Hacker News Reader

Comment by Joker_vD | Hacker News Reader

An insane argument of the day: it's the productivity problem. The worker productivity is just so high nowadays, that it's impossible to have more than 70% of working population meaningfully employed. We need to start to employ people to dig holes and then fill them back because there is no other reasonable way to justify their sustenance. Sadly, that's precisely what's DOGE is against.

View on HN

Indeed! We are inventing illogical concepts like Planned Obsolescence, Guerilla Marketing and Over-Consumerism just in order to sustain a failed system that push people into poverty, even when there are enough goods and services produced for everyone already.

> The worker productivity is just so high nowadays, that it's impossible to have more than 70% of working population meaningfully employed

What!? There’s probably some companies in tech where people are shuffling papers but there is a massive mismatch in jobs and skills. There is a labour shortage in many regions and skilled trades can make a killing.

It's like people deliberately skip the "insane argument" part of my comment. Let me re-iterate then: the argument in my original comment is insane.

Are we living in a world where while only 70% of the working population is employed everyone's needs and material desires are met? If yes then the unemployed have no need to justify their sustenance. If no then there is more meaningful work to be done.

Big difference between no one needs anything done, and no one needs what I do done.

Wow... It's like the lady who thinks her reflection is fake... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

> and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?

Well, there would be much fewer of glaziers around, and the panes of glass would also be priced much, much higher than they are today.

And it's not like being a glazier is a person's identity and an inborn destiny, is it? There ain't no e.g. limeburners any more yet we manage somehow.

Derp

> Sadly, that's precisely what's DOGE is against.

They, or rather Elon anyway, are also super pro-natalist. So not only are they not really interested in dealing with the growing disconnect between increasing per-capita productivity and the inability of the average citizen laborer to share in the wealth of that increased productivity, they are also advocating for significant population growth too. Number must always go UP!

Everyone go have 12 kids please. Ya'll got billions in the bank to take care of them in the face of a likely double whammy of increased inflation and decreased job prospects, right?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com