Fake Jobs

[Such_Saturation]

Very interesting video about useless job positions as well as the "work is sacred" imperative that affects both the left and the right.

 

[Regina]

Very interesting video about useless job positions as well as the "work is sacred" imperative that affects both the left and the right.

Yeah. At least in America, it has become standard for people's first question to be "What'd'YOU do?" There's social pressure to say something back. (other than "F you. None of your beeswax.") As if, we all need to be building for the war effort or some labor nonsense. It's also somewhat illegal to be in your own home during the day. I was walking my dog one day and a cop asked me why I wasn't at work. I just looked back at him blinking. That seemed to make him shrink a bit.
It's the same mentality if you mention something like vitamin K to somebody. "Are you a doctor?" Unauthorized reading, unauthorized looking in the internet. Cheating.

 

[lvysaur]

It's the same mentality if you mention something like vitamin K to somebody. "Are you a doctor?" Unauthorized reading, unauthorized looking in the internet. Cheating.

I think "unauthorized" is the key word. Almost as if most people want everyone's actions to be authorized...accepted by their preferred authority....authoritarian

 

[LUH 3417]

Puritanical work ethic. Or whatever it’s called

 

[LUH 3417]

On another note his book “fragments of an anarchist anthropology” is a very entertaining short read
http://abahlali.org/files/Graeber.pdf

 

[Waynish]

Tried to watch it but his communication style makes me think he need to hire someone to teach him how - or do it for him.

 

[Tarmander]

Interesting video. Guy doesn't understand trust. Most of these "useless jobs" are useless from the perspective of production efficiency, true...but jobs like corporate lawyer are there because corporations need to be "armed" so to speak, to have the capability to go both on the offense and defense. Without that they do not survive. They are quickly gobbled up by others with that capability. Kind of like, what is the point of being armed among those who trust each other...well so they can trust each other...ha

If you look at these jobs as defending trust in the system, or necessary for survival from outside attack, they make perfect sense.

 

[YourUniverse]

I think my only thought is that, it's hard to make money without money, and its hard to be truly happy without a certain level of income, as money generally represents freedom, at least in developed countries. Of course, one could live in the forest, like the hermit in The Stranger In The Woods, but even then you'd likely resort to leeching off the nearby working-class for food and supplies.

Bull$hit jobs can be a means to an end, that end being a non-bull$hit vocation

 

[Such_Saturation]

Tried to watch it but his communication style makes me think he need to hire someone to teach him how - or do it for him.

Indeed, who authorized that fool to give an interview?

Guy doesn't understand trust. Most of these "useless jobs" are useless from the perspective of production efficiency, true...but jobs like corporate lawyer are there because corporations need to be "armed" so to speak, to have the capability to go both on the offense and defense.

He recognizes that kind of job in the interview and implies it isn't the worst offender, compared to middle management / box tickers.

 

[Tarmander]

He recognizes that kind of job in the interview and implies it isn't the worst offender, compared to middle management / box tickers.

Must have missed that part...nothing compares to the govt workers/regulator

 

[ecstatichamster]

labor theory of value is bull****. Value comes from what customers will pay for a good or service. That whole line of thinking is a straw man argument.

The real bull**** jobs are those that are NOT part of capitalism. Paper pushing jobs are from government edicts and fear of regulatory authorities, for instance. All government jobs. Almost all military jobs and defense contractor jobs.

Telemarketing is NOT a bull**** job. If people buy stuff from them, it serves a legitimate function.

Work is a noble pursuit. Your job is to make your work into your play. To love what you do. And love telling people about it.

 

[michael94]

labor theory of value is bull****. Value comes from what customers will pay for a good or service. That whole line of thinking is a straw man argument.

if value comes from what someone is willing to pay for something that’s just relegating leadership to the behavior of the everyday consumer...

 

[Such_Saturation]

Value is objective, but it's not the sheer amount of labor put into something. The labor put into something can be pointless and excessive, exactly like the subjective value that someone puts into something can be pointless and excessive.

 

[ecstatichamster]

if value comes from what someone is willing to pay for something that’s just relegating leadership to the behavior of the everyday consumer...

Yes, that's right. So it's established to me as truth that nobody cares what it costs you to make something or what it costs you to provide a service. The customer only cares about how much they are willing to pay you for that good or service.

The "labor theory of value" or "labor theory of productivity" is invalid and nobody who is thinking clearly would buy it for a second. This was recognized hundreds and hundreds of years ago by the Scholastics and more recently by economists such as Menger, Bohm-Bawerk and Mises.
Böhm-Bawerk’s Critique of the Exploitation Theory of Interest | Robert P. Murphy

The s**t jobs are those that no WILLING CONSUMER would pay for. "Consumer" in the largest sense = private free market customer. No business would willingly pay for someone to enter their business and count their goods and tax them. No business would willingly pay for someone whose job it is to sit around and fill out forms for 3 hours a week (an example from this garbage Marxist video). There has to be an entirely UNFREE market for those types of jobs to exist.

 

[LUH 3417]

Yes, that's right. So it's established to me as truth that nobody cares what it costs you to make something or what it costs you to provide a service. The customer only cares about how much they are willing to pay you for that good or service.

The "labor theory of value" or "labor theory of productivity" is invalid and nobody who is thinking clearly would buy it for a second. This was recognized hundreds and hundreds of years ago by the Scholastics and more recently by economists such as Menger, Bohm-Bawerk and Mises.
Böhm-Bawerk’s Critique of the Exploitation Theory of Interest | Robert P. Murphy

The s**t jobs are those that no WILLING CONSUMER would pay for. "Consumer" in the largest sense = private free market customer. No business would willingly pay for someone to enter their business and count their goods and tax them. No business would willingly pay for someone whose job it is to sit around and fill out forms for 3 hours a week (an example from this garbage Marxist video). There has to be an entirely UNFREE market for those types of jobs to exist.

tell that to all the corporations who hate labor unions and rush to outsource their labor to foreign countries with cheaper labor and lower wages.....they must all.be mistaken about labor value!

 

[theLaw]

I think my only thought is that, it's hard to make money without money

Having been on both sides of this now, I can say that in my experience, it's pretty simple to reach financial comfort/freedom if you are willing to hustle (invest time) for a short time.

The example I would give is a post from an Uber driver (a year ago from Atlanta) on the driver-forum , who's goal was to drive until he reached 20 fares or 12hrs per day, which netted him $200-$300 per day after expenses.

Driving for 5 days per week, he would make between $50,000-$80,000 per year from a job that requires no experience.

So now he has some capital to build another business, and can quickly transfer some of those 50-60hrs per week into a more lucrative endeavor.

Ex. He buys a hot dog cart for $1000 + license for $200 + supplies $300, and can now make $50/hr working only busy hours in a metropolitan area.

But the key to all of this is knowing that he will fail a certain number of times to achieve each success, and just moving forward regardless. This is the paper-tiger that keeps people financially-enslaved to authoritarian structures in the first world.

When you reach the other side, the standard 9-5 really does look like a scam.

 

[YourUniverse]

Having been on both sides of this now, I can say that in my experience, it's pretty simple to reach financial comfort/freedom if you are willing to hustle (invest time) for a short time.

The example I would give is a post from an Uber driver (a year ago from Atlanta) on the driver-forum , who's goal was to drive until he reached 20 fares or 12hrs per day, which netted him $200-$300 per day after expenses.

Driving for 5 days per week, he would make between $50,000-$80,000 per year from a job that requires no experience.

So now he has some capital to build another business, and can quickly transfer some of those 50-60hrs per week into a more lucrative endeavor.

Ex. He buys a hot dog cart for $1000 + license for $200 + supplies $300, and can now make $50/hr working only busy hours in a metropolitan area.

But the key to all of this is knowing that he will fail a certain number of times to achieve each success, and just moving forward regardless. This is the paper-tiger that keeps people financially-enslaved to authoritarian structures in the first world.

When you reach the other side, the standard 9-5 really does look like a scam.

I love this, and it's exactly my mindset right now. Hustle, and use the money to enable more money-making capabilities - rinse and repeat. In fact my current goal is saving for a car to drive uber to hustle a little harder.

Good post, thanks

 

[ecstatichamster]

tell that to all the corporations who hate labor unions and rush to outsource their labor to foreign countries with cheaper labor and lower wages.....they must all.be mistaken about labor value!

what nonsense is this. What does a company saving money have to do with the invalidity of the labor theory of value?

 

[LUH 3417]

what nonsense is this. What does a company saving money have to do with the invalidity of the labor theory of value?

What nonsense is the mises institute regarding the invalidity of the labor theory of value?
Capitalist (business) profit mostly depends upon surplus value extracted from the wage paid to the laborers. That's obvious and like 2 plus 2 equals four. Just snarling at the truth with "but Marx said that!" Won't change the fact that Marx and other socialists were and are correct.

 

[ecstatichamster]

What nonsense is the mises institute regarding the invalidity of the labor theory of value?
Capitalist (business) profit mostly depends upon surplus value extracted from the wage paid to the laborers. That's obvious and like 2 plus 2 equals four. Just snarling at the truth with "but Marx said that!" Won't change the fact that Marx and other socialists were and are correct.

business profit has nothing whatsoever to do with wages paid to laborers. But that's okay. We can agree to disagree.

David Graeber is a Marxian also so you are in good company.