Where Johnny Cash came from

Thanks, sounds different and would certainly instill a certain work ethic.

I'm similar age and have been in paid employment since the age of 13, a lot of different things through farming, manufacturing, retail and catering before I started in tech.

I was always grateful for the work ethic but also important was the experience of being the most lowly employee being made to do the grunt work. I think that gave me the confidence to get on with the job without complaint or too much assistance, I feel that especially helped me progress early on in my tech career.

Still, I'm not sure how I'd feel about my own kids working so young. And in all honesty, don't really think those opportunities would be there for them now anyway.

> you’re begging to be exploited

A “yes, and” pivot: you’re going to be exploited, you should be begging for a union.

I’ve been musing on what an open source (users/creators) union would look like. The best of us write software in this “no matter what” category. How could we collectively support them while they support us and we support each other?

My parents infected me with the same disease -- an intense conviction in the nobility and virtue of individual hard work -- and it led me to a terrible place, the physical sciences, where I received a harsh lesson in the nature of capitalism. It's not about creating value, it's about capturing value. In a low-leverage situation, when everyone works hard you are simply paid less. Surplus is captured through ownership and ownership is concentrated at the top. In low-leverage jobs, this system transforms hard work from a noble individual value to a collective curse.

The explosive growth of the software industry over the last few decades has led to an abnormal situation where regular employees have enough leverage to capture a substantial fraction of their surplus. Most people are not so lucky. For most people, the system looks more like:

    You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
    Another day older and deeper in debt
    Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go
    I owe my soul to the company store

and having experienced work environments that were low leverage through no fault of the employees, I understand this, I respect this, and I did not forget it when I left for software, where we have it much easier not because we work harder but because we are in a growth industry.

I too found it easy to climb. I too enjoy the "free" money from real estate investments and a stock portfolio. But I know where it comes from. I do not pound my throne and launch spittle as I demand for those beneath me to work harder for my benefit.

You shouldn't either.

> Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think.

I'm not sure I agree.

The work was hard and you didn't get anywhere.

You worked the farm, the mill, the mine, etc. just like your father did and his father did. You didn't get rich. You didn't even get comfortable. You were still poor, and your children were going to remain poor.

The window where labor unions made mill, mine, and factory jobs something livable was quite short--1960 to 1980, roughly.

Yeah, shitty, excruciating work was a good way to beat you kid over the head with "go find ANYTHING else to do as a career." Worked for my dad. Worked for Joe Namath's dad. etc.

Not sure I count that as anything "being lost" though.

> He didn’t do it with thoughts and prayers y’all.

Johnny Cash would probably argue otherwise, given his beliefs and discography.

Here is him singing "The Junkie's Prayer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkDJt5GutqA