Comment Re:This is not the problem (Score 1) 688
How about the fact that we need more and more knowledge workers in the tertiary sector?
Those aren't minimum wage jobs.
So what? We're talking about advocating education, and specifically about universal vocational education, ie the state paying for college, tech school, trade school, or such.
Yes, those ARE NOT minimum wage jobs. They are jobs that have more demand, and therefore have higher wages. We need more of these people. We should make more of these people. With education.
Is your goal to make as many people scrounge out a living on minimum wage as possible?
Also, historically, mechanization, paradigm shifts, and other such major business process changes aren't there to shift labor up the pipe.
The hell? Remember when 80% of the workforce used to be farmers? Then they moved more towards factories. Do you not see that shift from the primary to secondary industry? There will always be some people in the primary industries (I don't think complete automation is really viable), but the bulk of the demand for workers has indeed shifted up the pipe. That might not have been the intended goal of industrialization, but it's a consequence of it. Regardless, you can't possibly argue that there HAS been a shift from the primary sector, to the secondary, to the tertiary. Knowledge workers is where the jobs are at. Don't be dense.
I think your "thousands of hours" have given you a bit of an ego. Because, no, it took you THREE promptings to refute my points, and then you wave away the points with "That's an anecdote" and "[universal education doesn't make minimum wage jobs]". Yeah, you're hearing 2+2=5, but that's not what I'm saying. You're going to win a lot of arguments that way, but lose all your debates.
And... really? You think getting an engineering degree is going to "fail" since other people want those engineering jobs? HA! Well this might just be an anecdote, but it worked pretty well for me. And every other engineer I know.
There really isn't an infinite demand market for scientists and engineers. Where would we get infinite money?
With time. Imagine you had an oil well which never ran dry. Or a farm with an infinitely sized plot. You could pump up as much oil or grow as much corn as you wanted, but you'd flood the market and see diminishing returns. Science and engineering has an unlimited amount of..... "advancement" that they can go work on. That's not the same as an infinite demand. Demand for science comes and goes, and it's mostly a matter of businesses or armies wanting to one-up their neighbor. But there's an infinite amount of work. And I'm not so sure there are diminishing returns.
as opposed to having businesses who understand their own needs develop the work force, hiring entrants and managing their education far more efficiently.
Wow, corporate control over not only the wages of all their workers, but also the primary force of upward social mobility.... yeah, that paints a pleasant picture of the future.
Siiiiiigh, the saddest part about all this is that I agree with your main idea. A guaranteed income, or a citizen's dividend, sounds like a good idea. But GOD DAMN are you hard to talk to about it. Really, your views on everything else are kinda turning me off of the idea.