Yeah, I only agree with that particular post mostly too...As I said, it's more complicated, but I'm trying not to derail the thread. There is absolutely a place for centralised systems, and Capitalism, but decoupling the essentials for living from it removes the potential for Capitalism to put profits over people, as it is wont to do. As for regional variation - parametric design tools. I also agree with decentralised "cores", the little hobby project I mentioned earlier in the thread involves communities of 150 households (hello Dunbar's number) with a view to meeting every tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
So say we have a job that is essential, but doesn't need a high level of education or advanced skills and training. Pick one....the postman. You want it to be highly paid but there are going to be far more qualified candidates than vacancies. Will jobs be awarded by lottery or by connections or bribes and favours? Then we take a job that is completely inessential but needs a high level of education and skill...say a game developer, perhaps. They now need to be on the minimum wage........
Game developer? Maybe not minimum wage. Footballer? Yeah, let's stick 'em all on the minimum wage. Back in the early days it was all people doing it for fun and an orange at half time, and people still watched it. I had my tonsils out once. (Because why would I have them out twice?) Shortly after coming around, I Exorcist-style vomited what appeared to be 17 pints of what I can only assume was my blood all over the nice clean white bedsheets. Head to toe, total coverage. The ward nurse had to come in, strip the bed down, make it again with clean linen, and check I was okay. I think, from that story alone, we can agree that while paying a shelf stacker £250,000 a week and the CEO of a Fortune 50 minimum wage might be a little reductio ad absurdam it's very clear nurses deserve more than £25k a year.
Random thing, average game developer in US earns $44k, average US Postal worker earns $51k, workers in creative industries mostly get **** on from a great height like any other mass market business.
Many in game development are already treated like garbage by their employers. But yes, a job that is actually necessary (for example a job in a nursing home) should pay much more than some completely worthless job (for example a job at a record label).
But say you say that ad agency creatives have to go on minimum wage. Now you and I might both not care if you saw another overblown ad for a pointless chocolate bar. But unless you are banning advertising, they are going to want to pay to get the better staff. Likewise a waiter or waitress in a restaurant is inessential, but someone at the till at the greengrocer is. How to plan to ensure they are paid differently?
Well the hedgefunders who are making a fortune during the pandemic have to try and spend that money somehow. Lock them all up.
I applied for a couple jobs before I got money sorted. I just got an email back from Aldi... I'll just paste it here: "Congratulations on your success in our recruitment process so far. The next stage of the recruitment process will involve completing a short Video Application. If you don't have access to a web-cam on your own laptop or PC don't worry, lots of our candidates link in with their friends or family or use local Job Centres or library facilities. Please note that this link will expire in 5 days, so please complete your application as soon as possible." And apparently this is just one of a slew of interviews. This came after answering a load of situational and general personal questions, and (if successful) comes before a group interview and then (if successful) a final interview. The obvious flaws aside, I somewhat commend their thoroughness, but it's retail not a 6-figure TV presenting contract. I'm no cam girl! Edit: Forgot to mention: you also have to do it in formal business wear with a dark plain background.
I once formulated an algorithm which states that the wage of a job is a combination of how hard it is to find someone with the required skill and how rich the people are whose needs are served by it. Sorry, but all forms of art are essential (not convinced? Think of all the books you read, the music you listen to, the TV you binge-watch and the games you play to stop you from losing your ****ing mind during lock-down at home). Hence games developer is an essential job.
Then it ends up at........"I think people who do stuff or make stuff I like or need should be paid well and the rest get bugger all." which some may see may have issues in implementation.............. But getting away from the silly, yes there is a bloody obvious problem when we don't pay enough to get enough people or the right people. This happens at various levels in both public and private sectors and any amount of excuses doesn't fix it. We pay nurses less than half what we pay tube drivers. Any good reasons why? I can think of the bad ones.
I imagine it's for similar reasons that starting salaries in academia are so low (usually only £30k/year for a STEM postdoc, and a very shallow progression scale): there's enough people willing to do the job at that salary point, rather than 'trade up' to a better paid job in a similar field. The trend isn't towards paying people what they're worth, but paying the minimum that there will be still enough people to fill the required positions.
Not really, if there are enough people who like or need that stuff. Market forces, yo. Problem is people don't always appreciate what they need. Possibly a bad comparison. Tube drivers are not exactly unskilled, work unsocial hours and carry thousands of people safely to their destination every day. A lapse in concentration can have dire consequences --just because their vehicle runs on rails doesn't mean it's inherently safe...
Anyway, not even thought about it but with all the new rules for Policing where is our notorious Home Secretary?
