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A bus driver.
When this diary talks about social mobility, the underlying assumption is that people want to go up the social ladders, and not down. Of course going down is generally easier and with less blockades hence we don't talk about it too much.
Not being anymore in the Netherlands I didn't really experience the whole ruckus around the Dutch future-bus driver - but the fact that there was ruckus and I read about it made we wonder. What was so puzzling that someone wanted to become a bus driver? Clearly this guy's talent could be put to work on other places but perhaps he sees no difference in, say, becoming a politician or a bus driver. A politician is supposed to take responsibility of the people of its country; a bus driver takes responsibility of the people inside its bus. Difference in quantity - but different in utility? Both professions are responsible for people. I hope the guy just picked what he thinks makes him happy. Perhaps within 5 years time he's going bonkers behind the steering wheel, but that's then.
But this is how I'd like my society to be: no one should look up estranged that someone wants to climb down.
My main point is that when we focus on utility, we see poverty as the social problem.
When we focus on status, we see inequality as the social problem.
And when we apply the tenets of democracy and "libery" we get different results.
I don't see anything wrong with this guy who wanted to be a bus driver.
I'll be honest, there are days I wish I had become a carpenter like my father did.
About status, I would say that if we recognize that the problem of class in society is something deeper than income and wealth, we make a giant leap towards creating a society where the principals of equality that we apply to persons as citizens, to person as workers as well.
I intended this to be a rant against inequality, I'm not sure I entirely succeeded. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Or, to paraphrase Spiderman, "with great capacities comes greater responsibility" In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
;-) In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
But optimisatin of the use of any resource is not necessarily marketistic. It can also simply be good hygiene. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
What about ancient economies like the Greek oikos, or the manorial system?
And is utility maxmization fundamentally an emperical matter or a normative matter?
If the latter, are not the illusions of economics to be a natural science rather than social philosophy misguided? And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
If we look to those countries that have been most successful in creating equality, the Scandanavians, we find that they all possess this cultural concept of lagom, enough, which means that economies exist only to provide enough so that we are comfortable.
It gives real meaning to the question, "Live to work, or work to live?" And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Fuck off.
I feel much better now. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Efficiency is also about avoiding waste, which is a concept that is needed if you take sustainability seriously.
I think that nature is actually a lot more ruthless than any neo-lib when it comes to not wasting resources, or "putting them to use". In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
People are not (human) resources.
Paraphrasing Kant, the foundation of ethics is that people are ends unto themselves, not means.
Sorry. Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
Is that just Hollywood propaganda? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
(Obviously I'm exaggerating and the use you mention is entirely correct. It's just that the equality comes at a price.)
Note: the OR is Inclusive.
"Equality comes at a price." True and I do not disagree. I submit rampant individualism also comes at a price. Sweden, if I may, is the poster child for the Price of Equality while the US is the shining example of the Price of Rampant Individualism. Having had my fill of the latter I wouldn't mind, at all, a goodly dollop of the former. Given what you, and others, have posted it is apparent Your Mileage most certainly Does Vary. Once again, I do not take issue with that. I would maintain there is much to admire in the 'Scandinavian Model' but neither do I have any illusions about it. As much as I detest the 'US Model' I still recognize there are good things about it as well.
Over the next 50 years, or so, tho' I fully expect these two systems to be challenged. I further expect the 'Swedish Model' to be the superior system and the basis of that superiority is lagom. What I don't expect is innovative methods for dealing with the challenges to come from a Swedish Model but I do expect them from the US Model.
But the general level of pain and suffering will be greater under the US Model. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
And I agree that the solution lies nearer the "Swedish" model than the US one. "The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.
Luke 12:48 "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
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