Editorial #323 What is a job?
Covid-19 has forced a new reality into existence that most economists figured would not come for another generation. Terms like, ‘working from home’, ‘telecommuting’, ‘gig-economy’ and ‘zoom meetings’ are part of the vernacular considered the ‘new normal’. It re-made old habits and business models forcing the world, kicking and screaming, into a totally different way of getting things done.
Old paradigms have been revisited: “What is the purpose of life?” “What is the reason for our existence?” It renewed the focus of a universal fact: “If one is not part of the solution, one is part of the problem.”
The pandemic has ambushed the economy with a perplexing question: “Why do jobs exist and what constitutes work?” It forced the unthinkable into existence by questioning “What is the real purpose of labor?”
A Job results only when there is a problem costing someone money. A job does not exist to pay a living wage. It is not to give insurance or retirement benefits. It is not to provide personal gratification or fulfillment. All those things happen when the wages earned, solving a problem, develops into an understanding of personal responsibility, self-reliance, security and what constitutes a comfortable life style. Personal gratification come by being a contributor, and not a parasite on society. This virtue is no longer taught in our public education system nor in the public domain.
Compensation is paid only for an individual’s contribution to solving a problem and will never be greater than the cost of the problem. No one will pay fifteen dollars per hour solving a problem that is costing ten dollars per hour when not addressed.
The pandemic brought this fact to a head. They found it was no longer necessary for businesses to have office complexes, employee lounges, latte machines or social gathering spaces, if the business’s problems could be solved in the employee’s bedroom, on a computer with keystrokes.
The pandemic also spawned the concept of a “guaranteed annual income” providing a living wage in order to prevent poverty or homelessness. This is never sustainable in a capitalist economy. It addicts the individual to the government like a drug dealer. When the money runs out, desperate measures are taken by the victims resulting in anarchy or tyranny.
When a politician uses the words “Create Jobs”, this show a complete lack of understanding about economics and capitalism. ‘Creating jobs’ is code for: the government will create a problem in order to give someone money for doing nothing. This provide temporary gratification to a worker who transitions into a class called ‘entitled’ and a liberal voter. That voter eventually becomes convinced they have a right to a ‘living wage’ for merely existing.
The ‘con game’ continues when the government recalculates what is a ‘living wage’. The catchy liberal narrative: “More money is going back into the economy, causing it to grow.” This makes as much sense as when the Native American Indian described the foolishness of Daylight Savings Time: “They cut 12 inches off one end of a blanket and sew it on the other end to make it longer.”
I have lectured or interviewed thousands of students preparing to go off into the world. They all want to make money and be able to buy experiences, and eventually, possessions, to make their way of life comfortable. The question that I always looked for, from those interviewees: “What Problem do you want me to solve for you?” If an interviewee asks that question, they will be hired on the spot, because they have shown confidence and understand the reason why they were being interviewed in the first place.
This is Keith Kube wishing you the best in making the world a better place.
Keith has a regular commentary on WJAG 780 radio at 7:40 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Check his website www.keithkube.com for past editorials.
