Our Covid Response

Buyetyen

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You haven't been paying attention then. The incentive is for your financial security, not the 1%. The 1% shouldn't even be your concern. The economic status quo is just a byproduct of being part of the work force.
So there is no incentive beyond, "Shut the fuck up and accept your meager pay, prole."

Also consider yourself lucky
I do, actually. And that probably pisses you off even more.
 

McElroy

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Well that I why hindsight is 20/20 right?
I mean now with most vulnerable people fully vaccinated, which means the healthcare system is secured, as you mentioned too. There certainly were times where the government took action, because something had to be done. In hindsight some of it was unnecessary, but minimal action would've lead to a deliberate stress test for our healthcare system and cost much more by most metrics.
 
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CriticalGaming

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So there is no incentive beyond, "Shut the fuck up and accept your meager pay, prole."
YEAH! Why should people have to work for money? It's Fucking Bullshit I tell you what.

I do, actually. And that probably pisses you off even more.
I don't get pissed at you. You are a faceless name on a message board on the internet. I don't care about you beyond disagreeing with you.

Also disagreement does not equal dislike or hate either by the way.

I hope you are well, and I hope that merely disagreeing with someone else's thoughts does not generate hatred in you either.
 

Buyetyen

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YEAH! Why should people have to work for money? It's Fucking Bullshit I tell you what.
That's a shitty incentive.

I'm paid well for what I do, but I still got sidelined by Covid and didn't have a real choice in going back to work. But a lot of "essential" workers (a lot of baggage with that phrase, but that's another conversation) aren't adequately paid. And numerous businesses took pandemic bailout money from the government, but refused to change working conditions for their staff who had to be there.

There is no such thing as unskilled labor. And if your only incentive to work during a natural disaster is the threat of starvation, then the situation is unjust.
 
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Buyetyen

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Let me mock the career paths of some people because i feel their jobs are beneath me!
It's not mocking retail jobs to say that they pay shit wages and shit benefits. I say this as someone who used to be stuck in the retail mines, living hand to mouth for about a decade. Again, you look at the way things are, but you never ask why.
 

CriticalGaming

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It's not mocking retail jobs to say that they pay shit wages and shit benefits. I say this as someone who used to be stuck in the retail mines, living hand to mouth for about a decade. Again, you look at the way things are, but you never ask why.

A fast food worker is an entry into the restaurant business where you can make quite a decent living. You can become a chef, general manager, franchisee. Working retail gets you into sales, in which you can move into better sales jobs with big companies and go from selling jeans to selling million dollar products.

Don't focus on where you begin, focus on where you can go.
 

Buyetyen

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A fast food worker is an entry into the restaurant business where you can make quite a decent living. You can become a chef, general manager, franchisee. Working retail gets you into sales, in which you can move into better sales jobs with big companies and go from selling jeans to selling million dollar products.

Don't focus on where you begin, focus on where you can go.
And this is an excuse to pay people shit wages and benefits how?

What an empty fucking sentiment.
 
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Seanchaidh

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And lets be honest we are all sitting here being armchair quarterbacks. I think none of us would have faired any better had we been in charge in the moment.
This sounds like a mundane, reasonable thing to say if you assume that what leaders value primarily is the best interest of the public and don't look too closely at what they actually did and the variety of other options people were proposing at the time.

If, on the other hand, you recognize the primary constituents of political leadership in the capitalist world as those who fund political campaigns and reward well-connected party functionaries and politicians in and out of office and their families in other ways, and realize that they would routinely put profit before lives, then that seems nowhere close to a straightforward conclusion to draw. The concentration of media ownership and its subservience to that same constituency makes it all the more doubtful, as manipulating public opinion with propaganda is cheaper than delivering good policy.
 

CriticalGaming

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And this is an excuse to pay people shit wages and benefits how?

What an empty fucking sentiment.
And what would you pay people for unskilled work? What's your solution? $25 dollar minimum wage? What do you even consider a shit wage?

And frankly disliking the treatment of the workers, doesn't mean you should belittle them for the job they have. Just like you wouldn't (I hope) belittle the fat guy at the gym. Because at least they are TRYING. You on the other hand would seem that you'd rather live off unemployment than try to make something of yourself.

The idea that the most entry-level jobs need to pay a livable salary is crazy. Where do you think that money is going to come from? Because if you think it's as simple as paying CEO's 90% less or whatever, then you are living in a fucking fantasy land.

I think a lot of people don't realize the level of work executives at companies actually have to manage. From budgeting, to conceptualizing new products, to directing workflow, controlling inventory and manufactoring, to appeasing share holders. There is a lot of variables in a lot of those upper poistions. It's not like they sit in a big fucking chair and watch their money go up.
 

Buyetyen

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And what would you pay people for unskilled work? What's your solution? $25 dollar minimum wage? What do you even consider a shit wage?
$25 minimum sounds about right to cover cost of living and inject more cash into circulation. And I repeat, there is no such thing as unskilled work. Whoever told you that's a thing is going to Hell for lying.

And frankly disliking the treatment of the workers, doesn't mean you should belittle them for the job they have. Just like you wouldn't (I hope) belittle the fat guy at the gym. Because at least they are TRYING. You on the other hand would seem that you'd rather live off unemployment than try to make something of yourself.
Nobody belittled them. You just made that shit up. If anything, I'd say the only one devaluing retail workers is you. You don't want them to have enough money to live off of, but you're happy to use them as a blunt instrument in an attempt to shut other people up.

The idea that the most entry-level jobs need to pay a livable salary is crazy. Where do you think that money is going to come from? Because if you think it's as simple as paying CEO's 90% less or whatever, then you are living in a fucking fantasy land.
From money circulating through the economy. Which it can't do when rich people are hoarding all of it because they value profit more than life.

I think a lot of people don't realize the level of work executives at companies actually have to manage. From budgeting, to conceptualizing new products, to directing workflow, controlling inventory and manufactoring, to appeasing share holders. There is a lot of variables in a lot of those upper poistions. It's not like they sit in a big fucking chair and watch their money go up.
Now tell me about the part where I give a shit. Tell me about the part where this justifies them hoarding more money than they will ever spend. Tell me how that's supposed to be good for workers and the economy in general.
 
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CriticalGaming

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And I repeat, there is no such thing as unskilled work.
I don't think you understand the difference between skilled and unskilled labor.

You can pluck someone off the street into a fast food job and they could get by. You can't pluck someone off the street to perform open heart surgery on you.

Now tell me about the part where I give a shit. Tell me about the part where this justifies them hoarding more money than they will ever spend. Tell me how that's supposed to be good for workers and the economy in general.
These are things the unsuccessful say about the successful. It's a fantasy world. Why work hard when you just can blame your lack of success on other people hoarding their success from you.

Also this facilitates the dream that you can't be happy or well off unless you are uber rich. It's an all or nothing mentality that does nobody any good.

But hey there is an easy way to overcome that. Get a skill. And you'll see the difference between someone who can fix the plumbing in your house, versus someone who can only sort boxes in a warehouse.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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I don't think you understand the difference between skilled and unskilled labor.

You can pluck someone off the street into a fast food job and they could get by. You can't pluck someone off the street to perform open heart surgery on you.

These are things the unsuccessful say about the successful. It's a fantasy world. Why work hard when you just can blame your lack of success on other people hoarding their success from you.

Also this facilitates the dream that you can't be happy or well off unless you are uber rich. It's an all or nothing mentality that does nobody any good.

But hey there is an easy way to overcome that. Get a skill. And you'll see the difference between someone who can fix the plumbing in your house, versus someone who can only sort boxes in a warehouse.
Let me mock the career paths of some people because i feel their jobs are beneath me!
Somehow this rings disingenuous. Couldn't tell you why.

Oh course, I'm definitely making fun of the people working the shit job for shit pay dealing with bullshit spouting customers and not the job itself, despite those jobs being all I've ever worked

 

CriticalGaming

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Somehow this rings disingenuous. Couldn't tell you why.

Oh course, I'm definitely making fun of the people working the shit job for shit pay dealing with bullshit spouting customers and not the job itself, despite those jobs being all I've ever worked

I would agree that rent is crazy. But i dont think underpaid employees are the problem. I think there needs some sort of rent regulations to keep rent in areas affordable in a reasonabke degree.

Because if you pay employees more then everything around that increases. We need to look at solutions that combat the cost of inflation, not feed into it.

So in a way you and i want the same thing, but from different directions i think.
 

Agema

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I would agree that rent is crazy. But i dont think underpaid employees are the problem. I think there needs some sort of rent regulations to keep rent in areas affordable in a reasonabke degree.

Because if you pay employees more then everything around that increases. We need to look at solutions that combat the cost of inflation, not feed into it.
Sure, but if you freeze rent then people have more disposable income, so they buy more and it causes the cost of everything else goes up. Therefore, you may as well pay workers more.

More realistically, of course, this would represent a sort of conflict amongst the upper classes. Employers do not want to pay more, and landowners don't want rents capped. Normally, you would expect employers to be more "powerful" than landowners. Although in practice there is no conflict, because the ideal answer for both employers and landowners is low pay and unregulated rents.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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I would agree that rent is crazy. But i dont think underpaid employees are the problem. I think there needs some sort of rent regulations to keep rent in areas affordable in a reasonabke degree.

Because if you pay employees more then everything around that increases. We need to look at solutions that combat the cost of inflation, not feed into it.

So in a way you and i want the same thing, but from different directions i think.
Considering your stance is simultaneously "how dare you suggest bullshit low wage jobs don't provide financial security" and "if your bullshit low wage job isn't providing financial security it's your own fault for not getting "skills" you moocher"
But I'm the asshole for pointing out that "low skilled" jobs don't provide financial security. Never mind that Go Fund Me is the largest healthcare provider in the United States, get that fast food job that doesn't pay the rent and like it, you pleb

Vital enough to be considered essential during a pandemic, not vital enough to live on. It's bullshit
 
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CriticalGaming

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Considering your stance is simultaneously "how dare you suggest bullshit low wage jobs don't provide financial security" and "if your bullshit low wage job isn't providing financial security it's your own fault for not getting "skills" you moocher"
I love how you continue to conflate my words

I said don't disrespect entry level positions, I never said they would provide financial security. I said you should use those jobs to get work experience, job experience, and yes....skills if the job offers such a thing. Otherwise use your time to learn a s are kill outside of the job to get better and better jobs as you progress. Like Leveling up in an RPG.

But nobody should linger in entry level positions, and if you have been working for years and are still in an entry level position....then maybe it's because your attitude sucks and you treat your job like shit because you feel like you are too good for the position. If you are genuinely being denied promotions and raises, use your work experience to get higher paying jobs somewhere else.

Especially with a labor shortage right now, people are paying more than ever before just to get workers.

Health care reform, rent regulations, these other things I can get behind with you on absolutely. Not this though.
 

Agema

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I love how you continue to conflate my words

I said don't disrespect entry level positions, I never said they would provide financial security. I said you should use those jobs to get work experience, job experience, and yes....skills if the job offers such a thing. Otherwise use your time to learn a s are kill outside of the job to get better and better jobs as you progress. Like Leveling up in an RPG.
Unfortunately, I fear the world is such that a substantial chunk of the population will always be doing low skill labour. Sure, there are a load of youngsters doing it for a few years whilst they live low responsibility lives, but we really have to face up to the fact that plenty of them will never climb significantly higher. I can't help but notice a load of the gig workers handing me my mail order packages are in their 40s and 50s.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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You risk your health every single day you go outside, covid or no covid.
So why aren't you advocating for removing seat belts from cars, or striking down helmet laws, or allowing anyone to own firearms regardless of skill, training or even mental health? You sound like Marjorie Taylor Green whimpering "we all die someday".

Let me mock the career paths of some people because i feel their jobs are beneath me!
No, you're mocking the value of their lives.
 
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