"DON'T GI'US A JOB, GI'US DIGNITY"

I've just got back home after a weekend in Auckland. The Old Girl couldn't come up north so I went to Auckland this weekend.

We went to Mezze for tea (not dinner because after-all it was only 6pm) on Saturday night and a pub burger (not bad) after seeing the film The Journey on Sunday night. Worth watching, I recommend it.

I came home by bus today.

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Apropos of nothing, or, at least nothing related to the weekend activity above, I thought today, on my bus journey about unemployment or, more correctly, underemployment.

We aren't (as society) doing enough on this topic.
Modernisation in all it's forms (intensive agriculture, mechanisation, the digital revolution and, more recently robotics) has destroyed the old 'work for a living' ethos. Since WW2 the 'dole family' has become an institution around the world (and more recently since the 1980s in New Zealand) with generations of people growing up on the 'Giro'.

Crime, dysfunction, alienation and hopelessness has been the result yet decades worth of politicians, governments and leaders have basically stuck their heads in the sand refusing to tackle the obvious issues. When solutions have been found they have been generally in the area of law enforcement, onerous social services regulations and platitudinous welfare benefit systems (or vote-catchers) that don't fix anything, don't create a framework for improvement and, in fact, dissipate all of the available funding.

What's needed is a re-think of the situation.

Unemployment and underemployment is here. It's been here for a long time and is a reality. It isn't going to go away. It will in fact get worse.
There are so many jobs that have been taken away by industrialisation, mechanisation, digitalisation, computerisation and robotics already but we haven't even scratched the surface. In 2017 we are talking about driverless cars, trucks, buses, planes as a reality. It will only be a few years before this is the norm. We already purchase groceries from self-scanners at supermarkets. Why the hell do we need a supercilious or pompous sales clerk in a clothing store or any sort of boutique to cater to our needs? Why, when we can access the internet for most daily requirements do we need lawyers, doctors, real estate agents, insurance agents, car salesmen, bankers ..... you get the message.


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The Luddites too knew what was coming.

In hindsight they were correct - smash all the new technology (if an alternative to work management can't be found). Banish the inventors who  would after-all cause misery, poverty and social alienation to all those who embrace it (fobbed off by TV and religion).

See here:

WORKING CLASS HERO

What's been missing is a recognition that all those people who've progressively been 'thrown on the scrap heap' aren't useless. They aren't misfits, drongoes, underachievers and failures - it's just happened. OK?  We've already wasted centuries on mishandling this situation (and I've wasted at least a minute trying to keep the readers' reader's attention). Our government and every government by reining in corporates and industries, needs to embrace the problem. Sure, the old adage said work gave dignity. But, if there is no work, what then? We need to 'get over ourselves' and admit (at last) that there is a big change in the way we are currently living. If we want people to behave in a dignified way (assuming that's being being crime-less, ethical, moral - not necessarily religious and helping each other) then there has to be one hell of a big change of view and policy. We need to make people feel valuable, that they are an integral part of society and can contribute - not to feel that they are wasters, bludgers and losers.

Hey! This is just an observation. I'm not a politician. I'm just an old guy trying to do my best but, I might write a series f posts on the subject knowing that maybe two people will read them.