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- Elizabeth Barrette (
ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
- Mood:
busy
Behind the Wall Street Protest
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A Little Slice of Terramagne: YardMap
Sadly the main program is dormant, but the YardMap concept is awesome, and many of its informative articles remain. YardMap was a citizen science…
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Goldenrod Gall Contents
Apparently all kinds of things go on inside goldenrod galls, beyond the caterpillars who make them. Fascinating. I've seen the galls but haven't…
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Science and Spirituality
Here's an article about science and spirituality, sort of. It doesn't have a very wide view of either. Can you be scientific and spiritual? This…
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A Little Slice of Terramagne: YardMap
Sadly the main program is dormant, but the YardMap concept is awesome, and many of its informative articles remain. YardMap was a citizen science…
-
Goldenrod Gall Contents
Apparently all kinds of things go on inside goldenrod galls, beyond the caterpillars who make them. Fascinating. I've seen the galls but haven't…
-
Science and Spirituality
Here's an article about science and spirituality, sort of. It doesn't have a very wide view of either. Can you be scientific and spiritual? This…
October 12 2011, 22:17:19 UTC 9 years ago Edited: October 12 2011, 22:17:38 UTC
One thing that happens is that the shitty jobs don't get done. I have a farmer friend who wants to have some brush cut and burned to clear a field. She is willing to pay $10/hour for someone to do this work, which involves a brush hog for the physically awful parts. But she can't find anyone who will work at brush removal for $10/hour.
Another thing that happens is that whatever you suggest is not enough. It's not just about escaping the perils of starvation, exposure or illness. $15K/person will do that. But the complaint happening right now is about UNEVEN wealth. As one person put it to me, "everyone should get to live like Paris Hilton". Not that the standard of living on the planet earth should normalize across the continents with a "middle class" level of income for all, but that each American should live in luxury unimaginable to most of mankind throughout history.
Curing want is much easier than curing envy.
The last problem is that the GDP falls. Working for a living is HARD. If you were *sure* that you would get 3 squares and a warm place to sleep and maybe cable TV and health care when you need it, why bother? I mean, REALLY why bother? So it's not just those $15K/year jobs that people would give up, but also the $30K/year jobs (that eventually LEAD to the $60K/year jobs.)
Go study the U.S.S.R.. It turns out that "why bother" is a really compelling argument for staying home and drinking vodka.
October 12 2011, 22:57:24 UTC 9 years ago
I don't hold with the old Socialist slogan "every man a king". It's full of individualist empowerment, which sits well with Americans, but it's also full of envy, as you say. For me, "Every soul well with their work" is a much better slogan.
The boss that rewards everyone the same no matter what they do ends up with no workers. The boss that rewards everyone for the work they do ends up with many workers. However, is it sustainable for the boss's wages to be more than a hundred times what their workers are paid? "Just compensation" can be a hard subject to tackle.