I was amused, in a “oh for fucks sake” way today when I found out that over 80% of workers experience anxiety on Sunday, thinking about return to work on Monday.
Then on Monday heart attacks spike. Thirteen to twenty-five percent higher than normal depending on the study.
Work is anything you do due to coercion. If you wouldn’t do the job if you didn’t need the money, then you’re being coerced by what Max called the whip of hunger. (These days also homelessness.) This is different from being a hunter-gatherer: nature didn’t deliberately set up a system where if you don’t work you die, it’s accidental. And hunter-gatherers are famous for not working when they have a surplus. (To be fair this is partly because it’s hard to store surplus, but many such societies actually forbid creating large private surpluses, as they understood where that leads.)
Now work because it’s truly necessary is fine, but as we all know, and as the late Graeber pointed out, something close to half of jobs are “bullshit jobs”. They either don’t need to be done, or they make the world actively worse. (That would include 90% of people working in finance, for example.)
What Graeber found is that people with “real” jobs, even janitors, might be unhappy, but they were a lot less unhappy than those in bullshit jobs making equivalent wages, because at least they felt like their job really needed to be done.
But this is a pattern that goes beyond jobs. The suicide pattern of teenagers is instructive: suicides drop a lot during summer vacation.
They also dropped during the Covid shutdowns, which I predicted at the time.
Because school sucks. You spend all day doing boring things that teacher tells you to. In the US at least you don’t even learn much, with massive rates of illiteracy because you aren’t really being taught (if that was the goal, it could be achieved much faster and more effectively) you’re being conditioned to do what your told, when your told, to give teacher what they want in the way teacher wants, and to keep your mouth shut when not called on.
You’re being turned into a good little wage slave. It takes years of coercive conditioning to make humans willing to put up with wage slavery and creating those people is the job of schools and teachers. Professors put the finishing touches on those who will wind up being senior wage-slave supervisors or otherwise entrusted with minor bits of power and expected to use it in the interests of the masters.
Adults have heart attacks because work sucks so much. Kids kill themselves.
We created this, as a species. We did this to ourselves. Is there truly no better way we can come up with?
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spud
but but bill clinton said the era of big government is over, and the freeing up of capitalism from the new deal, fair deal, GATT and the great society, means all will get rich and happy. and from nafta on wards we do not need to make anything at all, just manipulate paper and be self reliant. we now see the toll.
Farm workers in Mexico often face poor working conditions, including a lack of access to clean toilets, which can lead to them having to relieve themselves in the fields. This situation highlights the labor abuses that agricultural workers endure while harvesting crops like cilantro.
The World from PRX
Working Conditions for Farm Workers in Mexico
Poor Sanitation Facilities
Farm workers in Mexico often endure harsh working conditions, particularly regarding sanitation. Many laborers lack access to clean toilets and handwashing facilities. This deficiency forces them to relieve themselves in the fields, which can lead to serious health risks, including contamination of crops.
Labor Abuses
The situation reflects broader labor abuses within the agricultural sector. Workers face not only inadequate sanitation but also other challenges such as:
Low Wages: Many workers receive minimal pay for their labor.
Unsafe Working Environments: Conditions can be hazardous, with little regard for worker safety.
Debt and Exploitation: Some workers are trapped in cycles of debt due to inflated prices for necessities at company stores.
Impact on Food Safety
The lack of proper sanitation facilities contributes to food safety issues. For instance, fecal contamination has been linked to outbreaks of illnesses like cyclosporiasis in the United States, traced back to contaminated cilantro from Mexico. This highlights the urgent need for improved labor conditions and sanitation practices in the agricultural industry.
The World from PRX
Farm workers in Mexico face increased risks of infections and gastrointestinal illnesses due to inadequate sanitation and lack of clean toilets in fields. These conditions can also contribute to broader public health concerns when contaminated produce enters the supply chain.
PBS SoCal nchcureca.com
Labor laws in Mexico aim to improve working conditions for farm workers by strengthening access to labor and social protection rights. The government, along with international organizations, is implementing programs to ensure fair and decent working conditions, particularly for the vulnerable agricultural wage workers.
jointsdgfund.org apha.org
Alternatives include state-led sanitation rules and OSHA field sanitation standards requiring potable water, toilets, and handwashing facilities within a quarter-mile of workers, along with worker education on hygiene and facility maintenance.
dol.gov United Press International
————–
its socialism or barbarism, take your pick.
Feral Finster
“And hunter-gatherers are famous for not working when they have a surplus. (To be fair this is partly because it’s hard to store surplus, but many such societies actually forbid creating large private surpluses, as they understood where that leads.)”
I’ve not heard of any society that forbids creating surplus (as opposed to giving it away) , but predators also are seen as “lazy” when they are fed, when in fact, we are conserving energy.
spud
Keen is at it again. he basically says socialism or barbarism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfDRueCkYDA
The Unthinkable Is About to Happen to China’s Economy: Top Economist
Can Western countries learn from China economic success? This analysis examines the specific capacity China uses to grow.
Many Western economists maintain that there is little to gain from studying China economic systems. However, this perspective often ignores the practical results achieved through distinct development strategies. This discussion challenges that assumption by looking at the core mechanics of how nations build and sustain economic capacity.
We explore why modern observers frequently overlook these institutional approaches and what specific economic policy lessons might be applied elsewhere. By moving past ideological barriers, we identify the functional components that define China economic success and compare them against standard Western models. Understanding these differences is essential for anyone interested in how global economic models are shifting.
Subscribe for weekly economic breakdowns, and comment below on which country’s financial strategy you want analyzed next.
What could the West actually learn from China? Steve Keen argues an engineer-led state that runs 6-10% deficits and spends them on infrastructure, not austerity, has built safer streets, faster transport and stronger public goods than America. “China is a much safer environment for people and for business than America provides.” Then it lets the private sector compete on top.
Carborundum
Suicides in school are because of other asshole students, not because students have been conditioned to be rule-following automatons or aren’t learning anything.
This isn’t teachers being martinets, this is teachers with a level of cluelessness that trends to willful blindness about what’s actually going on. Every time some kid tops themselves, cue the refrains of “we didn’t know” or “we knew but didn’t know it was this bad” or “we tried and tried, but they (meaning the suicide) still had problems”.
Mark Level
I’m going to dispute Ian from a personal, anecdotal position, so fair enough if some doubt what I say. I retired in 2021 from High School teaching, both classroom teaching and then running Libraries (2 after the ’08 Greenspan-Summers Crash, which damaged my health.)
I worked in a lower-middle class unincorporated community south of Oakland, parents rented and some on “the good side of the tracks” had small houses, equity from previous generations. I would say 40% of my fellow teachers had high standards and took their jobs seriously; some less so, and few treated it as a joke. (The Leadership teacher was an idiot, had parties with her students rather than teaching Life Skills, “Leadership” or anything of value; she also bullied other teachers, attempted to control where they spent their small budgets, directing them to HER vendors, got kickbacks or something. She eventually went too far, leaving work early and other minor scandals, forced out to a different school.)
Now I’ll grant you that 40% is not a rousing success, but it is something. It’s likely better than most other sectors of the Economy. Students with decent motivation had the chance to intellectually better themselves, others being American frittered it away, went to Community College if lucky. Now I’m NOT preaching or advocating for the bullshit Obama “We’re going to pay you less but if you go into massive college debt you just MIGHT get a decent-paying job where you can get out of debt by your late 40s or early 50s.”
Young people are fucked, particularly young males who don’t have their shit together, your overall diagnosis is correct, the Cruelty is Deliberate, and has been (as we all know) since c. 1973 with the Powell Memo and the rise of Neoliberalism. It’s a toxic society without hope. See spud’s thorough Opus.
Glad to see spud’s notation that Mexico is doing better, and I believe that to be true, may soon see it with my own eyes. There have been Strongmen who made things better, though I don’t see that happening in U$A for decades, if ever.
But hey, want to end on a bright note. The Zio-Genociders, with (R) majorities, thought they were going to permanently make USA a Siamese Twin, the submissive not dominant one, of the Zionist Entity by merging their militaries. For now, they failed!! Max Blumenthal on air today after the Authorities stole his phone, for committing Journalism by reporting from Iran recently, told him literally in the airport, “You have NO RIGHTS here,” USA Baby, Fuck Yeah!! But near end of the broadcast he shared that the ZE now so despised by the Left AND the Right (maybe killing Charlie Kirk backfired? Likely, that ZOG for now suspended. I’ve said lots of negative things about Bernie Sanders for the last decade, but hey, he did something good, a Black Swan event. Senate said no to yoking US MIC to the Zionist IDF thugs. A damn good thing, if you think the ICE street murders are repellent (most do here, only one exception, b.w.) you’re not likely to see something even worse in the immediate future.
It’s something, the beatings will continue, Morale will not improve, but every victory we get should be honored. See here– https://www.commondreams.org/news/senate-dems-block-ndaa
Wonder if I’ll have to stop calling them DimmieCraps? If I lived anywhere near Diff Clue, and if he drinks, I’d buy him a drink. The Social strangulation by the Master Race stops for some hours or days, better than more kicks in the teeth. (By Master Race I don’t mean Jews, btw, I mean Zionists including the Xtian ones like Mike Huckabee.)
spud
nobody in education stood a chance after 1993. what we see today, was cast in stone from the election of a rand/hayek/freidman worshiper in 1993.
Bill Clinton did not eliminate Truman’s education legacy regarding student debt; instead, he implemented policies that modernized the student loan system, including the privatization of federal student loans. This shift allowed private banks to profit from student loans, contributing to the current student debt crisis.
revealnews.org
Bill Clinton’s Impact on Student Debt
Overview of Education Policies
Bill Clinton did not eliminate the educational legacy established by President Harry Truman regarding student debt. Instead, his administration made significant changes to the student loan system that modernized it and shifted its structure.
Key Changes Under Clinton
Privatization of Federal Student Loans: Clinton’s policies allowed private banks to participate in the federal student loan program. This change enabled these banks to profit from student loans, which contributed to the growing student debt crisis.
Profit Motive: The privatization created a system where financial institutions, rather than the government, became the primary lenders. This shift led to increased costs for students and a rise in overall student debt.
Consequences of the Changes
The transition to a privatized student loan system has been criticized for:
Increasing the burden of student debt on borrowers.
Allowing banks and private investors to profit significantly from student loans.
Contributing to a cycle of inequality, as many students struggle to repay their loans.
In summary, while Clinton’s administration modernized the student loan system, it did not eliminate Truman’s educational legacy; rather, it transformed it in a way that has had lasting implications for student debt in America.
revealnews.org Wikipedia
The privatization of federal student loans, particularly with the shift of Sallie Mae in 1996, led to a focus on profit rather than student support, contributing to rising education costs and increasing student debt. This change allowed private investors and banks to dominate the lending market, exacerbating the student debt crisis as costs soared and access to affordable education diminished.
Cornell University Boston University
Bill Clinton supported and expanded charter schools through the federal Charter Schools Program in 1994, which differed from President Truman’s 1940s push for equal educational opportunity and desegregation. Clinton framed charter schools as a form of public school choice with accountability, aiming to increase innovation and outcomes without vouchers.
educationnext.org The 74
Bill Clinton’s Charter Schools Initiative
Bill Clinton’s support for charter schools marked a significant shift in educational policy compared to earlier efforts, particularly those initiated by President Harry Truman.
Key Differences from Truman’s Legacy
Aspect Truman’s Education Legacy Clinton’s Charter Schools Initiative
Focus Equal educational opportunity and desegregation Public school choice and accountability
Approach Emphasis on integration and access Emphasis on innovation and performance
Funding Not specifically tied to school choice Established the federal Charter Schools Program in 1994, providing funding for charter schools
Educational Model Traditional public school system Independent public schools with flexibility
Goals of Clinton’s Charter Schools
Public School Choice: Charter schools were framed as a way to offer parents more options within the public education system.
Accountability: These schools operate under performance contracts, ensuring they meet specific educational standards.
Innovation: The initiative aimed to foster new teaching methods and educational practices, contrasting with the traditional public school model.
Clinton’s charter school initiative sought to enhance educational outcomes while maintaining a public framework, diverging from Truman’s focus on desegregation and equal access. This shift reflects a broader evolution in educational policy, emphasizing choice and accountability over solely addressing systemic inequalities.
educationnext.org Cato Institute
Bill Clinton’s charter schools focused on creating publicly funded, independently managed schools to foster innovation and choice in education, while Harry Truman’s education policies primarily emphasized expanding access to education through federal support and funding for traditional public schools. Clinton’s approach was more about school choice and reform, whereas Truman’s policies were centered on strengthening existing public education systems.
educationnext.org sutherlandinstitute.org
Critics argue that charter schools, funded by public money, can divert resources from traditional public schools, potentially leading to financial challenges for those schools. However, supporters believe that charter schools provide valuable alternatives and can improve overall educational quality.
National Archives UC Santa Barbara
Impact of Charter Schools on Public Education Funding
Overview of Charter Schools
Charter schools are publicly funded but operate independently from traditional public school systems. They are designed to provide parents and students with more educational choices. However, their funding model has raised concerns about the financial implications for traditional public schools.
Financial Concerns
Resource Diversion: Critics argue that charter schools can divert essential funding away from traditional public schools. This diversion can lead to financial challenges for these schools, which rely heavily on public funding to operate.
Funding Allocation: When students choose to attend charter schools, the funding that would have gone to their local public school follows them to the charter. This can result in reduced budgets for traditional schools, impacting their ability to provide quality education.
Support for Charter Schools
Educational Alternatives: Supporters of charter schools contend that they offer valuable alternatives to families, potentially improving overall educational quality. They argue that competition from charter schools can drive improvements in traditional public schools as well.
Innovation and Flexibility: Charter schools often have more flexibility in their operations, allowing for innovative teaching methods and curricula that may not be possible in traditional public schools.
Conclusion
The debate over charter schools centers on their dual role as both a choice for parents and a potential financial strain on traditional public education systems. While they provide alternatives, the implications for funding and resources in public schools remain a significant concern.
National Archives UC Santa Barbara
Charter schools can drain funds from traditional public schools as the funding follows the students who leave for charters, while the operational costs of the public schools remain largely unchanged. This often forces public schools to cut programs and services for the remaining students.
nea.org edpolicyinca.org
Proponents argue that charter schools expand educational options for families, promote innovation, and can improve overall school performance through competition. Critics contend that charter schools siphon resources from traditional public schools, exacerbate segregation, and often lack sufficient oversight and accountability.
debateus.org
The student loan debt crisis is a result of various factors, including the privatization of student loans during the Clinton administration, which shifted control to corporations focused on profit rather than education. This change, along with reduced state funding for public colleges, contributed significantly to the rising costs and debt levels faced by students today.
Medium revealnews.org
Factors Contributing to the Student Loan Debt Crisis
Privatization of Student Loans
The privatization of student loans began in 1996 under the Clinton administration.
This shift allowed corporations to take control of student lending, prioritizing profit over educational access.
Reduced State Funding
States have significantly decreased their funding for public colleges since the 1980s.
If states had maintained their funding levels, they would have invested at least $500 billion more in higher education, which could have alleviated some of the financial burdens on students.
Rising Costs of Higher Education
The combination of privatization and reduced state support has led to increased tuition and fees at public colleges.
As a result, many students are left with substantial debt, contributing to a national student loan balance exceeding $1.3 trillion.
Impact of Student Loan Debt
Approximately 42 million Americans are affected by student loan debt, which has doubled over the past eight years.
The crisis exacerbates income inequality, creating a divide between those with debt and those without.
While the Clinton administration’s policies played a role in the current student loan crisis, it is essential to recognize that multiple factors, including state funding cuts and rising education costs, have contributed to the situation.
Medium revealnews.org
Senator-Elect
The overproduction to support overconsumption (creating so much extra misery workers/consumers and necessitating shopping as therapy to feel better about life; perfect vicious cycle) is sad and ecologically destructive.
A couple typos:
Max => Marx
what your told, when your told => you’re
mago
All right then comrades. We all agree school sucks. Our cultural conditioning sucks, and everything we’ve been taught and told to accept is wrong.
My first grade teacher, a fat gray maven called Mrs Webster was my mother’s first grade teacher in the same school and the same classroom. Old Webster would take a misbehavior on her lap in front of the class, pull his pants down and paddle his ass with the equivalent of a ping pong paddle. (Try that these days.)
I knew right then and there that school sucks, a sentiment reinforced along the way by a pantheon of asshole teachers who should have been banished to Outer Mongolia. Like the eighth grade history teacher who took me out into the hall and repeatedly banged my head against a locker for the sin of wearing long hair and answering a question asked by a classmate seated behind me. Good times.
Gee. Wonder where my anti authoritarianism came from.
So the abuse cultivated some empathy for the teenage experience, and when it came my turn to teach befuddled youth I exercised a degree of compassion, and I still have contact with former students who are now adults.
My message has long been: screw authority and don’t let the bastards get you down.
More pertinent than ever.
DMC
I’m old enough to remember when student loans were a service the banks were more or less compelled to offer at something like .5% per annum and they they didn’t like it because the interest barely covered the administration costs(or so they complained). General banking deregulation seems to done away the “public service” model substituting the “marks to be fleeced” model that prevails throughout Finance and Banking. Speaking of marks, one must understand about charter schools is that they are an entire scam from the get go. They exist to put public dollars in private pockets and help break the teachers unions. Students actually getting educated is strictly incidental, save at evaluation time. Seriously, there have been private schools since forever but that have to demonstrate some kind of competence to the state and have to be staffed by people at least sufficiently competent to get a teaching license.
Oakchair
Work is anything you do due to coercion. … you’re being coerced by what Ma(r)x called the whip of hunger.
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People are also manipulated, conditioned etc to work for social status and because we’ve all been propagandized to believe that consumerism is the path to happiness. “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.” –Marx if he had insomnia.
——
“real” jobs, even janitors, might be unhappy, but they were a lot less unhappy than those in bullshit jobs
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In one way or another most jobs are at the very least part bullshit. Doctors, teachers, military personal, journalists are good examples. Each job panders to a certain group by appearing as meaningful, fulfilling and socially beneficial. They then require years of education/training and debt. The outcome is captive workers who in order to recognize the portion of their jobs that are bullshit first have to fight through the sunk-loss bias, brainwashing, and cognitive dissonance. Captive workers who upon seeing someone pointing out the truth have to either face that pain or attack the messenger.
Dagnarus
The economy is a flow. People provide goods and services, to get goods and services. The poor immidieately convert money into goods and services, the better of spent some of there money to current spending and defer some to investment which they will convert into goods and services for there retirement eventually. The truly wealthy however put all off there money into making more money, they never actually want to convert there money/investments into useful goods and services, they just want the notional value of there investments to grow.
As the top 1% controls more and more of the production of goods and services, what can the bottom 99% trade with them for those goods and services? The 99% can’t trade the production of actual useful things, the 1% uses only a fraction of there wealth on those things. The 99% must trade what the 1% actually wants, which is some bull shit reason why the notional value in goods and services of their investments is going up, (scams).
different clue
@Mark Level,
If I lived anywhere near you I’d accept your kind offer before I end up writing something you don’t like, which will happen inevitably.
Jessica
@Different Clue,
I would buy you a drink for your last comment. Even if you wrote something I don’t like.
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I would buy you a drink for your last comment. Even if you wrote something I don’t like.
See? This is one of the many wonderful things to come of women’s liberation. Women now buy men drinks without batting an eye. It’s perfectly acceptable and I love it.