The capitalist model relies on a disadvantaged lower strata of society to put pressure on workers to accept poor wages and conditions. There is a social price to be paid in the forms of petty crime, vandalism: a low level noise floor of discontent. Any cost/benefit analysis is weighted in favour of the benefits (trickle down theory anyon…
The capitalist model relies on a disadvantaged lower strata of society to put pressure on workers to accept poor wages and conditions. There is a social price to be paid in the forms of petty crime, vandalism: a low level noise floor of discontent. Any cost/benefit analysis is weighted in favour of the benefits (trickle down theory anyone?), so the system persists. If anything, conditions are deliberately worsened.
I first became aware of this trend in my own country when, some years ago, the unemployment benefit was reduced to "lower it to subsistence level". The dole bludgers were having it too good. Life needed to be harder.
This heralded the beginning of a trend of hard-heartedness which persists to this day, and has spread to include minimum wage workers.
During my travels around the world, I have noticed that people in difficult or impoverished living conditions have an underlying belief that life will be better for their children. A conversation would go along the lines..." yes life is hard, but there's a school in the village now".
In my own country, after a few decades of the type of thinking that lead to the subsistence level support mentioned above, that hope has gone. There is a new generation arriving who have been taught that there is no point in trying for a better life. Born into the scrap heap, with no chance of leaving it.
The capitalist model relies on a disadvantaged lower strata of society to put pressure on workers to accept poor wages and conditions. There is a social price to be paid in the forms of petty crime, vandalism: a low level noise floor of discontent. Any cost/benefit analysis is weighted in favour of the benefits (trickle down theory anyone?), so the system persists. If anything, conditions are deliberately worsened.
I first became aware of this trend in my own country when, some years ago, the unemployment benefit was reduced to "lower it to subsistence level". The dole bludgers were having it too good. Life needed to be harder.
This heralded the beginning of a trend of hard-heartedness which persists to this day, and has spread to include minimum wage workers.
During my travels around the world, I have noticed that people in difficult or impoverished living conditions have an underlying belief that life will be better for their children. A conversation would go along the lines..." yes life is hard, but there's a school in the village now".
In my own country, after a few decades of the type of thinking that lead to the subsistence level support mentioned above, that hope has gone. There is a new generation arriving who have been taught that there is no point in trying for a better life. Born into the scrap heap, with no chance of leaving it.
Doesn't bode well.