Work or Welfare?

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11 points·RickJWagner··4 comments

In my experience, people enjoy working; the problem is working shitty jobs for asshole managers that people find repulsive. That is just as true for doctors and engineers as it is for minimum wage service workers.

People are generally good and enjoy being productive members of society, and feeling like they belong to a community. We just need to make it easy to do so.

Usually you still need a decent pay, since few jobs really are interesting/meaningful enough to make you work for free, or for a salary that doesn't allow you to save enough to buy what you really want.

I don't have expensive hobbies, only thing I want to buy is my own house. If my salary doesn't allow that goal with rising property prices, then living on welfare can be the rational choice if better job opportunities simply aren't available. A few extra hundred doesn't motivate if I can't buy anything meaningful with it. For many millenials it's easy to get enough money for short-term hedonism,but anything else is difficult.

I agree 100%, if your money can't be used for meaningful things (housing, savings with interest, etc.), there is little point in working for it beyond the minimum effort required.

I remember in high school "not wanting to go" to class. I think I was wrongly interpreting the feeling of thinking I wouldn't succeed with not wanting to participate.

When I did end up participating, attending class regularly and paying attention, putting in even 75% effort, I felt wonderful.

I know the stakes of participating in the labor market is different, but I cannot help but wonder if there are parallels.

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