Thread by @DragonGod2718

@CattleCorn @scottsantens I'm terrified that so many people are selecting a jobs guarantee; it's an economist's nightmare.

For one, it incentivises inefficiency. A jobs guarantee decouples employee productivity from employee compensation. This removes any incentive for productivity.

@CattleCorn @scottsantens Secondly, the massive bureaucracy involved in employing tens (if not hundreds of millions of people) would create more systematic inefficiencies and lead to wastage of resources.

@CattleCorn @scottsantens Thirdly, workers admitted into a jobs guarantee may find it exceedingly difficult to transition to private employment (federal workers already find it difficult to transition to the private sector, and a jobs guarantee would exacerbate it due to the resulting skill atrophy).

@CattleCorn @scottsantens This ultimately creates a dependent class reliant on government welfare (only they have to do busy work to receive said welfare) for sustenance. What we have is a ginormous bureaucracy that is woefully inefficient and wastes both the government's resources and the workers.

@CattleCorn @scottsantens This is without even getting to the problems that arise when the employees dislike their jobs. Worse still, as accelerating technological advancement displaces more and more people from the workforce, the dependent population would only rise, increasing the economic waste.

@CattleCorn @scottsantens It would be better for both parties we just gave people money (freeing them up to allocate their labour in the most economically efficient way (thus increasing productivity) and eliminating the waste associated with managing a jobs program for tens of millions of people.

@CattleCorn @scottsantens Tl;Dr welfare without a work requirement is better than welfare with one.

@CattleCorn @scottsantens @threadreaderapp unroll.