• ben@lemmy.zip
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    9 months ago

    If a society is to function people need to be doing the work that isn’t enjoyable as well as the work that’s enjoyable.

    There’s likely not enough people that get genuine enjoyment out of being a garbage man or sewer maintenance worker for a world with everyone doing what they want to work.

    You have to add incentives for the less desirable labour or else the system collapses under its own weight.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      The solution capitalism gives us is that those jobs pay less. Any able-bodied person can clean toilets, so supply and demand results in little pay for cleaning toilets. However, those same people deserve a basic human life with food, shelter, and companionship, yet they are easily priced out of this. The “incentive” you speak of is the threat of starvation.

      Communism actually recognizes this. Everyone pitches in to get the basic, necessary work done. This tends to be a lot less than generally expected. Most people today are not doing work that is necessary at all.

      • ben@lemmy.zip
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        8 months ago

        In my home town a sanitation worker makes double the provincial minimum wage and gets benefits. That’s an incentive for a job that has a low barrier to entry but undesirable labour.

        The benefit of this system is that you can in fact choose this role instead of being assigned it based on the requirements of society. If the compensation isn’t tempting enough then the employer will increase the compensation until it makes sense. That’s how it’s supposed to work at the very least.

        If the current implementation isn’t working then you address the issues with the implementation, you don’t tear it all down and try something completely different.

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          8 months ago

          That’s nice. Does it work out that way for jobs with low barriers to entry across the board in your experience?

          • ben@lemmy.zip
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            8 months ago

            Depending on the desirability of the work compared to the compensation yes it seems to be working pretty well

            • frezik@midwest.social
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              8 months ago

              Depending on . . .

              So not depending on if this is a human being who deserves basic food and shelter.

              • ben@lemmy.zip
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                8 months ago

                If you’re incapable of working then you take advantage of the social safety nets that your government or community provides.

                I never said I was against having supports in place for those who are unable to work?

                • frezik@midwest.social
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                  8 months ago

                  I’m saying that your support is irrelevant. If you tried to be put them into place, you would be fought by extremely powerful interests. This is the only possible way capitalism could be moral, we’ve tried to do it, and it’s not happening.

                  That’s why we look to throw that system away.

                  • ben@lemmy.zip
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                    8 months ago

                    What exactly makes you think that communism is going to remove people having power over other people? That seems to just be intrinsic to humans in general, your economic system isn’t going to change that.

                    And you can absolutely have social support systems in place if the populous pushes for them. Homeless shelters and welfare aren’t impossible ideas, they’re actively implemented across the world. The same goes for basic needs like healthcare.

                    Just because your government or community hasn’t implemented it doesn’t mean it’s not possible to do so. It means you need to convince those around you that it’s a good idea.

    • Grayox@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      The USSR gave early retirement to those that worked undesirable jobs, pretty decent incentive. Having undesirable jobs doesn’t make Communism collapse.