Posted on 06/16/2013 1:38:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Paul Krugman has a column today on a topic you don't normally get much of from economists: sympathy for the Luddites. Back in 2001, when I sat in on my last formal economics class, this was about as daring a proposition as "Sympathy for the Devil" was as an album title.
---snip---
But I have started worrying about what's taking place at the bottom of the economy. In much of the industrial world, it seems to be increasingly difficult for people to earn a decent living without a fairly elite set of skills--or an elite set of credentials that mimic skills, like a BA in English Literature from an Ivy League institution. The ability to earn a decent living, either yourself or as part of a family, is one of the basic criteria for a decent life. (And yes, before you ask: I think trust funds can be just as toxic as lifetime welfare benefits.)
---snip---
For starters, it is politically difficult to imagine a really large class of people who simply permanently live off the state. The safety net is rooted in human instincts about reciprocal exchange. Of course, it isn't all that reciprocal--the majority of people who are net taxpayers are extremely unlikely to collect much in the way of food stamps, TANF, or even unemployment insurance. Nonetheless, the moral arguments are founded in the premise that these benefits are for emergencies, and anyone can have an emergency. They will lose political support if you have one group of people paying taxes, and a different group of people who can expect to live their entire life on the dole.
Such an arrangement would also be socially toxic....
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
IOWs... work that is not done sitting at a computer keyboard...
Nice lethal combination of factors there. Some could start looking for a political savior. A leader.
Have them send me resumes and I’ll find them something. I’ve been a career counselor most of my life.
FReepmail me your addy and I’ll email you my resume.
When I taught job-seeking classes to welfare and food stamp recipients (97% female) back in the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s, they drove better cars, wore better clothing, had more “things” than I did and I was a government employee. They were “early adaptors” of cell phones when they penetrated beyond doctors, lawyers and business executives, many years before I ever got one. Their purses and shoes were much more expensive than I could afford for my wife. We (the govt. and taxpayers) had sent many of them back to school to get their associates and bachelor degrees, yet they “couldn’t find a job” even in a 3% unemployment economy!
No kidding! I was in a conversation wih a mechanic just yesterday and a747 pilot was there also. He picked up a pair of pliers and, this is no bull, asked the mechanic what was this? Then he picked up a punch and asked what that was. I was struck dumb.
Free Traders are the Global Warmists of Economics.....not only Al Gore pushed both....the evidence shows that both are costly frauds.
Economic Stupidity is killing this country
i didn’t knock them. i think it probably is what many people may start having to do.
As far as I’m concerned if they don’t figure out another way to support themselves, they can lie down and die!!
Right. Unions drove our textile industry to the Far East. We could really use a robust textile industry right now...too late, already gone.
They are. Young vets...white guys over 50...suicide rates are at all time highs.
Apparently not high enough!
You and Kathleen Sebelious should get along famously.
Problem is, you still need half a brain and dexterous hands. I've done plumbing and electrical work. Many youths can't handle it. You still must think creatively, and learn the code books.
Just got back from a vacation gambling (our wedding anniversary and we needed a break). At one Blackjack card table, the dealer said you can't replace us with machines. Well, another two tables we went to had new card dealers going through training. Twenty-something gals. They couldn't count, and repeatedly got confused counting the cards.
My few cards added up to 20. Hers added to 21. She let me keep my bet as a push. Another time, hers outnumbered mine and she paid me as a win. Now she wasn't going fast, she was slowly staring at the cards and almost counting out loud. This happened with three different gals, on numerous hands. The old dealers are sharp.
The young people weren't taught in school how to count! A lot of people on the dole can't do the jobs that are out there.
Uh?.................we give them free stuff a t-shirt and a free lunch to vote a dozen times for the criminal that will give them more than whats behind door number three??? Suggestion, cross the border with your family and re-enter thru the border as a mexican and you will be livin large free of charge!
Re: “This democrat push for Amnesty”
We can handle the Democrat push.
It’s the REPUBLICAN push for Amnesty that will destroy us.
Those b@st@ards knew they were lying when they told us the rainbow/unicorn fairy tale about how globalization was going to benefit the ecomony. Do you know what they were really thinking? It was going to benefit THEIR PERSONAL ECONOMY.
Three hundred million people and many of the finest schools in the world and that was still not enough to provide trained American workers. Ha!
It isn’t just the liberals we have to include the cheap labor business people who are the supporters of the RINOS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.