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Basically, I agree; We have to have an open economy, but when an economy matures from an industrial to a service basis, the system promises too much to a consumer base that relies too heavily on transfer payments (pensions, social insurance, gambling and all the rest). There are too many individuals reselling the time and attention of unappreciated subordinates who don't have much of a stake in the enterprise.
A lot of the Millennials grew up in over-sheltered environments, haven't caught on to this as yet, and likely won't until it's too late; I'd like to see a simple formulation of employee rights (starting with the hypocrisy of "exempt" salaried employees), but exactly how to do so would be a challenge.
I always find it funny when people accuse millenials of being sheltered, but then expect the government to protect them from something.
Expecting the government to solve the fact that your day is too long is no different than expecting your parents to solve the fact that your teacher is giving out homework that's too hard.
Now I was raised in a middle of the road household, my grandparents on both sides were/are hardcore democrats, as is most of my family, however 1 thing we all had pounded in our heads was our work ethic, in my family the biggest concern is how hard you work, not what you do.
I know several people that do blue collar work and their companies are always hiring, in fact I have a friend that is trying to hire 5 guys right now but cannot get anybody willing to crawl around in roofs and crawl spaces to instal HVAC, show up on time, and look presentable enough for customers to allow you in their house and he is offering above market wages.
So the question is why is work ethic seen as only something for conservatives? When did boot strappers (as they are referred to on this site) become the exception and not the rule?
That's the whole myth they tell because it happens to benefit them. People want to believe that hard work always pays off, and it's convenient for them. Work hard to get to the top so you can get rewarded. They're already at the top, and many conservative politicians were quite privileged to begin with.
I'm not "blaming" the Millennials, nor any others, such as women, immigrants and minorities, who have predominated among the newer participants in the "mainstream", full-time labor force; what I am saying is that the transition to a service-based economy both makes it harder for an individual worker to denominate, store or withhold their contribution, and that the most aggressive service-sector entrepreneurs, (who know they're selling mostly to people without much economic savvy), are taking full advantage of this. Sooner or later, there will be a reaction via politics, and when that happens, given the natural short-sight of all politicians, the "remedy" will be worse than the disease.
That's the whole myth they tell because it happens to benefit them. People want to believe that hard work always pays off, and it's convenient for them. Work hard to get to the top so you can get rewarded. They're already at the top, and many conservative politicians were quite privileged to begin with.
Hard work might pay off, but it might not. It's a 50/50 chance.
Smart work gives one more of a chance to pay off.
Here's a personal example of what I mean. I'm a civil engineer. I've also been working on an engineering software for myself. Using this software, I can do work that normally takes 4 days in less than 1 day. So, an engineer who slaves away in his office for a week working on an assignment is undoubtedly a very hard worker, my software has given me an edge. This is why I've just been recruited by a much larger firm with a 50% pay increase and several other great offers, including help and resources for me to further develop my software. They've also expressed their interest in buying my software.
I've known plenty of very hard workers. They are very mechanical in what they do, and I applaud them for it. I, on the other hand, never stop looking for new and more efficient ways to doing things. When I first started using my software in my line of work, there were many people who criticized me for not doing things the traditional way. They can criticize all they want. Let them spend weeks on their assignments and then submit reports with human errors. I'll just spend a couple days on the same assignments and submit error-free reports doing it the smart way.
My stance is this. Mike Rowe is 100% correct. People are inherently lazy and don't want to do HARD work. When I say HARD work I mean work that pushes you harder than your comfort level, that develops you beyond your current state. There's an entitlement to today's worker that is depressing.
That said, I do feel that some companies take advantage of their own profit/loss by trying to squeeze too much out of many workers. Abuse of the exempt employee is a perfect example. An hourly worker is almost denied overtime sometimes and a company will just hire more to fill the gaps. An exempt employee is almost required to work overtime despite not getting paid properly for it. The government allows this because the laws were written in the proverbial stone age. It's abuse.
I think it would be easier to manage if exempt employees were given the privilege the role should allow - if I can get all of my work done in 4 hours, I can go home. Period. No timesheets, just whatever it took to get the work done and leave. But that's not what happens. They want you to literally cram and slam for 8+ hours, and if you don't, your name rises on the To-Be-Laid-Off list.
I had a salaried job like that once. I ran the commissary (small warehouse) for a bunch of steak houses. Every week I took their orders, pulled them, delivered them in a 6 wheel box truck (2 per day; 8 total and the other day I got my order), ordered whatever I used and had to put it away when it came in. I was trained by the person leaving the job. He would fill orders by going down the sheet and rolling the items out to the truck in order. He would continue with the second order. When he delivered the second order (delivered first) he had to be careful about the last few items where the orders intermingled. He did the weekly order by walking around and looking at each item's stock level. He worked about 45 hours a week. I noticed some cargo jacks in the warehouse and when I took over I used them. I would pull the entire order into the aisles, then get the hand truck and make nice stable stacks and used the jacks to separate the orders and keep the back order from spilling. I asked for a new padlock on the "cage door" that separated my warehouse from the meat cutters. The previous guy left it open so they could get some supplies as needed. I checked to see what they needed before I left and locked up. I was able to do my orders straight from the steak house orders because there was no "shrinkage". I worked about 25 hours a week. I used the extra time to go to tech school and learn to program computers.
Basically, I agree; We have to have an open economy, but when an economy matures from an industrial to a service basis, the system promises too much to a consumer base that relies too heavily on transfer payments (pensions, social insurance, gambling and all the rest). There are too many individuals reselling the time and attention of unappreciated subordinates who don't have much of a stake in the enterprise.
A lot of the Millennials grew up in over-sheltered environments, haven't caught on to this as yet, and likely won't until it's too late; I'd like to see a simple formulation of employee rights (starting with the hypocrisy of "exempt" salaried employees), but exactly how to do so would be a challenge.
I'm an evil liberal flaming homosexual. I work full time for an engineering firm, part time contract for a software company, write and maintain my own mobile apps, currently renovating my own kitchen, and absolutely hate people who lack a proper work ethic.
Don't know why conservatives believe they have the high grounds for work ethics and morals.
Because insomuch as excuses are made for people that ARE too lazy to work (and yes, those people exist) or for abuse of the welfare system, the excuse-makers are almost certain to be liberals. Doesn't mean that all liberals do this or are lazy anymore than it means that all conservatives are hard workers.
Like nearly everything else, this isn't as simple as ideologues would have us believe. In many cases, there aren't enough jobs, and certainly not enough high-quality jobs to go around as conservatives would say. This will become an increasing problem as automation increases. What's interesting is that the liberal's preferred actions, such as paying people $15/hour whose labor isn't even worth half of that, are only encouraging business owners to push forward with automation faster.
Because insomuch as excuses are made for people that ARE too lazy to work (and yes, those people exist) or for abuse of the welfare system, the excuse-makers are almost certain to be liberals. Doesn't mean that all liberals do this or are lazy anymore than it means that all conservatives are hard workers.
Like nearly everything else, this isn't as simple as ideologues would have us believe. In many cases, there aren't enough jobs, and certainly not enough high-quality jobs to go around as conservatives would say. This will become an increasing problem as automation increases. What's interesting is that the liberal's preferred actions, such as paying people $15/hour whose labor isn't even worth half of that, are only encouraging business owners to push forward with automation faster.
I think there toward the end is where a lot of us disagree on a very basic point. You say that some jobs are not worth an amount that I think is barely enough to live on if you work full time. IMO, all full time jobs should pay enough for the wage earner to have a dependent (we do want future generations), be able to afford food and shelter and actually be able to enjoy some recreation from time to time. I think too much of the money is skewed toward the skilled worker and management. Those jobs absolutely should make more; I have no problem with that. But it has gotten too far out of proportion.
I'm an evil liberal flaming homosexual. I work full time for an engineering firm, part time contract for a software company, write and maintain my own mobile apps, currently renovating my own kitchen, and absolutely hate people who lack a proper work ethic.
Don't know why conservatives believe they have the high grounds for work ethics and morals.
I don't think conservatives think that no liberals have a good work ethic. But, that liberals aim to actively create dependency in order to keep democrat voters. If you are actively creating dependency, then of course you must find some slackers to give money to.
Now I was raised in a middle of the road household, my grandparents on both sides were/are hardcore democrats, as is most of my family, however 1 thing we all had pounded in our heads was our work ethic, in my family the biggest concern is how hard you work, not what you do.
I know several people that do blue collar work and their companies are always hiring, in fact I have a friend that is trying to hire 5 guys right now but cannot get anybody willing to crawl around in roofs and crawl spaces to instal HVAC, show up on time, and look presentable enough for customers to allow you in their house and he is offering above market wages.
So the question is why is work ethic seen as only something for conservatives? When did boot strappers (as they are referred to on this site) become the exception and not the rule?
No. Conservatives would love to to think that they corner the market on "the work ethic" though.
And they seem to politicize everything.
Don't be sucked in.
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