What is “work” and how do we value it?

[CA renter]

This was such a great rant by Mike Rowe, and something I agree with wholeheartedly. We’ve gone from a nation of engineers, highly-skilled tradesmen, scientists, inventors, builders, etc…to a nation of sniveling flippers and traders (myself included).

We’ve shunned REAL work, and pushed every kid into college so that a college degree no longer means anything. We’ve demeaned real work and real workers — shipping their jobs overseas where unskilled laborers slave away in dirty factories without any labor protection and without living wages — because we don’t feel that our workers are worthy of protection and respect.

We now have salespeople and paper pushers who look down their noses at the people who make this country run. We mistakenly believe that profit-taking and control over money flows means that those well-paid paper-pushers are somehow more “productive” than the people who do all the REAL work.

God help those who don’t have a degree (but who work hard with their hands and their backs from morning ’til night), because in our society, we believe that they don’t “deserve” enough money to own a home or feed their families.

Our country is in big trouble, and much of it is due to this shift in attitude toward labor, IMHO.

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2009/07/mikes-mission-video/

[sdduuuude]

Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.

[sdduuuude]

Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.

[sdduuuude]

Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.

[sdduuuude]

Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.

[sdduuuude]

Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.

[CA renter]

[quote=sdduuuude]Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.[/quote]

And rioting, and high crime, and starvation, and sickness, and social decay…

[CA renter]

[quote=sdduuuude]Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.[/quote]

And rioting, and high crime, and starvation, and sickness, and social decay…

[CA renter]

[quote=sdduuuude]Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.[/quote]

And rioting, and high crime, and starvation, and sickness, and social decay…

[CA renter]

[quote=sdduuuude]Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.[/quote]

And rioting, and high crime, and starvation, and sickness, and social decay…

[CA renter]

[quote=sdduuuude]Set the minimum wage to $0.00 and the country would re-learn what work is.[/quote]

And rioting, and high crime, and starvation, and sickness, and social decay…

[Eugene]

That is a big paradox of the modern age. We humans (specifically, residents of developed countries) are way too productive. We don’t need many people to provide for all our needs. 3% of the adult population is enough to feed everyone, additional 3% is enough to clothe everyone, to build furniture, electronics… What’s the largest capital expense in for most people, after the house? Probably the automobile. Major auto manufacturers such as Toyota and GM produce an average of 30-40 vehicles per employee per year. (That includes salespeople and paper pushers as well as assembly line workers.) If an average car serves 10 years before hitting the junk yard, that means we humans can satisfy world demand for cars by employing 0.2-0.3% of adult population in auto manufacturing.

So what this all comes down to is that we don’t really need many people to do “REAL work”. That was true long before “real workers” had their jobs shipped overseas.

Of course, this situation is self-reinforcing. Increases in productivity only appear when there are enough “idle”, preferably college-educated people around.

[Eugene]

That is a big paradox of the modern age. We humans (specifically, residents of developed countries) are way too productive. We don’t need many people to provide for all our needs. 3% of the adult population is enough to feed everyone, additional 3% is enough to clothe everyone, to build furniture, electronics… What’s the largest capital expense in for most people, after the house? Probably the automobile. Major auto manufacturers such as Toyota and GM produce an average of 30-40 vehicles per employee per year. (That includes salespeople and paper pushers as well as assembly line workers.) If an average car serves 10 years before hitting the junk yard, that means we humans can satisfy world demand for cars by employing 0.2-0.3% of adult population in auto manufacturing.

So what this all comes down to is that we don’t really need many people to do “REAL work”. That was true long before “real workers” had their jobs shipped overseas.

Of course, this situation is self-reinforcing. Increases in productivity only appear when there are enough “idle”, preferably college-educated people around.

[Eugene]

That is a big paradox of the modern age. We humans (specifically, residents of developed countries) are way too productive. We don’t need many people to provide for all our needs. 3% of the adult population is enough to feed everyone, additional 3% is enough to clothe everyone, to build furniture, electronics… What’s the largest capital expense in for most people, after the house? Probably the automobile. Major auto manufacturers such as Toyota and GM produce an average of 30-40 vehicles per employee per year. (That includes salespeople and paper pushers as well as assembly line workers.) If an average car serves 10 years before hitting the junk yard, that means we humans can satisfy world demand for cars by employing 0.2-0.3% of adult population in auto manufacturing.

So what this all comes down to is that we don’t really need many people to do “REAL work”. That was true long before “real workers” had their jobs shipped overseas.

Of course, this situation is self-reinforcing. Increases in productivity only appear when there are enough “idle”, preferably college-educated people around.

[Eugene]

That is a big paradox of the modern age. We humans (specifically, residents of developed countries) are way too productive. We don’t need many people to provide for all our needs. 3% of the adult population is enough to feed everyone, additional 3% is enough to clothe everyone, to build furniture, electronics… What’s the largest capital expense in for most people, after the house? Probably the automobile. Major auto manufacturers such as Toyota and GM produce an average of 30-40 vehicles per employee per year. (That includes salespeople and paper pushers as well as assembly line workers.) If an average car serves 10 years before hitting the junk yard, that means we humans can satisfy world demand for cars by employing 0.2-0.3% of adult population in auto manufacturing.

So what this all comes down to is that we don’t really need many people to do “REAL work”. That was true long before “real workers” had their jobs shipped overseas.

Of course, this situation is self-reinforcing. Increases in productivity only appear when there are enough “idle”, preferably college-educated people around.

[Author]

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