Forget Basic Income – We Need Guaranteed Employment
outlookzen.com
outlookzen.com
If you own a business, would you like to be forced to hire someone because the government says you have to? If you pay taxes, would you like them to go to otherwise unproductive people just because those people feel they should have jobs?
The competitive nature of the work world is necessary to keep people motivated to strive to do better and to make them adjust to the needs of today's market. Otherwise, we'd still be paying telegraph operators. We can't all put stairs on Morrow Rock or join the Peace Corp. Someone has to do work that provides value, not just a handout.
Private business can get involved on a contract basis too.
All our national parks could use a second round of WPA / CCC type treatment.
Massive cleanup basically almost everywhere.
Infrastructure is a real mess. Let's get on that, Interstate Highway Project style.
Do all of these things as public works, no tolls and BS, and let's capture the economic gains we got last time we did this kind of work.
Everyone will benefit, and the labor applied to the nation makes it worth more. The wages are direct economic stimulus, which will improve demand.
In terms of basic competition, wages will come up. People can point to the good, basic jobs, improved demand and ask for the same from their employers, and have some reasonable expectation of getting it.
I do not want any business forced to do a damn thing, other than comply with the regulations necessary for equitable market rules and public / environmental safety.
I do want the government to put people to work and in the course of doing that, add a lot of value to the nation, stimulate the economy (which we all benefit from), and pull down the poverty numbers by paying reasonable, living wages.
We are a monetary sovereign. I'm tired of being told we can't put our own to work, do so in a manner that makes sense for everyone, and labor our way right out of this funk we are in. Done right, the new opportunity created will prove attractive for private investment, just like it did last time when we did the Interstate Highway Project, the improved wage expectations and people earning it will improve demand, and, and, and.
Business can do whatever it wants.
The two things you mentioned do provide value, along with many other similar things and it's long past time we start valuing those things. As a people, through government, we can do that, and we should.
You can see where the problem is here. Sure, there's always work to be done. But who wants to pay for it? You said business doesn't want to. So it would have to come from the Treasury. I don't think you'd find wide support for taxation for those kind of projects.
Things like sane health care policy, this public labor, are all priority questions.
If we continue with huge military, then yes, but we do not have to play it that way at all.
Unlike a great many military actions, public works are investments that pay themselves off. We can absolutely spend, and let those returns pay the debt.
We should only be raising taxes on costs, not investments. And the public needs to understand which is which too.
Might begin to question the military actions. They are a massive drain, and given a priority discussion, an honest one, just may not be found necessary.
New priorities could yield insights like green energy infrastructure is needed like the Interstate Highway System was, and will pay itself off like that system did, and once paid off, will contiune to deliver returns that can pay down other past spends, that were costs, not investments, that did not deliver returns too.
Spends that make us worth more, are investments, not costs, and do not require an increase in taxes to do. They never have.
We will find support for doing those things. We will find more support when education on the differences is done too.
Right now, there is not much. I call that a disservice and manipulation for profit, as well as short sighted.
We need the new opportunities. The outcome does benefit everyone.
Guaranteed employment makes a lot of sense. Create something similar to a Peace Corp where people are paid to help out different communities or work at public works that need to be done. No matter how much automation can be created there will always be things where humans will be the prefared way to accomplish a job.