[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by shovel

Or the city could offer meaningful tax breaks to employers offering four-ten or better work weeks. That way their employees would commute 20% fewer days and the reduced traffic management and air quality concerns, etc should easily pay for the tax breaks

Great idea. However, research has shown that people who have 10hr work days don't accomplish any more work than those with 8hr work days. It's just difficult to be focused for that length of time.

I was most productive when I was on 8hr shifts, but now that I'm working 13s, I only accomplish half of what I did on the shorter day.

As far as I'm concerned we're all prostitutes, that's what life is. I sell my body for 40-60 hours a week, and my employer does whatever he wants with it. It just so happens that he wants me to design things instead of that other activity usually associated with the word prostitution, but to put it bluntly I'd rather he was done with me in 10 minutes than using up 9+ hours of my life every day.

You are comparing work that is meaningful and valuable to society such as design, to work that is immoral and has no benefit to society! I'm actually in favor of legalizing prostitution, but that is no endorsement from me that it is good, or is valuable to the community.

I don't actually mind the fact that we have a so-called social safety net because it's important to keep people from becoming outright desperate - not only is it humane to keep people above absolute starvation where possible but also desperate people are dangerous people.

We don't have a safety net in the U.S., we have an early retirement program for anyone that wants it. The homeless here enjoy a higher standard of living than the average person in the rest of the world. Would basic needs not be met if we removed much of the welfare system? Of course not; we would see the return of compassion and charity, and a stronger work ethic.

But I do mind that we haven't built a work system. I drive, walk and ride past blighted property every day, I hang out in filthy and unmaintained parks and ride bike trails that could use a cleaning and some thorn removal, gutters that could use sweeping, roads that could use resurfacing - there are literally millions of things that need doing and I think it's within our society's capacity to convert the dole to a guaranteed jobs system. Not for people legitimately disabled of course, but if you don't have working legs you can still be a security guard or answer phones or supervise able-bodied, but mentally unstable folks who are performing more physical work in exchange for a living.

Agreed. There should be work exchanged for any handout to any able-bodied and mentally sound person. We also need to remove minimum wage so that jobs can be created. It's absolutely appalling that the government can have any say about the price I am willing to accept for my labor, especially in light of the fact that volunteering labor for free is completely legal.