• Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    Socialism, ironically, is the best solution to such a right wing issue.

    You could eliminate the vast majority of illegal immigration and scrap minimum wage by implementing a livable UBI.

    Why pay an immigrant more money in cash when you could pay a citizen less because their basic needs are already covered?

    • DrRatso@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      I dont think that follows. If I had UBI, a supermarket would have to pay a lot more than it did when I worked there during uni. I only worked there because it was the thing that was available to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. It was miserable especially for the pay. No way in hell id do it for less if those needs were covered.

      In my mind UBI actually would have to make wages more competitive to attract people who want to earn extra but aren’t forced into shitty jobs.

      • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        That doesn’t make any sense. Why would a job have to pay you more when your basic necessities are covered? It’s literally extra fucking around money. It’s life style money, not living money.

        Imagine all your essenital expenses are paid. Are you going to not do any work, or are you going to go do a job so you can afford a better lifestyle?

        The best part is that the free market actually needs to do what people claim it does and regulate itself.

        If no one is willing to work for $4/hour for spending money, then no one will. The business needs to adapt or die, not the citizen needing to cope or die.

        But if someone is willing to do that job, it’s truly of their free will.

        • DrRatso@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          If no one is willing to work for $4/hour for spending money, then no one will. The business needs to adapt or die, not the citizen needing to cope or die.

          I mean… yea? They need to adapt their wages… to be more competitive and attract employees who now don’t need to work to survive…

          That doesn’t make any sense. Why would a job have to pay you more when your basic necessities are covered? It’s literally extra fucking around money. It’s life stylemoney, not living money.

          Because employees can choose not to work for shit money, they can take time to find something more chill or spend time to elevate their qualifications.

          Imagine all your essenital expenses are paid. Are you going to not do any work, or are you going to go do a job so you can afford a better lifestyle?

          Again, a supermarket would have to pay a decent chunk over minimum wage for me to consider every going there for leisure/lifestyle money.

          • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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            5 months ago

            So you literally only want food & shelter? You have no desire to eat from a restaurant, or drink an unnecessary beverage, or watch a movie, or see a play, or travel beyond where you can walk, or any minor luxury if it meant having to work at a grocery store?

            Wouldn’t you argue that someone working at a grocery store or any other current minimum wage job should be able to do all that with just minimum wage? Then why not UBI and less than minimum wage?

            • DrRatso@lemmy.ml
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              5 months ago

              I am not saying I, or others, do not have that desire. But why would they want to spend 8 hours a day being miserable to be barely able to afford those things? If a person has any ability to delay gratification, I do not see why they would work for a subpar wage, especially at a job that sucks. Which is why wages must be more competitive to to be able to sustain a workforce under a UBI system.

              Hell, and its not even just jobs that suck per se. I would quit being a doctor and probably go back to landscaping if all I needed was lifestyle money. The pay was good enough for that sort of a thing and the work was super chill. Granted this is partly because medicine doesn’t pay as well as it ought to over here, but that is kind of the point. Why would I do something for inadequate pay when I can do something else for adequate pay?

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      UBI would not solve this problem, it should be implemented for other reasons though.

      Citizens have jobs that they will basically not take regardless of pay. In particular seasonal and rural farm work means even paying 40 or 50 an hour often isn’t enough of a draw to get enough American workers to work a 10-12h day in the summer sun in bumfuck nowhere for a month. Then next month somewhere else. Not to mention a lack of resources and the general living conditions available. This lack of draw would only be more true if basic needs are covered. You can be pickier about work if your basics are met.

      • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        Maybe 40-50 an hour for one month isn’t a good enough draw because if you don’t get another job immediately you begin the spiral back into poverty. Stability is more important to most people.