The quandry: Most people who are poor work hard - very hard - at jobs that require low skills. No one will do these jobs if the pathetic pay to be had from them can be gotten for free from the government.The solution ought to involve some sort of 'workfare', where people who make low wages can be subsidized by the state in the form of a dole/raise, based on hours worked. The money would help businesses as well, by helping them retain their workforce. This might be what the government is attempting, with slouchers trying to sidestep the spirit of the law by declaring themselves "musicians", or "artists", or some other self-employed vocation that is almost impossible to verify.
Meanwhile, highly skilled people make huge amounts of money by doing very little, albeit working at things that only they can do. They aren't particularly pleased by the prospect of being penalized for their high level of talent or competance. In the interim, people starve or sell drugs.
If you've a solution to this nasty dilemna, I'm all ears. This, and not the 'exploitation of the masses', is the real problem that capitalist systems will be forced to come to grips with in the 21st century. So far, socialist fixes have only delayed the inevitable resolution of these issues, and in some cases excaberated the underlying problem (welfare, for example).
Thoughts?
"Doc" Cruel
