cbersicht_.C3.BCber_Geb.C3.BChrenfreiheit_und_Geb.C3.BChren_in_den_deutschen_Bundesl.C3.A4ndern https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studiengeb%C3%BChren_in_Deutsc...
- biafra 13y agoYou are right. I was not up to date on that.
- PKop 13y agoThere is no such thing as "free" so when discussing these sorts of issues it would be much more illuminating to describe the mechanism of funding, as it relates to one alternative to another.