[cryoshon]

>The social contract exists for skilled people through their employers

that's not what the social contract is. and unfortunately, the crux of that very misunderstanding is exactly why the US is being absolutely shredded by a plethora of different and seemingly intractable systemic problems.

the social contract is between citizens and the state, wherein citizens consent to to taxation and governance which curtails some of their freedoms such that the state can guarantee their freedom from certain maladies and undesirable conditions. employers have nothing to do with it because businessess operate within the confines of the social contract at large because they are goverened by the laws of society.

we're in the middle of a pandemic, and there are millions and millions of people who are uninsured and who cannot get medical care because they were separated from their employer-provided health insurance.

pretending that businesses are stand-ins for the services that the government's end of the social contract should guarantee simply doesn't work in practice.

[MattGaiser]

> there are millions and millions of people who are uninsured and who cannot get medical care because they were separated from their employer-provided health insurance.

True, but they are overwhelmingly unskilled. We are discussing a brain drain of skilled workers.

> simply doesn't work in practice.

If you are a high skill employee with the compensation to match, it works perfectly well.

I am not saying this is a reasonable state of affairs, just that it doesn't cause any talent loss.