Comment by jwagenet
14 days ago
This is a reasonably bad faith take of their response. Their “predatory” assertion was with regards to saying “who’s going to pick up garbage” as if we have to keep making that a low paying job for the bottom rung of society, not “where do we draw the line between essential and necessity”. The point is to make undesirable jobs actually well compensated for their desirableness rather than here is a job, take it or leave it.
I don’t think they intentionally excluded healthcare or comfortable living from essential needs. Yes the threshold for essential is fuzzy, but it’s a pretty damn low bar that isn’t being met for many people (in the US at least), but could be at a relatively low cost.
As far as basic needs go: affordable clothing, healthy food, clean water, access to annual preventative healthcare and urgent acute care, small but well maintained living space with climate control, basic communication device and internet plan, public transportation/(e)bike, walking distance to grocery stores and parks.
Non-basic needs: car ownership, suburban/rural living, living in areas with extreme temperature or acute water supply issues, luxury clothing/electronics/etc.
You can argue as you wish, but let me give you a sample size of one: if garbage starts to pile up on the streets and pay for hauling it away also skyrockets, I'll be the first one picking it. But that would be free market and nobody wants that, right?
I don’t think UBI type initiatives, decoupling healthcare from employment, etc are incompatible with free market actions; the goal is to cover basic needs so individuals can make their own optimal employment decisions. Wages can still vary with supply and experience can dictate positions available.
With regards to the garbage collection example (although they may not apply to all low level jobs): 1. I think wages can only inflate so far before being overwhelmed by employment supply
2. Raising wages for these jobs helps return dignity and respect to them within the community
3. Because labor cost is cheap/suppressed, we have nonoptimal solutions to things like trash collection and I think there are ways to reduce the labor required.
4. I understand people operate for themselves and don’t care for others, but I believe if society supports people, they will be better at returning the favor but reducing things like littering and dumping.