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What Happens To Our Economy As Millions Of People Lose The Habits Of Hard Work?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

If we're going to dig our way out of what lies ahead, we need people who can work hard and start/operate new businesses.

Simply put, job growth is not keeping pace with population growth--specifically, the growth of the labor force which is generally defined as the population between the ages of 18 and 64.

So what happens to the economy as millions of people never acquire the habits of hard work or lose them due to chronic joblessness?

Yesterday I presented data on not in the labor force, which is defined as "persons aged 16 years and older in the civilian noninstitutional population who are neither employed nor unemployed."

The federal government reckons about 95 million people are not in the labor force. But this doesn't necessarily tell us whether these people could take a job or not.

To get some sense of what this means, let's look at the U.S. population in basic terms. The U.S. Census reckons there are about 322 million residents of the U.S.

About 74 million are under the age of 18, and about 42 million are retired (i.e. receiving Social Security benefits) and almost 11 million receive Social Security disability benefits.

About 2.4 million people are in prison.

Roughly 1.4 million are in active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces.

That totals about 130 million people who aren't in the civilian labor force, with some caveats: workers can draw Social Security benefits and still earn a wages, for example.

That leaves about 192 million people as a base labor force. Out of this total, we need to subtract mentally disabled people who are not institutionalized or drawing Social Security disability benefits (unfortunately, many are homeless or in prison.)

We also need to subtract those who are earning money in the cash economy but not reporting their income--i.e. those who are employed but not showing up as employed in the data.

Then there are people who are raising children, home-schooling their children, etc. as fulltime work.

Others are providing care to elderly parents or relatives without compensation.

It is difficult to estimate the people who are performing work but not counted as employed because they're not being paid. According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), about 146 million people have some kind of paid job in the U.S. This could be anything from a $100 million hedge fund manager to someone with $100/year in self-employed eBay-sales income.

Roughly 24 million are part time jobs, and 122 million are full-time jobs. (The numbers vary depending on which agency assembles the data.)

Our focus should be on the millions who are not working at unpaid positions at home or at paid positions. Those who fall out of the work force (or never join it in the first place) may lose (or never develop) the habits of hard work and cooperating with others that are necessary to be productive.

As correspondent Kevin K. recently noted, the earlier one acquires the habits of hard work, the more likely it is that those habits will last a lifetime:

"Just like kids that start smoking when they are young tend to keep smoking until they die, people that start working hard when they are young tend to work hard until they die. On the flip side, kids today that don't do any work when they are young and are told what to do every minute of their days are not wired to work hard or think outside the box, which is an essential part of making the kind of decisions necessary to run a business.

 

I've noticed that the people that work the hardest grew up working hard because they HAD to. The kids that got up early EVERY DAY to feed and water the livestock so it would not die (my cousins in Oregon) are different than the kids who fed and got water for their dog knowing that Mom would feed the dog if they forgot. The guy up late because he needed to turn off the water to 20 units and change the angle stops before he can change a leaking faucet in an apartment where people are moving in the next day is a different person that the guy who spends a year deciding on the new faucet for the wet bar in his "man cave".

 

Most people know that kids who spend years taking golf, tennis or swimming lessons are not only better than most people at those sports but are FAR more likely to continue to participate in those sports as adults.

 

What most people don't know is that kids who spend years learning how to cook, maintaining their own cars and performing volunteer work are not only better than most people at those activities, but are FAR more likely to continue to participate in those activities as adults."

We encourage studying hard and playing hard, but how many programs in our educational system give young people an opportunity to learn how to work hard, especially for themselves as entrepreneurs/ self-employed? All too often it's assumed that studying hard and playing hard teach people to work hard. That is not necessarily the case, as work requires another set of attributes and habits. Some of these overlap with study and athletics, but not all.

Personally, I would make hands-on entrepreneurship a required course from intermediate school on, taught solely by people who have started and operated enterprises. Rather than a teaching credential, the qualification would be limited to the instructor has launched and operated enterprises in the real world.

If we're going to dig our way out of what lies ahead, we need people who can work hard and start/operate new businesses. The two go together. Entrepreneurship is not for slackers or those who give up as soon as the going gets difficult. It takes good work habits to persevere and keep learning from others and from one's own mistakes.

 

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Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:26 | 6639222 ImReady
ImReady's picture

Too late. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:33 | 6639266 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

"What Happens To Our Economy As Millions Of People Lose The Habits Of Hard Work?"

It becomes socialist.  End of story.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:36 | 6639275 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

Roughly 1.4 million are in active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The opposite of hard work.  As an example, military doctors see less than one third as many patients as civilian doctors, and have far more of the tasks done by assistants.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:40 | 6639305 VinceFostersGhost
VinceFostersGhost's picture

 

 

It's free.....just swipe your EBT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLTTX35LNJo

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:44 | 6639342 pods
pods's picture

Dire Straits had it right a long time ago.  That ain't workin!

I want my, I want my, I want my E-B-T.

pods

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:06 | 6639758 tc06rtw
tc06rtw's picture

  
 …  if people  wanted  to struggle to survive,  we wouldn’t need  Military Conscription!

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:43 | 6639887 LowerSlowerDela...
LowerSlowerDelaware_LSD's picture

When we lose our work ethic we become every existing democrat strong hold inner city (Chicago/Detroit/D.C./Baltimore/et al).  The democrat/socialist politician's dream scenario.  So there a LOT of murders and crime. Small price to pay to rule over people.

 

WELCOME... To Obamaville.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:53 | 6640234 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

This article is confused.  Let me count the ways.

1.  We're not digging our way out of losing the global reserve currency.  That hole is too big.  Who the fuck wants to "dig hard" and preserve this system anyway?

2.  A problem far greater than the loss of work habits is the loss of the need to keep up with the Jones.  There are too many Americans that now understand that a simpler lifestyle >>> consumerism.  And it's easy to keep up with the Joneses when thay are as fucked as you are.

3.  The black market has grown too large and it is not leaving.  Want to ban cash?  Want NIRP?  Go ahead and watch the black market grow more.  Dumb fucks.

4.  Who's leading this "renaissance"?  The government? America's political class?  LOL.  No credibility.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:56 | 6640246 Apocalicious
Apocalicious's picture

Loss of consumerism? What America are you looking at? 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:47 | 6640486 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

The Americans that cannot take on any more debt or stress.

There's more than a few of them.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 17:23 | 6641798 Retired Guy
Retired Guy's picture

Considering ZIRP and all the other signs the dollar is being killed. Why would anyone work hard to save dollars which will not be worth anything. A pile of filthy paper is a poor incentive to work.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:47 | 6639364 toady
toady's picture

You can work hard or you can work smart. 

The world needs ditch-diggers too...

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:55 | 6639387 negative rates
negative rates's picture

You're IN the army now, you're NOT behind the crowd, you'll never get rich, by digging a ditch, you're IN the army now. Repete until you've reached your destination.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:07 | 6639466 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

Don't forget family values:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XV2LVgaCT4

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:09 | 6639475 Eirik Magnus Larssen
Eirik Magnus Larssen's picture

Those differ from region to region.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:43 | 6639633 toady
toady's picture

...and where did these guys get that picture of me? I work pretty hard to keep my image out of the media... not hard enough I guess...

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:39 | 6639306 SafelyGraze
SafelyGraze's picture

looting is hard work, too

hugs,
mister and missus akerlof

http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6340467.pdf

Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:50 | 6639663 dark_matter
dark_matter's picture

I asked the ardvark

"Is it easy eating ants ala elephantine extension?"

" 'Ardly", he replied

"It's very 'ard vark"

-Jed Bryant

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:39 | 6639312 Bokkenrijder
Bokkenrijder's picture

I'm sure that most ZeroHedgers know what hard work is, sitting behind a computer screen commenting on everything.

Oh, and the same would probably be true for all those 'experts' that are constantly paraded on this site, people like Schiff, Stockman, Rogers etc.

I'm sure you and they all know what "hard work" is...NOT!

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:13 | 6639338 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

Are you really saying that your time as a government worker in the military was hard work compared to the private sector?

If soldiers, sailors, and airmen actually did hard work, then they wouldn't need to PT.

I do know what hard work is, because I was able to witness my grandfather and his generation.  My children know hard work, because they are witness to the latinos, mostly Mexican, building and repairing the Republic of Texas.  My kids do get to see their Asian classmates working hard, too. 

They see me get up and go to work every weekday, and come home from work every weeknight.  On the weekends, before and after school and playing sports, my kids work beside my wife and me on our farm, bucking hay, mucking stalls, planting, weeding, picking, butchering, repairing, painting, etc.  The last week of summer, my kids rebuilt a tractor and refinished the kitchen and dining room tables, in addition to busy athletic and social commitments.

I really haven't noticed too many other white or black people working hard in America for quite some time. They seem to be busy watching sports on television.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:47 | 6639361 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

Can't speak for other ZH'ers, but this one got his first job at 16 as a Janitor; worked my own way through college; later paid my wife's way through medical school; and finally paid my own way (working full-time again) through law school.

I worked my A** off early in my life to attain a profession so I wouldn't have to work my A** off in later life working for peanuts...

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:50 | 6639383 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Similar story here.  I didn't work my ass off (starting out as a landscaper- which paid for most of my college education) just so I could still be slaving away in the salt mines at age 50.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:02 | 6639732 PoliticalRefuge...
PoliticalRefugeefromCalif.'s picture

My first real job out of high school was in the mines of Butte Montana, I learned a lot that first year, mostly what I wanted to avoid the rest of my life.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:58 | 6639422 negative rates
negative rates's picture

I drove a truck for the military and hope to  retire as a flea mkt salesman.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:00 | 6639702 markitect
markitect's picture

Im not trying to belittle your experience but college now is 10x the cost of the early 1970s.  I worked summers, breaks and whenever possible during the semester some days skipping class to work on a framing and concrete crew in the 1990s and that only was able to cover half my tuition 20 years ago.  Today that same work earns exactly the same or less per hour while tuition is double or more.  There is literally no way to work as a janitor today and pay for college, and med school would be completely out of the question.  

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:51 | 6639384 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

'Hard work' makes my head hurt.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:31 | 6639569 vq1
vq1's picture

Even though the system works for me (full-time, healthcare, 401k). I am skeptical of US leaders, CP and MSM. Thats why I come here. And hell, its nice to do a little bitching with people of a similar mindset.

 

downvoted for your mighty high horse

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:36 | 6639592 DanDaley
DanDaley's picture

The great character, Slim Pickins, used to laugh at actors in Hollywood whenever they talked about how hard acting was. He said that if they really wanted to know what hard work was, they should try digging post-holes by hand on a ranch for 10 hours a day (which he had done). So,who wants to do real work?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:42 | 6639326 pods
pods's picture

The military is a way to keep lots of testosterone off the streets, as is the prison system.

It does not matter what you instill in people anymore, the system is done and is in cannibal mode.

Our standard of living will keep dropping until it normalizes with the rest of the world.  Then stuff might be made here again.

Until then it will be the long slow grind down for most, and for the elite, they can skim all the way down.

pods

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:43 | 6639335 Shadow1275
Shadow1275's picture

It becomes dead. End of story indeed.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:02 | 6639442 Uncertain T
Uncertain T's picture

So it goes, from "Participation Trophies" to "Participation Income"

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:08 | 6640044 DullKnife
DullKnife's picture

When I was young:

Kid does a lemonaid stand.

Makes a little money.

Learns that if one tries, one can succeed.

Today?

Kid does a lemonaid stand.

Government sends people with loaded guns to shut him down.

Learns that if one tries, one will be punished.

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:30 | 6639251 1000yrdstare
1000yrdstare's picture

Most kids these days don't want to leave the their parents house, when I was a kid, I could not wait to get out...it was hard at first, but it was a little taste of freedom...

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:36 | 6639281 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Moved out at 17. Had a car, motorcyle, job and a shithole apartment.  It was rare for the time but it did happen. Kids are so fucked these days. Just having a shithole at 17-20 is next to impossible. 

Eveything I had was shit...but it was all mine. Car less than a grand...bike less than a grand. It was awesome. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:40 | 6639311 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

Didn't move out until I was 19, but I was working full-time and paying for my own college (at night).

Had the sh*thole apartment for the last two years of college, then bought my first house (13.25% fixed 30-year FHA mortgage) at age 22.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:44 | 6639344 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Yep. The shame is the kids of today will not be able to learn the confidence that comes with being self reliant.  Not having to ask if you can do something and having the freedom to fuck up all by yourself is priceless. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:52 | 6639392 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

A lot of that is the fault of their parents who wanted to shield them from "discomfort' so they never allowed them the joy of trying and failing.

We have tried to eliminate failure from life.

The result? A generation that won't attempt anything that may result in failure...

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:58 | 6639421 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Agreed.  Even better they can manufacture faux success via soclal media bullshit.  Fake friends and worthless achievemnets. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:03 | 6639444 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

"Hard work as a yute is Gold," is an old Korean saying.

I believe that is correct. As mentioned above, self-reliance, discipline, social skills, builds character, and so on. I never regretted my hard work as a yute.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:53 | 6639684 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

"will not be able to learn the confidence..."

Also affected by everyone winning a ribbon....  And they know it was all fake...

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:49 | 6639375 BandGap
BandGap's picture

Moved out at 18, paid for all of my college (through PhD). Up until then, of all the money I made in HS I had to give my mom half. Not a problem, always had beer and gas money. felt good to help out. Did all the home repairs and upgrades for my mom.

Grad school I made $700 a month and was living the high life. No cares, just research and the only responsibility I had was myself.

I have six kids, the biggest struggle is getting them to take responsibility for themselves.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:31 | 6639571 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

I only have one kid. Lazy little bastard is nearly three years old and never worked a day in his life. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:33 | 6639580 vq1
vq1's picture

I feel similair. I used to have a nice car and a bike. I make more money now but live in a more expensive city- thus fewer assets. I guess its my fault. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:35 | 6639288 thunderchief
thunderchief's picture

Maybe this is why the USA is so busy with GMO's, prescription drugs, a spiralling debt trap, skyrocketing tuition, police state,  etc, etc.

To bankrupt and euthanize this worthless group of people. 

Soilet Green next.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:42 | 6639325 silverer
silverer's picture

'Soylent Green' I think.  You must have been thinking about 'Toilet Green'.  That's in Washington.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:49 | 6639371 1000yrdstare
1000yrdstare's picture

double post

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:27 | 6639228 Osmium
Osmium's picture
What Happens To Our Economy As Millions Of People Lose The Habits Of Hard Work?

Uhh, the same thing that happened to the Roman Empire?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:44 | 6639345 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Globalist plans to take the once creative and wealthy US, turn it into a sheepish government dependent country.

By design. Once the people are turned into sheep you send them to slaughter.

The US had too much wealth and creativity so it needed an attitude adjustment.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:45 | 6639353 Which is worse ...
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists's picture

Same thing that is happening to Greece. They all leave. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:14 | 6639504 RockySpears
RockySpears's picture

Where could you go?  The world is in the toilet. 

Maybe, rather than a Race War, as some profess, there will simply (understatement I know) be a revolution.  People often think that that sort of thing could not happen in the civilised west, but I am no longer sure.  It might only last a week or two, until food became scarce, but it would end with a lot of dead people.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:41 | 6640166 rbg81
rbg81's picture

I think you're forgetting about the impact of automation and AI.  We are way past past the point where everyone needs to work.  As technology improves, fewer and fewer actual workers will be needed.  On top of that, you have jackasses like open source programmers who basically work for free.

Who will pay these under-utilized people to maintain their Developed world lifestyle?  That's another story.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:28 | 6639233 Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas's picture

Work hard when all the underpinnings and fruits of your labor are based on a parasitic debt money system. Yeah that's what we need.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:29 | 6639239 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Hard work? lol one can take a ride through my city at say 12 noon lunch hour, all the spicks walking around in their PJ's still from the night before shows you how hard they worked, fact is they didnt work all. Why work when the EBT card is filled for free.

Thu, 10/08/2015 - 16:29 | 6646114 mkkby
mkkby's picture

Yep. Just go to a walmart during working hours.  For every spic who is working in a construction crew, there are 10k leaching off EBT. 

That's why I recently went gault.  Not gonna contribute to that any more.  I wish the fed would quit printing so they'd all starve and go home.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:29 | 6639242 FlSapo
FlSapo's picture

Let the useless eaters eat thier iPhones. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:29 | 6639243 two hoots
two hoots's picture

 

And consider the 1.2M (was more) that drop out of high school every year.  That x 48 (16-64 ages) is 57M poorly educated workers.  That has to mean something in all of this?

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:30 | 6639253 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Fuck hard work. I want my Obamaphone, Obamasnap, Obamastudent loan, Obamamortgage, Obamacarloan, Obamacare, and anything else Obama is going to "give"me. Well anything except that which he reserves for Reggie. #debtserfforlife

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:04 | 6639456 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

#bringbackmyburger!

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:31 | 6639259 Quirkel
Quirkel's picture

All part of the Obama/Alinsky plan...get as many people dependent on the government as possible.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:40 | 6639317 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

"Just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference."

- LBJ

Father of the "Great Society" where Welfare and a lot of these "entitlements" got started.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:31 | 6639262 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

That leaves about 192 million people as a base labor force. Out of this total, we need to subtract mentally disabled people which leaves us with about 1,765 people. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:40 | 6639315 silverer
silverer's picture

C'mon, Philo.  It's not that bad.  My research shows 1,912 people.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:46 | 6639360 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

My data sample has a margin of error of 1500. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:33 | 6639578 VinceFostersGhost
VinceFostersGhost's picture

 

 

Heh heh....stop trying to make me laugh....it's not gonna work.

 

Starting now....I'm dead serious.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:33 | 6639278 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

People voted for the Welfare State because they wanted a Welfare State.

Now they will have to pay for the Welfare State or dismantle it; -both of which are harder then just voting for it.

Both those who enjoy living off others as constituents of the welfare state and as bureaucrats employed in managing the welfare state are going to fight against dismantling it now that it exists...

..So, it;s FIGHT OR PAY PERPETUALLY.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:54 | 6639691 ucde
ucde's picture

The welfare state was very hard-fought and hard-won by labor in Britain and the United States; I'm not sure if you consider yourself a 'tough-ass' or 'hard-ass' or whatever, but the guys in the early labor unions were as tough and as hard-working, salt of the earth type people as ever lived. You must think you have grit, well the people who fought for and won the reforms and worker's rights movements that ended up becoming the welfare state, could probably teach you both about having grit, and about being human. The welfare state allows both. 

Welfare and social spending is one of the greatest things ever invented - its the reason why the First World is considered the First World -- or used to be considered that. Whatever you think you built on your own -- you had the invisible social support of a first world social benefits system propping you up. It might seem edgey or cool to flirt with taking that away, but I think you would regret it before long. If you are longing for the 1890s and 1910s again. There is a reason those times went away. Those who experienced unbridled capitalism made wise choices to protect themselves and their children from its natural "crisis and exploitation" dynamics.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 14:01 | 6640581 goldsaver
goldsaver's picture

Wow, so many fallacies here, is difficult to know where to start.

 

...having grit, and about being human. The welfare state allows both.

What???? First, the STATE is a small group of people that thru violence demand obedience and claim the moral authority to steal from the majority of the population in order to control t. I fail to see how that shows GRIT. as to been human, the state is, by its very nature, the most de-humanizing force on the planet. It simultaneously confers super human powers to some while removing humanity from the rest.

 

Welfare and social spending is one of the greatest things ever invented - its the reason why the First World is considered the First World.

I would have said the printing press, followed by petroleum processing, but that's just me. Welfare and social spending have at its basis the concept that its moral for some to steal at gun point the production of others in order to benefit some selected class of individuals, be them crack whores or bank executives (but I repeat myself). By the moralization of theft by the state it shifts the risk of theft from the beneficiaries of the unearned plunder to armed agents of the state. It destroys the need to produce in order to survive and legitimizes a cast system based on violence. Some produce for the benefit of others.

Now, let's not confuse the welfare state with mutual aid. Mutual aid has been the basis for human economies since at least the age of Sumeria. Mutual aid means that you willingly give to others what they need as a gift with the knowledge that they will gladly do so in kind. No guns are involved and reciprocity is expected (the mutual part of mutual aid). The welfare state is not mutual aid. It is plunder.

The reason why the "First World" is the first world is not the welfare state. It was innovation, industry and production. True, a significant portion of that progress was done on the backs of the weak ( Native Americans, African Slaves, Debt Peons) but most was done by brilliant men. Dow, Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. The true industrial giants.

 

Whatever you think you built on your own -- you had the invisible social support of a first world social benefits system propping you up.

 

Mr. President, is that you? "the invisible social support" is not so invisible when it robs me of 30% of my production or controls what I can or can not produce or whom I can or can not do business with. You call it support from your hammock, while the rest of us bear the weight of holding it up.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:36 | 6639292 Hopeless for Change
Hopeless for Change's picture

Oballah's Amerika

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:38 | 6639297 silverer
silverer's picture

Moral, ethical, and caring people are really being put to odds with the way things have become lately.  It's very hard to feel like you are "up and at 'em" each day when you know your hard work is siphoned off via taxes by the ruling criminals to pay for their efforts to take over the world, killing children, innocent adults, and destroying anything in their way in the process.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:39 | 6639607 vq1
vq1's picture

its just too many layers. First- expenses (housing, healthcare especially) that are going up (I guess Im wrong since no inflation /sarc). then beg your boss for better pay. Taxes that pillage your pay check and pillage your money when you buy things. 401k/investments gets nipped at by HFT. The idea that I may have something in there by the time I want to retire (haha) is pure speculation. And on top of that I have the FED that gets to decide what happens to the value of savings account and the value of the money in my pocket. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:39 | 6639307 22winmag
22winmag's picture

That's easy!

 

You end up like Europe, a collection of sad defeated nations sucking on the socialist teat.

 

America isn't there yet. The illusion of freedom could prove more powerful than actual freedom.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:22 | 6639536 RockySpears
RockySpears's picture

22winmag

 

Hey, don't hurt my feelings. At least we don't give out phones, and you lot have been doing the immigrant thing one hell of a lot more than the UK has.

America is so far ahead of us it has lost sight of Europe over the horizon.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:39 | 6639308 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

They all become lazy drug addled fags like their dear leader Obola

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:42 | 6639328 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

My question is what happens when fuckhead employers seem to think that being off for 6 months is chronic joblessness and refuse to hire you?

That happened to me in 2008.  I now run a machine shop. I can run fucking circles around a lot of shops employees.

Thanks for the opportunity fuckheads.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:03 | 6639450 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Just look at who is in Human Resources and you'll understand why good people get screened out before the interviewer ever sees them.  Then of course you have to get a manager who is not also a pinhead.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:43 | 6639336 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Then again, if hard work equates to burger flipping why bother? 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:49 | 6639374 pods
pods's picture

I think a lot of people see the trade off as a negative. And, they are right.

Who would work at McDs or anything else entry level for enough after taxes to pay your expenses incurred by having that job?

Only teenagers and wetbacks living 12 to an apartment can make that work.

Not saying they should be paid more. Just that that job model is broke. Nevermind the clientele.

pods

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:09 | 6639479 NoBillsOfCredit
NoBillsOfCredit's picture

If the people would study the labor tax would be a non-issue.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:48 | 6639370 yogibear
yogibear's picture

If today's youth had any spunk they would boycott buying Apple products unless it was made in the US.

Consuming products from companies that outsourced their jobs.

As a country we deserve what's coming because it's been stupified.

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:08 | 6639471 NoBillsOfCredit
NoBillsOfCredit's picture

If the government would start taxing the imports rather than lying and taxing the people's labor illegally, we maybe could recover...IF we could also get rid of the debt based money substitute.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:25 | 6639546 RockySpears
RockySpears's picture

yogibear

Worked for American Apparel real good.

 

The trick would be to avoid "everything" not made in your own country.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:35 | 6639590 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

If today's youth had any spunk they would boycott buying Apple products unless it was made in the US.

But they're "designed in California"

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:48 | 6639658 vq1
vq1's picture

I like your sentiment but let me offer an alternative

 

For decades America has been perfecting the consumer since birth. Marketing is perfected by the most talented psychologists. The latest generation is the most advanced model. They spend even though they don't have savings. They spend even if they have debt. They buy either A) the cheapest thing or B) the best quality thing. And as far as I can tell America doesn't do either. In fact America hardly makes anything anymore. The trade deficit is -84 billion dollars. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:52 | 6639671 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

I asked my grandson if he would boycott Apple and he said he would if I would agree to pay his bail bondsman and his legal expenses.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:50 | 6639380 Mark Mywords
Mark Mywords's picture

Hard work? Like being an investment banker; or financial analyst; or lobbyist; or corporate spokesperson; or a technocrat; or any of the other jobs we are told are an "acceptable" university degree?

I think our world would be much better off if it were ran by artists and historians. How's the lawyer and banker route going for us?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:02 | 6639443 brucyy
brucyy's picture

How about politicians ? You forgot the biggest mofos.

Arguably , Obama's administration is already full of "artists" , i suppose.

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:27 | 6639508 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

I know this post will be downvoted and I dont care. Some times a bit of realistic truth is unsettling causing people to take offence. I have not had a job for someone else for 30yrs

Many people bitch about the people not working when the jobs have been beat down to the point of not even worth setting an alarmclock and after the gas and upkeep on a car are nothing more than a break even proposition that do not even allow enough to buy food for a family of four.

Then there are others complaing about a 400 dollar food stamp recipients that are working for the subsidised welfare state themselves. The school system, govt employees, banks the cops, the parasite dog tick lawyers and the govt subsided medical field and defense industry  all at the subsidised pig trough.

Then there is THE Quiet Revolution- a bunch of people I know who like the 1960s are just checking out of the system because they morally do not approve of the actions of our gov't and do not want to support it but to check out and starve it down.

Then there are people like me who did not piss their wages away on booze and sluts when they were young and did not sink theirselves with 30 year notes and new car payments who can sit around if they so chose because they don't have to work unless they want to.

Fuck a job, I would not take one if you paid me.

But, Before you cuse me take a look at yourself Creedence Clearwater Revival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Plq1gO_9kQ

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:36 | 6639594 Creepy Lurker
Creepy Lurker's picture

This is the best post I've read on ZH in weeks. I hear ya cowdiddly, been working towards the goal for some time now.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:09 | 6639770 CharlieMike
CharlieMike's picture

Long Gold and Silver...bikinis!

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:19 | 6639808 vq1
vq1's picture

I consider myself decently intelligent. I work full time and have health insurance and 401k. Although I enjoy my job its not worth it for the reasons you stated. 

 

for the last couple of months my gf and I have been trying to figure out how to make off the grid work for us (we rent now).

Basic breakdown is: 30k for solar, 60k for house, 30k for land. However there is no way we can afford health insurance (on top of other expenses) which is hugely expensive. We feel traped, as Im sure many do. 

 

My gf and I are both in technical fields. What drives me crazy is that the work structure is the same as it was pre-computing. That is to say m-f, 9-5. We work with clients all over the world using skype and go-to-meeting. We have offices all over the world that we work with using telepresence robots (lame, I know but it works). There is absolutely no reason i have to be on-site for my job. Nor do I need to work certain hours to deliver above and beyond my job description. So much research has been done to illustrate the paradox of work-martyrdom and over-working with less productivity. We all have different circadian rhythms, yet some of us are forced into working against our natural state.

 

Remote employment would solve so many problems, mainly that of inflated housing prices in cities. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:13 | 6640310 Emoolah
Emoolah's picture

I hear you. I worked like a man possessed in corporate America for 15 years and on my own for 7...lived under my means and consistently exceeded everyone's expectations. The wife and I saved a small fortune and eschewed debt. We own everything we have. Now in my late 40's I awake to the specter of NIRP, rule by a tyrannical Cleptocracy and my wife has advanced Early Onset Alzheimer's which will inevitably drain it all down to zero before she draws her last breath. From here on out, any work I choose to perform will be on my terms and if I have to finally dwell in a friggin cave...so be it. I'm not playing the world's game any longer. It's rigged. I'm gonna concentrate on the next one.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:53 | 6639393 Dazar Nummers
Dazar Nummers's picture

 

 

Such it is for the West.  Eldorado sayonara

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:54 | 6639400 Collapsed_Elast...
Collapsed_Elastic_Pants's picture

It's pretty hard to dig yourself out of a hole when someone keeps shoveling the dirt back in.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 09:59 | 6639427 man of Wool
man of Wool's picture

Hard work is over-rated. Hard work is good for you is the mantra of the ruling class. Work hard and you will go to heaven preached Thomas Calvin to the Scots in the 18th Century.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:09 | 6639474 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Work hard and you will get food, clothing and shelter for yourself and family; maybe create an opportunity for others to do the same.  Of course now a government will supply those things, if you set your sights low enough, using money that hasn't been earned yet.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:45 | 6639914 vq1
vq1's picture

work hard - as a nurse, get low pay.

work hard - with 2 part time jobs, get no benefits.

work hard - with an advanced education, make lots of money to pay off lots of debt.

work hard - as a pro-athlete, get paid a shit ton until your injured.

work hard - as a HFT, get paid a shit ton, never see your family. 

be born into the ruling class - get everything you want regardless of how hard you work

 

same amount of work for different reward. why?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:35 | 6640139 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Different cases you've described, different reasons but mainly, yeah, the economy is structurally screwed.

1950's US:  work hard as a blue collar worker, support a family and own a house. 

What changed?  Many things but at he heart of it: money.  In the 50s that worker had real 90% silver in his pocket and the dollar was tied to gold.  When LBJ put us on path to Nixon's default with the Great Society welfare programs and Vietnam escalation, the dollar and the sane basis of the economy was doomed.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:06 | 6639461 NoBillsOfCredit
NoBillsOfCredit's picture

"We also need to subtract those who are earning money in the cash economy but not reporting their income-" One DOES NOT derive income by providing services and charging for them. So stop with the ignorant talk.

Other than that, great article.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:07 | 6639463 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

It is more powerful to present this type of data by cutting off the millions and representing it as a small village with 322 residents.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:07 | 6639464 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

It is more powerful to present this type of data by cutting off the millions and representing it as a small village with 322 residents.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:08 | 6639469 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

These folks just play it out until the end and then suicide follows.  Oregon was the latest example and it's going to get  a lot worse.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:11 | 6639484 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

Hey, just look at Government "workers", there's your answer.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:13 | 6639488 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

If we're going to dig our way out of what lies ahead, we need people who can work hard and start/operate new businesses. The two go together. Entrepreneurship is not for slackers or those who give up as soon as the going gets difficult. It takes good work habits to persevere and keep learning from others and from one's own mistakes.

Nice read... But you forgot the part about a responsible government that will help fund through deferred tax incentives those hard working creative persons with ideas that will be left alone to do what they want to do with a voice that can finally be heard!

Kill all thee top middle and bottom tear bankers at J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sucks, B of A, Citigroup along with the politicians in Washington that never read the legislation they sign into law because of these banks then start over!

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:48 | 6639934 vq1
vq1's picture

great idea. who is going to do that? pick straws?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:54 | 6640237 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

There needs to be a.secret army of terminally ill patriots who love the country and are willing to take the bullets to do it.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:17 | 6639520 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

Working hard doesn’t make sense.

These kids saw GM and the others get bailed out.  Why would you work hard?  

Work doesn’t pay when you can lay around on EBT banging the single moms, like Bristol Palin, all day long.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:18 | 6639523 brucyy
brucyy's picture

Hard work must not be confused with being a slave for a corporation for a few more bucks. Working moar hours means nothing. Efficiency , brain usage and risk taking is where it all is.

Don't kill yourself for these corporate fuckers , and don't kill yourself for your clients. Have a life , be disciplined and reliable when it counts . Don't be an asshole when you fail. Just tell the truth.

 

and success will come by itself.

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:20 | 6639530 Hannibal
Hannibal's picture

Hm...what's is the incentive for "hard work", $8 an hour?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:27 | 6639543 Lost in translation
Lost in translation's picture

With full credit going to ZHers, I'm doing my level-best to "go Galt." 

Plans in the pipeline to cut my hours down after 1/1/16 and work less, selling the 1400 sq. ft. house in L.A. for a 700 sq. ft. apartment, dropping the second car, and buying very little of anything.  TV is gone, internet access at home, gone.  Feels great.

Trying to focus on staying healthy, and spending time with loved ones.  I'm starting to build models again.

Never could have seen myself doing this at all, were it not for you guys - thanks for all that you've taught me.  My thinking has shifted dramatically, solely because of you.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:31 | 6639570 RockySpears
RockySpears's picture

 Lost in translation

Just hope we all make it to 1/1/16

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:52 | 6639675 Dazar Nummers
Dazar Nummers's picture
I accept the compliment.. glad you are making a better life for yourself and commenters on ZH are THE BEST !!!
Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:38 | 6640153 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

" . . . soley because of you."

Not so:  you were open to hearing it. 

"Ripeness is all"

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:31 | 6639563 Md4
Md4's picture

A lot of us don't mind working hard...

...as long as it gets us somewhere.

$10-12 an hour jobs without hope for advancement isn't going to motivate anyone.

An no, we do NOT need everyone to be widget makers. How many iterations of old technology do we expect to sustain us tomorrow?

New science on the scale of today's financial sector would be a good start, but it won't happen without vision and determination--even if it doesn't immediately produce a "profit" for the Wall Street sharks.

Give people a real incentive to work hard...and many will.

Continue to let a handful clean up, while the rest fend for scraps from the racketeer's table...and folks will do the minimum.

Why would they do otherwise?

m

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:30 | 6639566 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

 

 

"Personally, I would make hands-on entrepreneurship a required course from intermediate school on, taught solely by people who have started and operated enterprises."

 

Doesn't that statement sorta go against what you're all about, Charles, or do I have you confused with someone else who values Liberty...?    

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:33 | 6639579 RockySpears
RockySpears's picture

Wow, Glencore up 10% on the day.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:35 | 6639587 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Collecting free benefits can be a full time job, too! Will FreshDirect accept an EBT card?!?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:37 | 6639597 Lordflin
Lordflin's picture

Laying aside, for the moment, the fact that a small group of demonic thugs are playing Risk with the worlds assets... a separate, although not altogether unrelated issue... the fact is that humankind does not have a nature that is adaptable to automation, and all the cheap entertainment that comes with it.

Most folks are unable to ascribe a purpose to life without outside stimulus and direction. Consequently, as they become increasingly relegated to the dustbin, as machines take their places, they descend into decadence. I once heard a robotics expert gleefully announce that people were becoming irrelevant... and in a sense he was correct... although I suspect that he and I would differ on what that meant.

Here is the key. Without an understanding of purpose the human soul (read psyche for you materialists) flounders. If we were a moral people we would use leisure to great benefit. As we are an immoral people leisure is akin to a slow death. Given that we live in one of the darkest times in human history that descent is only quickened.

The solution according to the so called elite (read bottom dwelling scum suckers) is to eliminate most of the world's population leaving them to enjoy their ill gotten spoils in a world filled with their own kind and a few select pets. They do not understand the depth of rot within their diseased souls (read, well you get the idea) nor do they understand the destruction to which they would very soon be subject... as they have no purpose save to serve themselves which is no purpose at all.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:41 | 6639610 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

Well, if you lose your job and have extra time, pretty soon you might not be able to spend any of it here on ZeroHedge.

An agreement has just been signed, potentially bringing huge new restrictions on what people can do with their computers.

One particularly controversial part of The Trans-Pacific Partnership provisions make it a crime to reveal corporate wrongdoing "through a computer system".

Experts have pointed out that the wording is very vague, and could lead to whistleblowers being penalised for sharing important information, and lead to journalists stopping reporting on them.

In the future, if ZeroHedge still exists, make damn sure if you make a comment to be very very nice, and never never never say any bad things about a corporation, a bank, or Wall Street, or they will come and take you away.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:55 | 6639694 Eahudimac
Eahudimac's picture

No more "fuck you Bernake", "suck my balls Blankfein", "eat shit and die Dimon"? What about "Hitlery" "cankles", "satanic bitch" and descriptions of tongueing Huma Abedin's fart box"? What about the classic "get to work Mr. Yellen"? Are you telling me no more Obama blowing Reggie Love comments, Michelle "the wookie" Obama references,  no more Warren Buffert the crony capitalist piece of shit comments? No more bankers hanging from lamp posts, "jump mother fuckers" and nail gun references? 

 

I don't believe it. 

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:03 | 6639742 CharlieMike
CharlieMike's picture

Well that wouldn't be good since that's the only reason I come here to ZH.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:04 | 6639745 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Arthur Schopenhauer;

ITT: "Now let us consume Mass Quantities!"

- Signed the Conehead Family

- I'm thinking there must be some Normalization of law, so that we don't insult the king or queen of Thailand, Nederalnds, England, Danmark, Luxembourg, Monaco... and our wonderful Diplomats... all within some TPP Agreement

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:32 | 6639854 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

You better start believing it. Pretty soon the only mother fuckers than can call each other a mother fucker will be just us mother fuckers.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:50 | 6639953 vq1
vq1's picture

holy god. I did not know that. Thanks for sharing. 

 

Ill start the formating of ZH on toilet paper and fishing line for us to pass back and forth in prison. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:11 | 6640305 vq1
vq1's picture

“The TPP is likely to export some of the worst features of U.S. copyright law to Pacific Rim countries: a broad ban on breaking digital locks on devices and creative works (even for legal purposes), a minimum copyright term of the lifetime of the creator plus seventy years (the current international norm is the lifetime plus fifty years), privatization of enforcement for copyright infringement, ruinous statutory damages with no proof of actual harm, and government seizures of computers and equipment involved in alleged infringement,”

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:12 | 6640307 NordikAvenger
NordikAvenger's picture

Good point, I'll get off the can and get back to work. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:44 | 6639635 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

Let's not confuse Work with Jobs.  Hard work is good for people.  It's absolutely vital.  Jobs, on the other hand, tend to be a scam.  You have to have a job to learn certain things about how our system works.  Once you understand those things, you need to become the boss, to see how that side of it works.  Then you need to cut out the employer/employee dysfunctional parenting relationship altogether, and earn your living for yourself, by your wits.  If you don't do that, there's always going to be something infantile about your relationships.

In a Feudal system, you're unlikely to ever get to be an Aristocrat.  You don't want to be a serf, or an overseer of serfs.  You don't want to be a Courtier, because you can lose it all (including your head) if your designated Aristocrat falls out of favor, or needs a scapegoat.  What you want to be is a Trusted Procurer to the Court.  You cultivate all the different Courtiers to the various Aristocrats.  You gain a reputation for reliability to all, and pledge exclusive loyalty to none.  If you remain just outside the hierarchical authority structure, nobody is quite how to pigeonhole (or cornhole) you.  You have the rare Feudal status of a Free Man, without Feudal obligations.

At that point, working hard is not only smart and fun, but worthwhile.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:07 | 6639761 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

I would guess that 99.9% will never get to this point.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:38 | 6639872 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

So much the better for me, I guess.  But it's kind of sad.

I'm not claiming some genius on my part.  Rather the opposite.  I dropped out of high school, sneaked into college, and dropped out of that too.  I happened into a weird niche industry, sweeping floors and emptying the trash, and worked my way into doing all the things nobody else wanted to do.  "The white space on the page," is what I told my boss I wanted to be at his company.  It was by necessity.  I had almost no specific skills.  My only real skill to this day is sorting information and figuring out who needs what scraps of what.  Fortunately, that's required in almost all human endeavors, whether anyone realizes it or not.  Most people either suck at it, or don't realize it's a thing which needs doing.

We did staging for corporate events, mostly.  In the course of lifting heavy things, more than bit stoned I must admit, I noticed the way people treated corporate executives.  "Like Renaissance princelings, pretending to be Mick Jagger," was my thought at the time.  That's when the light bulb went off over my head.  I'd never get to being self-sufficient and self-reliant through a conventional job; that's reserved for those with the secret handshake, or at least a diploma.  So I'd have to learn enough and observe enough to be able at some point to do it on my own terms.

It was a convergence of realizations, on top of having read various romantic books with a cynical eye.  In King Arthur's Court, the most loyal and admirable knights get hosed.  Some knights just wander off on their own and fall out  of the story.  It would be better to be them.  You don't want to have to use Macchiavelli's advice.  You want to be aware of it, so you can see others using it and know what they're up to.  You can get them to pay you to do things  for them, and the beauty of it is, if they won't pay you or you don't want to do it, you can move on to the next one.  There's no odds in "playing the Game of Thrones."  You don't have to sell the players swords or your life, either.  Sell them wagons for hauling.  They're going to need them and it's innocent enough.  Find a guy who's good at making wagons but hates talking to people.  Rep him to the Courtiers.  Step 3: Profit.

The real barrier for most people is that you have to be willing to stand and fall (not "or fall") on your own.  If you win, it's to your credit.  If you lose, it's your fault.  Actually, now I've learned that a large part of the value my clients see in my fee is that I always say everything is my fault.  They'll pay me $1000 a day to say it's all my fault, for a week at a time.  Suits me because I don't have to care or mind.  Somebody wants to give me $5k once a year to say it's all my fault? Groovy.  Now to find 49 more just like them and my admittedly simple needs are met to my complete satisfaction.

People who are afraid to take the fall on their own will never know how it feels to earn all the credit for success, whether anyone else notices it or not.  I get the best high knowing what I did, when only the other sympatico mercenaries recognize what I did but the public credit goes to my client.

Mistrust of hierarchical authority systems, to the point of disbelief in their actual existence, requires a lot of personal responsibility, and therefore self-confidence.  Too many people aren't able or willing to gain that.  So they convince themselves they have to be serfs, and that it's right and proper.  

OK, I guess.  I've just read enough stories to know I'm the serf who gets hanged.  Better to make my own living in the woods.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:54 | 6639686 InnVestuhrr
InnVestuhrr's picture

"What Happens To Our Economy As Millions Of People Lose The Habits Of Hard Work?"

Mr Smith, you are a really smart guy, I enjoy your writings,

BUT

this post of yours BLATANTLY REVEALS that you do not routinely engage in hiring people in America to do real work, else you would know that the decay and rot disease of the traditional work ethic has been in progress for decades - actually since the inception of the entitlement programs - and is already at at advanced stage of mediocrity.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:44 | 6639911 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

I know this is the predominant theme today, and I don't mean to single you out.

I hear this all the time.  People just don't want to work.  They don't even know how to, anymore.  Things used to be so much better.

What I've experienced myself is that most people are terrible at telling people what they want them to do.  Sure, they'll give a list that might as well be written in Sanskrit.  What you have to do as a Leader (forget bullshit titles, the job is "Leader") is explain to people what you're doing, what you want them to do, how what they do fits in with what you're doing, and why it matters that they do the things you want them to do in the way you want them to do it.

Once you do that, I've found a huge jump in people's performance.  People need to understand what they're doing, why they're doing it, why they're doing it in the way they're doing it, and why it matters beyond the paycheck.

Some people still can't hack it because they are mentally still toddlers and can only see things in terms of their immediate gratification.  Too bad, so sad; I need adults, or at least adolescents.  I move through the toddlers quickly, until I find somebody willing to take me up on my bullshit.

I haven't seen any change in that dynamic in the 35 years I've been doing things for money.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:27 | 6640108 InnVestuhrr
InnVestuhrr's picture

What you described exists, but supervisors (your "leaders") won't usually last long if they cannot get results.

Also, what you described does NOT explain "workers" who:
- do not show up for work on time - or at all - and do not call far enough in advance so that a replacement can be found
- do shitty quality work at a snail's pace, take breaks to talk, smoke, drink all day long unless literally watched continuously
- make demands for compensation and fringe benefits as though THEY were the business founder and owner
- steal materials, tools and equipment unless stripped naked and run through scanners
etc, etc, etc

The best cure that I found to screen out and weed out the shit employees is to first find a core of genuine solid workers that can be trusted, and then to implement the following 3 programs/processes:
1. a profit sharing plan, so that each person hired will reduce the compensation of the exisiting employees unless the new employee produces enough to increase revenue to both cover his/her cost AND keep the profit sharing rate up
2. based upon #1, give the employees and supervisors decision making authority over all new hires who would potentially dilute their profit share while increasing their workload
3. based upon #1 and #2, have a probation period during which the new employee must earn the votes of his/her coworkers in order to stay in the job, so that the entire team can see how the new employee actually works months after being hired

It has been my experience that the people who are intelligent, rational, ambitious, and high energy (mostly young people starting out or early in their working career) thrive in this environment. I also notice that there is generally a noticeable drop-off in commitment and increase in entitlement attitude after workers (especially women) make children, ie their decision to make children becomes a justification why the business - and all the other employees - must accommodate their chosen changed lifestyle regardless of the impact upon other employees and the business.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:07 | 6640293 optimator
optimator's picture

Invest, the most important thing a manager does is hire the right people.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:17 | 6640323 InnVestuhrr
InnVestuhrr's picture

2nd most important - first most important is viable business product or service, because good employees cannot rescue a bad business product or service from inevitable failure

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:10 | 6640301 NordikAvenger
NordikAvenger's picture

This works well when you start a company that needs to grow (generally at the expense of another one in the economic sector you're in *and if* it is a relatively zero-sum market field).  

But once it reaches saturation you need a sustainability plan too.  

I suppose what you described is sustainable (no new employees), but the charachter traits you described to be beneficial (young, ambitious and motivated) are driven by ambition and sex (seriously, think about it - we all wanna get laid when we're young) but these things morph into other traits and values once you pass the 40's.

Makes me think of Logan's Run....the young are it, and once you cross a certain age you are terminated.....

 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 15:21 | 6641024 kumquatsunite
kumquatsunite's picture

 also notice that there is generally a noticeable drop-off in commitment and increase in entitlement attitude after workers (especially women) make children, ie their decision to make children becomes a justification why the business - and all the other employees - must accommodate their chosen changed lifestyle regardless of the impact upon other employees and the business.

_____________

To call you stupid would be providing you more credit than you deserve. Women having children have every right to be in the workforce And to have their "lifestyles" accomodated by business. Perhaps no one that is in your family has had any children (you apparently have no children with children, no children of your own, no brothers or sisters who have children, and live on an island solely by yourself), however..and otherwise, women have a natural cycle of childrearing and raising, and men can kiss our hinnies if they don't like the "accomodations" that Should be made to accomodate that "lifestyle." Without the procreation, bearing and caring for children that women (who do most of the work of raising children) do, there would be no need, absolutely none, for any "business." Again, you should be fired from any job you hold because you, no doubt, are in a constant mode of undermining any women you come in contact with, and hopefully you do not now, nor ever will have a wife. 

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:04 | 6640270 optimator
optimator's picture

I used to feel pretty silly having a sit down with a new employee after he settled in.  I'd have to explain how the company acquired the money to pay for his salary and benefits as most newbies didn't have the slightest idea or even interest in those minor details.  And it seemed strange seeing new applicants initial questions were to have the reitrement, sick pay, and vacation time benefits explained to them.  At 28 I went to work for a fortune 500 company, and it was three months before I thought about to enquire about what their medical plan was.  My manager instantly replied, "Sure, Don't Get Sick".  I enjoyed making money for the company and took a nice early retirement at 55.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:00 | 6639721 Dogspurt
Dogspurt's picture

I wonder at the fetishistic obsession with Hard Work in an age of robotics, automation and computerisation. For me this smacks of the elite's preoccupation with blaming the poor for being poor, along with their desire to force the masses 'do something' merely for the sake of doing it, not matter how pointless or unproductive the activity is.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:03 | 6640282 NordikAvenger
NordikAvenger's picture

Keep the wretched and the poor distracted so the elite don't get ripped to shreds.  It's as age-old as written history....

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:00 | 6639724 LetsGetPhysical
LetsGetPhysical's picture

The US becomes like the lazy, feckless Europeans.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:07 | 6639760 bosquito
bosquito's picture

I would have put a slug in my mug years ago-  I just gotta see how this shit ends though!.............

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:30 | 6639847 Skiprrrdog
Skiprrrdog's picture

I heard that...my new 'go bag' is one that I custom made, fits airtight over my head and hooks to a small bottle of Helium...they say it only takes 3 to 5 minutes, and I am out of here...

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:13 | 6639787 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

8% in USA for people aged 16 or older work for government in the USA... federal, state, and local.

Thought I had the numbers, but just the percent.

I guess that is lot of tattletails in the neighborhood who don't say shit at work or about the government.

hm... should be able to add private federal reserve and banking executives, lobbyist, lawyers, publishers and journalists in MSM. What figure 10 Million in Government?

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:21 | 6639816 Iam Yue2
Iam Yue2's picture

Between Flexploitation and The Precariat.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:27 | 6639836 TAALR Swift
TAALR Swift's picture

"What Happens To Our Economy As Millions Of People Lose The Habits Of Hard Work?"

The smarmy but truthy answer: They become like the Ruling Elite, the country club crowd: Comfortably numb, and some may be more exceptional or entitled than others.

The more analytical answer: They benefit the rewards of having machines and computers do their work, just like the rich have the poor do their work.

The problem with the latter scenario is, that you can't tax machines (although you get the accounting advantages), but you can tax people. Jobs and Taxation are needed to perpetuate the fiat currency system and FRB.

Note also, that it was not the Elite who designed and built said machines and computers. The worker bees did. The rich Elite merely 'financed' it (from leveraged Credit-out-of-thin-air, courtesy of their friendly bankers). Put another way: "The bees make the honey, the bees keep the honey, and the locusts go hungry".

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:00 | 6640265 NordikAvenger
NordikAvenger's picture

Up thumb to you, sir....but, what you are implying is that the worker bee created this situation by inventing machine's to alleviate the burden of shit work.  Ok, so then maybe the concept of hardwork needs to go from manual physical labor to something else.  Well, that something else is thought....but we live in a society (in America, that is) that continually denigrates independent thought and intellectual discourse and a creative existence.

The worker bee fucked himself because he also chose not to think anymore.

Comfortably numb....

ok, I buy it.  We live in dangerous times afterall.

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:53 | 6639962 Larry Dallas
Larry Dallas's picture

Why is every kid born after 1992 somehow deformed or special needs?

Did anyone look at the [poor, innocent] victims of the Roseburg shooting and not think to themselves: "they all look like the bottom of the gene pool went to the same community college!"

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 14:57 | 6640888 kumquatsunite
kumquatsunite's picture

What you "feed" you get more of? The endless production of children from welfare mothers/fathers (since no child is a result of self-pleasuring, as it were:) creates an endless production of those who: 1. Can't speak English (you have heard this generation try to conjugate verbs?) 2. Think sex is a recreational activity on par with ping pong but not as much fun and 3. Have decided that parents exists solely to fulfill their every need, and as such, treat their parents as, well not slaves, because that would give their parents too much credit, but more like the provebial beasts of burden.

Meanwhile, Bill Burr (comedian with three specials you can watch on Netflix) says in one of his shows that there are 400 MILLION in the US. Hmmm...in England they found the true number who were actually in England by going to the grocery stores, who Know Exactly how many people are in the country by the amount of food sold. Meanwhile, in the US, we are bludgeonded into believing that we Have to Let Birth Theft babies steal this country, along with all their Extended family that they will "sponsor," because the liberals say so. Of course, once that is done, whites are done for in the world. Caucasians, so maligned yet having contributed so much, are the single smallest group in the world but told to cede that which is theirs...because after all, it was once said that "diversity" was good for ya. Odd how that hasn't been working out...

Wed, 10/07/2015 - 11:56 | 6639973 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

It's just another example of an old saying: "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in 3 generations."

Grandpa built it; dad ran it; and junior squandered it. We're seeing the "junior" part today.

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