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The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

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Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#151

Post by supertrope »

qaq wrote: post #122
usrbinbash wrote: post #53

It's pretty simple really. If the reward from working is barely enough to cover the necessities, then there is technically no difference between working as a free citizen, and being forced to work as an indentured servant, other than a vague notion of freedom, which in that case is the freedom to decide between working and living on the streets. And people don't like being indentured servants. History should have mad…

[flagged]

Is that gross revenue before paying for diesel, the loan on the truck, the employer side of Social Security tax, health insurance? If it’s as simple as you say to earn $160K-$180K why isn’t everyone doing it? In an efficient market arbitrage opportunities usually close quickly.

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#152

Post by nitwit005 »

BirAdam wrote: post #68
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #7

Similarly … The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. 400BC

The perennial nature of “kids these days” being insolent and otherwise generally poorly disciplined is that discipline is something to be cultivated within and not imposed from without. As a result, children who lack years of practice in discipline are not particularly well behaved. Adults tend to forget their childhoods, remembering only bits and pieces. In truth, every child was scolded for his/her bad behavior, an…

No, the adults remember. They get angry if you point out how they behaved when they were young.

The real complaint is "young people won't let me boss them around".

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#153

Post by wheybags »

arp242 wrote: post #85
dsr_ wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed the big one: If you can find reliable evidence across time, space and cultures that humans have complained about the same X, then complaining about X is part of human nature in, at least, cultures that leave durable evidence.

Two datapoints is hardly enough for that, and out of the billions of people who have lived in the last 2,500 years an infinitesimal small percentage have complained about roughly the same thing, so "any and all arguments that touch on this must be invalid" seems just as much of an invalid non-argument to me. You can pick almost any topic and find people unfairly whinging about it "across time, space, and cultures" be…

> out of the billions of people who have lived in the last 2,500 years an infinitesimal small percentage have complained about roughly the same thing

I'm willing to bet that the majority of people have complained about being hungry, at some point in their lives. I would guess this practice began some time before the invention of language. Some things really are universal.

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#154

Post by almost_usual »

pstuart wrote: post #135
momirlan wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i agree 100% , but what is the solution to that ? just raising wages en masse erodes the power of money and leads to inflation.

I thought it was the influx of new money printed, which we've done in the form of Quantitative Easing, multiple bail outs, etc.

Which mostly trickles up.

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#155

Post by ricardobeat »

bbarn wrote: post #109
usrbinbash wrote: post #53

It's pretty simple really. If the reward from working is barely enough to cover the necessities, then there is technically no difference between working as a free citizen, and being forced to work as an indentured servant, other than a vague notion of freedom, which in that case is the freedom to decide between working and living on the streets. And people don't like being indentured servants. History should have mad…

I have heard the argument that a negative effect of the post WW2 "feminist" movement (by that I mean women in the work force) has had the long term effect of causing prices to simply adjust to the dual income household, to the point that now it is a necessity. It is a privileged family today that can afford to live comfortably on only one salary.

For this theory to be correct you’d need the total work hours being provided to employers to have doubled accordingly.

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#156

Post by [deleted] »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #148
bbarn wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have heard the argument that a negative effect of the post WW2 "feminist" movement (by that I mean women in the work force) has had the long term effect of causing prices to simply adjust to the dual income household, to the point that now it is a necessity. It is a privileged family today that can afford to live comfortably on only one salary.

Theres another level to this going on in certain places too. Its not enough to have both partners working. Now in places like the bay area if you want to be competitive in the housing market, both partners have to be working high income jobs not just working at all. Even if you have a great title, if your partner doesnt, you will be lapped by people who have vastly more buying power than either of you can ever muster…

[deleted]

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#157

Post by constantly »

bluefishinit wrote: post #49
constantly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speak for yourself, I know many people who derive a lot of joy from their work and find it energizing, myself included.

I think those people are typically called the "clueless": https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

“Losers” according to that, I think, as it calls “losers” “happiness seekers.” But still taking joy in one’s work seems orthogonal to the link presented, which is more about corporate lifecycles.

To expand slightly on my situation (and the anecdotal others I’m talking about): I’m happy with my job because it gives me an opportunity to have a real impact on the world, helping real people, and seeing the direct results of my labor. It’s energizing.

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#158

Post by pastacacioepepe »

bbarn wrote: post #109
usrbinbash wrote: post #53

It's pretty simple really. If the reward from working is barely enough to cover the necessities, then there is technically no difference between working as a free citizen, and being forced to work as an indentured servant, other than a vague notion of freedom, which in that case is the freedom to decide between working and living on the streets. And people don't like being indentured servants. History should have mad…

I have heard the argument that a negative effect of the post WW2 "feminist" movement (by that I mean women in the work force) has had the long term effect of causing prices to simply adjust to the dual income household, to the point that now it is a necessity. It is a privileged family today that can afford to live comfortably on only one salary.

Why put feminist between quotes?

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#159

Post by syockit »

pstuart wrote: post #135
momirlan wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i agree 100% , but what is the solution to that ? just raising wages en masse erodes the power of money and leads to inflation.

I thought it was the influx of new money printed, which we've done in the form of Quantitative Easing, multiple bail outs, etc.

You print more money because you have to give out more money, whether if it's in the form of handouts or in the form of extra wages.

Re: The Long History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

#160

Post by jrsj »

The problem is cultural rot as much as it is economic. If your only objective in life is to advance your career, buy things, eat takeout, and watch Netflix, then why bother? It’s just a slow suicide while you keep capitalism going.

The collapse of family formation and any sense of duty, community, or really any human relationship beyond a transactional one has made it mostly not worth succeeding.

And it probably doesn’t help that basically everyone is placed into 1 of 2 categories and told that either their merit shouldn’t count because they have an advantage due to being an “oppressor” or that they’ll never get ahead because everyone is out to get them and discriminating against them.

Working people are becoming increasingly demoralized, and letting them spend half their time pretending to work from home and giving them a raise isn’t going to change any of that.

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