Trumps: White Angry Middleclass

[Ultralight]

The Swiss considered simply paying everybody an income decoupled from work, but decided against it. I hear the Dutch, the Finns and the Canadians are planning experiments in the same vein.

Other countries try addressing the problem with regulations making it extremely difficult to shed employees no matter how they perform, but that tends to make firms reluctant to hire new staff, especially if they are young or inexperienced.

We could consider putting more people on government payrolls in CCC type arrangements.

I'm not sure what the solution will eventually be.

Well, there are a lot of things that could happen. If antibiotics are no longer effective on some major diseases the population could drop.

Some new discovery could create an employment bubble for a decade and hold the wolves at the door for a while longer.

I know this: It is possible that my greatest skill -- not needing much -- could come in handy.


I doubt that the US govt will do much more than let the market sort it out. I mean, the govt will indeed do a little, but not much at all.

[bae]

I doubt that the US govt will do much ..l.

Are large federal-scale governments traditionally good at "doing much" about this sort of thing?

I could repost my usual pictures of Zimbabwean grocery stores and factories... Or giant empty Chinese manufacturing cities.

[Ultralight]

Are large federal-scale governments traditionally good at "doing much" about this sort of thing?

I could repost my usual pictures of Zimbabwean grocery stores and factories... Or giant empty Chinese manufacturing cities.

Who should do something about it? State gubmint? Local gubmint? A corporation?

[LDAHL]

Maybe the robots will be super-productive, and we'll end up like:

https://archive.org/stream/galaxymag...ge/n7/mode/2up

If we end up having an economy of abundance of goods/materials and "excess" free time, might be worth looking at the how the First Nations cultures of the Pacific NW coast developed.

I wouldn't mind being able to live in a reasonable home, devote most of my time to my research and projects, and recieve an allotment of enough goods/services to live happily on, without the nonsense of all this money-and-accounting that's necessary to do that sort of thing today.

It's possible that we could become so wildly productive that work becomes more or less voluntary for virtually everybody. We might evolve into a system of patronage power relationships similar to some Classical civilizations or the old Pacific Northwest. We might simply realize the dream of a happy entitlement state.

I'm not sure you could you could run a civilization without accountants, though. We'd probably need to maintain some Morloch CPAs.

[bae]

I'm not sure you could you could run a civilization without accountants, though. We'd probably need to maintain some Morloch CPAs.

Let's make Alan do it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I'm not sure you could you could run a civilization without accountants, though. We'd probably need to maintain some Morloch CPAs.

yes, but we've outsourced them to China .. needed but not at wasteful first world wages.

[LDAHL]

yes, but we've outsourced them to China .. needed but not at wasteful first world wages.

By that time all of China's skilled labor will be directed to censoring internet blogs.

[LDAHL]

Let's make Alan do it.

Maybe he'd be interested in handling Rob's account.

[Alan]

Let's make Alan do it.

Maybe he'd be interested in handling Rob's account.

I don't think so!

So far, I've spent the past 43 years supporting myself, my family and Rob's right to free or very low cost services from highly skilled professionals. When the utopian entitlement state comes along, I'm going to assert my right to a life of leisure.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I don't think so!

So far, I've spent the past 43 years supporting myself, my family and Rob's right to free or very low cost services from highly skilled professionals. When the utopian entitlement state comes along, I'm going to assert my right to a life of leisure.

Ummmm.....I'm lost. Totally lost. How do you support my paying for high quality low cost services in Mexico again? No snark here. I'm just not seeing a connection. Rob