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by gabythenerd 1198 days ago
> I promise it is quite possible for a nation to banish unemployment but still have a majority of people struggling to get by.

You can always end up having a bunch of low paying jobs that don't allow for a good standard of living. Everyone will be employed but I'm sure no one will end up enjoying that.

2 comments

> You can always end up having a bunch of low paying jobs that don't allow for a good standard of living.

Indeed, but this will gradually kill all but the most essential industries. "Consumers" won't have the funds to "consume" and the 21M US citizens with a net worth of $1M or more won't pick up the slack. 21M people don't purchase 15 Gameboys each when they go to the store.

If it gets bad enough, then the risk is that mutual aid networks will enable "opting out" en masse like during the depression: tents and washboards by the river.

Once things at that point, getting the opt-outs back to play the game requires big promises ala The New Deal.

You can also have a workforce so small that infrastructure starts to decay and you have to triage what services are staffed.