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“So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

theguardian.com

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Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#61

Post by slyall »

crdoconnor wrote: post #40
cssmoo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Court appointed bailiffs have been used by myself to recover owed cash on a couple of occasions so they serve a purpose and a good one. If people enter a contract they can't fulfil then there needs to be a method to obtain appropriate compensation. As for the rest, I agree.

Sure, that was good for you . I don't think anybody would argue that these jobs aren't good for somebody. The real question is whether they are contributing to society at large. I know somebody who hired a lobbyist too. Worked out great.

Every seen those ratings of countries as "Good places to do business"? Part of that is how well contracts are enforced and debts paid.

Countries where it takes 10 years to force a company/person to pay a debt are not highly ranked and thus people are a lot less willing to do business or invest in them.

Eg You little startup won't be able to lease office furniture if the hiring company doesn't think it can at least seize it back..

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#62

Post by mdda »

ddeck wrote: post #55

The entire asset management industry is a candidate for the bullshit job title. Within the equity asset class for example, aggregate performance is worse than passive investments and there is ample evidence that substantially all managers are unable to actually provide the service they are selling. As an industry, it effectively taxes savings and distributes those taxes to the employees within the industry, sometimes…

Wow, I'm surprised to see a comment so critical of Venture Capitalists on HN. But I guess it's fair: The VC industry as a whole badly underperforms the S&P index on a risk-adjusted basis. Or aren't those the asset managers you were talking about?

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#63

Post by kremlin »

fsloth wrote: post #27

The way I understand it is this (sorry,a bit long winded): The world is run by gigantic bureaucracies and owners of capital - who all value continuity and predictability above all else. Given that the world has historically been a madhouse of crazy, and most of us are doing materially better than before, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what would be wrong with these priorities. "May you live in interesting times" is a…

In my current employment, the environment provided me doesn't exactly feed commitment, but it at least marginally allows for it. We are soon moving office and the new environment is definitely one of those "the best you can hope for its compliance" type environments. But I have a hard time trying to tell my boss that without incriminating myself.

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#64

Post by WalterBright »

crdoconnor wrote: post #59
WalterBright wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that article to be hopelessly confusing, and can't make heads or tails of it. So I have no opinion on GC.

Maybe you shouldn't have opinions on private equity if you find it hopelessly confusing.

I said the article was incoherent. Not the topic of PE.

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#65

Post by alphydan »

qq66 wrote: post #6

Most people who criticize "bullshit jobs" simply lack the perspective to see how these jobs are critically important for society. Take the list from the article itself, one of the "bullshit jobs" listed is actuary. Well, without actuaries, insurance would not be priced correctly, and would be prohibitively expensive or too cheap and insurance companies would go out of business. Either way, insurance would be less ava…

> Without health insurance or fire insurance, people have to save up as much money as they can in the case of a catastrophic accident which they probably won't have, and possibly declining to spend that money on important things like higher education

Some countries have figured some of that out: Distribute the health and education risk between every citizen (it typically achieves a 50% discount vs. privatly insured countries)[0]

[0] http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/newshour/photos/2012/10/02/...

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#66

Post by robbiep »

_abattoir wrote: post #19
qq66 wrote: post #6

Most people who criticize "bullshit jobs" simply lack the perspective to see how these jobs are critically important for society. Take the list from the article itself, one of the "bullshit jobs" listed is actuary. Well, without actuaries, insurance would not be priced correctly, and would be prohibitively expensive or too cheap and insurance companies would go out of business. Either way, insurance would be less ava…

When most people say "bullshit job", it seems to me like they really mean "job that could be solved by a well-built machine". Farming used to be a bullshit job until we built gigantic combines and automated watering systems and agricultural data storage systems, and now our farming problems are electronic, not logistic. (except for water, but that's another story.) So for the example of an actuary, ideally their job…

Farming isn't a bullshit job, at least not if you love it. The same could be said of everything.

What society, and by secondary intent technology should aim to do is to enable everyone to be capable of performing the job for which they have passion for.

My parents are farmers, and love it. I love it too. It is far from a bullshit job. But for the average joe slaving away on a rice paddy in China, they may dream of something grander than the opportunities afforded them.

I have been fortunate enough to have more education and opportunities than even 0.001% of the population could wish for - excellent schools, 3 bachelors degrees, 10 years at uni, mostly having the time of my life. I'm a doctor performing a job I find fulfilling, and I have a startup that grew out of a hobby. And it's profitable. Society should aim to give everyone the opportunities afforded to me. Because then there would be no bullshit jobs.

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#67

Post by Htsthbjig »

msh wrote: post #8
qq66 wrote: post #6

Most people who criticize "bullshit jobs" simply lack the perspective to see how these jobs are critically important for society. Take the list from the article itself, one of the "bullshit jobs" listed is actuary. Well, without actuaries, insurance would not be priced correctly, and would be prohibitively expensive or too cheap and insurance companies would go out of business. Either way, insurance would be less ava…

Much of Europe works perfectly well with out health insurance.

Much of Europe has mandatory public health insurance if you work.

It also has voluntary private health insurance.

What you probably are referring to is that USA has not private health insurance at all.

In the US only your employer could give you insurance, so it is not personal and private, but collective, if you try to do on your own it is prohibitively expensive.

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#68

Post by punee »

ddeck wrote: post #55

The entire asset management industry is a candidate for the bullshit job title. Within the equity asset class for example, aggregate performance is worse than passive investments and there is ample evidence that substantially all managers are unable to actually provide the service they are selling. As an industry, it effectively taxes savings and distributes those taxes to the employees within the industry, sometimes…

A critical assumption in that view is that the returns on actively and passively managed funds are independent. Are they, or are the passive funds freeriding on the work of the active funds?

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#69

Post by littletimmy »

ddeck wrote: post #55

The entire asset management industry is a candidate for the bullshit job title. Within the equity asset class for example, aggregate performance is worse than passive investments and there is ample evidence that substantially all managers are unable to actually provide the service they are selling. As an industry, it effectively taxes savings and distributes those taxes to the employees within the industry, sometimes…

That's a very interesting assertion. Couldn't it be that the active asset management industry is underperforming because there is so much competition that any alpha is nullified by cost of research and operation?

It could be that if everyone only invested passively, then there would be untapped alpha in the market which would lead to greater profits to the active asset management industry. This in turn would lead to more active management firms leading to an equilibrium where alpha is nullified.

Not an expert on economics. Just saying this form of bullshit may be vital to the system.

Re: “So many people spend their working lives doing jobs they think are unnecessary”

#70

Post by crdoconnor »

slyall wrote: post #61
crdoconnor wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, that was good for you . I don't think anybody would argue that these jobs aren't good for somebody. The real question is whether they are contributing to society at large. I know somebody who hired a lobbyist too. Worked out great.

Every seen those ratings of countries as "Good places to do business"? Part of that is how well contracts are enforced and debts paid. Countries where it takes 10 years to force a company/person to pay a debt are not highly ranked and thus people are a lot less willing to do business or invest in them. Eg You little startup won't be able to lease office furniture if the hiring company doesn't think it can at least se…

Not only have I heard of it, I live in #1.

Would you like a detailed list of reasons why it's not a list you want to be at the top of or would you rather take my word for it?

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