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With a few weeks to build up a national movement, every able-bodied American who has no job shows up at 8-am on a Monday at the door of a prospective employer near their home. Each one says "I'm ready to work. I promise to come in every day, if you promise me a week's living wage on Friday."
What would happen? There would be 100% full employment -- so what? What is the value of having every person show up for work in the morning? What would they produce? Where would the money come from to pay them?
What would happen to productivity? Would each shop increase their production, or would there actually be a decline in productivity, with the workplace crowded with people who are unable to work productively, or don't really want to, getting in the way , or doing work that has to be done over again..
The Modern Money crowd has been trying to sell the Federal Gov't as the Employer of Last Resort. Essentially where every willing unemployed worker would be given a minimum wage job. Possibly funded centrally but administered locally. So where my small town might have 1000 willing unemployed, the city might be able to put a good portion of them to work. Clean up. Security. Crossing guards. Landscaping. Painting. General maintenance. Drivers. Elder care and supports. Soup kitchens, senior meals, meals on wheels. Schools might put them to use.
The Modern Money crowd has been trying to sell the Federal Gov't as the Employer of Last Resort. Essentially where every willing unemployed worker would be given a minimum wage job. Possibly funded centrally but administered locally. So where my small town might have 1000 willing unemployed, the city might be able to put a good portion of them to work. Clean up. Security. Crossing guards. Landscaping. Painting. General maintenance. Drivers. Elder care and supports. Soup kitchens, senior meals, meals on wheels. Schools might put them to use.
That is because the government has the power and the willingness to raise the money to do that. Private enterprise does not, and will not. Which is why free market capitalism is a poor nag to bet on when the track is muddy, however fleet she may be on a fine day. We saw that during the FDR administration, as well.
The notion of full employment has been a common misconception that has led many to believe that it really is possible and, something desirable. A modern economy can no longer turn away from the fact of high unemployment becoming the norm. As millions of people across the world become economically marginalized by machine labor the permanency of that resulting unemployment will be obvious. Most of the moralizing that surrounds the social issues caused by mass unemployment will need to give way to a new kind of relationship with the unemployed that allows their plight to be seen as a natural outcome of applied technology and the fact that capitalism has no solutions to it's innate problems.
We are hearing more about those who are afflicted by this economic marginalization, what to do when all aid runs out, and still no job is forthcoming? Lower population numbers will certainly be one answer for the future, but at present, it's a moot point. In the book, A Planet of Slums, the tales of woe from around the globe telling about the mass migrations of the rural unemployed to the big cities allows us to see the rising possibility of a mass human tragedy unfolding. I guess the arguing and moralizing will continue until even the most ignorant people finally cave into a reality that transcends their pious views and begs their attention.
That is because the government has the power and the willingness to raise the money to do that. Private enterprise does not, and will not. Which is why free market capitalism is a poor nag to bet on when the track is muddy, however fleet she may be on a fine day. We saw that during the FDR administration, as well.
The government's power comes from the private market. Where do you think it gets its money? If you ever earn a living you understand that pretty quickly. The gubmint draw doesn't just come from nowhere.
There would not be full employment. Employers have not committed to hire them. Full employment is like the perfect pitch in baseball, it can never be reached. But I wish the government and business interests would try.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by pvande55
There would not be full employment. Employers have not committed to hire them. Full employment is like the perfect pitch in baseball, it can never be reached. But I wish the government and business interests would try.
The purpose of a business is to make money, not to provide jobs. To survive they have to produce as much as possible at the lowest possible cost. That means the least number of employees to get the work done. That's why more and more big companies, and government agencies are investing in LEAN, Six Sigma and other continuous process improvement programs to get more work done by the same number of people or less.
The purpose of a business is to make money, not to provide jobs. To survive they have to produce as much as possible at the lowest possible cost. That means the least number of employees to get the work done. That's why more and more big companies, and government agencies are investing in LEAN, Six Sigma and other continuous process improvement programs to get more work done by the same number of people or less.
Economics is generally thought of as theories that encompass a total view of the ways in which a society determines how best to organize itself for it's survival. So, the "purpose" of business may be considered as something that has a symbiotic relationship with society and not a stand alone purpose unto itself.
The purpose of a business is to make money, not to provide jobs. To survive they have to produce as much as possible at the lowest possible cost. That means the least number of employees to get the work done. That's why more and more big companies, and government agencies are investing in LEAN, Six Sigma and other continuous process improvement programs to get more work done by the same number of people or less.
And it seems all the unemployed have certification in Six Sigma black belt. Or maybe just the ones I know.
That is because the government has the power and the willingness to raise the money to do that. Private enterprise does not, and will not. Which is why free market capitalism is a poor nag to bet on when the track is muddy, however fleet she may be on a fine day. We saw that during the FDR administration, as well???
To the best of my knowledge, there was no time, at any point during Franklin Roosevelt's 3.1 terms in the White House, when positive economic conditions prevailed; we came closest in the fall and winter of 1935-36, and most of that was due to the Supreme Court's strike-down of the folly that was the National Recovery Act.
When, after the 1936 election, it became apparent that the bureaucracies and economic meddling were here to stay, the economy tanked again, and only a strong Republican/Southern Democrat showing in the 1938 midterm elections revived it. those hoped were again dashed in 1940, and the economy was destined to remain stagnant through the close of World War II.
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