tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329507352453931374.post8954295581979330579..comments2024-03-24T18:43:18.706-04:00Comments on Darwinfish 2: Put'em To Workbluzdudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05991272670722362652noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329507352453931374.post-83772699419469311572019-07-03T08:53:11.686-04:002019-07-03T08:53:11.686-04:00My dad always said that my taking that job in the ...My dad always said that my taking that job in the glass factory ensured that I would get a college degree, lest I have to return to it.bluzdudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991272670722362652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329507352453931374.post-68849660510624810602019-06-04T19:41:51.909-04:002019-06-04T19:41:51.909-04:00No question that a lack of jobs, or other things t...No question that a lack of jobs, or other things to do is only a piece of the puzzle. Poverty, lack of decent education, lack of parental supervision, appeal of gang activity... it all feeds into the mix.<br /><br />Also, they're kids. How many teens have the fortitude to stand up to a bunch of their friends and say, "No, I'm not doing that." It's possible, but would be remarkable, I'd think.<br /><br />Baltimore is a tough landscape and the police have a tightrope to walk. If they went in there busting heads and dragging kids off, the Inner Harbor would be in flames. <br /><br />We already had one riot over police brutality and the community does not want another. The cops did their best to collar those who were ringleaders or were driving the "action."<br /><br />I thought "6" was light too, but that's probably all they could manage without resorting to the heavy-handed tactics that lit the fuse before.<br /><br />Plus, the Baltimore City Police are trying to get past the "Gun Trace Task Force" debacle, which was a team of specialized cops who rolled drug dealers, stole their money, (or that of any other guy they came across who had some), planted evidence, falsified overtime records and so forth.<br /><br />I don't know how the job situation will ever be resolved either. It's bigger than a government program or a company like Amazon coming to town. Entire sections of the former job market are disappearing before our eyes, and I don't see enough new opportunities taking their place.<br /><br />It's all becoming a business owner's pipe dream... all the work done, a fraction of the people on staff, and massive savings from not paying wages, overtime, insurance, payroll taxes, and much less theft.<br /><br />Unfortunately, it doesn't account for people having enough money to shop for whatever products they're selling.bluzdudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991272670722362652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329507352453931374.post-80357949274605215072019-06-04T09:55:54.532-04:002019-06-04T09:55:54.532-04:00I am afraid that no matter what I say here I will ...I am afraid that no matter what I say here I will sound like an old fuddy duddy. But I am. I agree here 100%. I recall a time when I said to my father that he could afford something that I wanted. He said you're right I can, but you can't can you? Better get a job then. I got a job. I had my first job at 14. picking strawberries. Didn't eat them for 20 yrs after that. But that money bought me stuff, albums, clothes, things I wanted that my parents did just buy because I wanted. (like a nickel bag of pot in 1972) I had many many jobs. It makes for a good work ethic and as you know being self employed now I get some real doozies that apply. My favorite is the idiot (24 yrs old) who called in tired. His 3rd day he called in fucking tired. We let him go so he could get his rest. Margaret (Peggy or Peg too)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04247428494327269983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329507352453931374.post-22679189919301346912019-06-04T06:38:23.928-04:002019-06-04T06:38:23.928-04:00This is an interesting topic and raises a number o...This is an interesting topic and raises a number of questions. Most immediately, given that there are millions of teenagers who (for whatever reason) don't have jobs, what percentage of them engage in violent behavior? Given that behavior like this doesn't seem very common, it's apparently a really tiny percentage -- which suggests that lack of jobs isn't the real root of the problem.<br /><br />Also, how do other countries avoid this problem? There are many advanced countries where many teens don't have jobs, but such outbreaks of violence don't happen. What are those countries doing that we're not?<br /><br />In any case, disappearance of menial jobs due to automation is taking place through the whole economy, not just sectors where teens used to work. Any reversal of that trend through government action will be artificial and unsustainable. It can only be addressed through ideas like basic income. For most adults, having enough money to avoid the need to work is the ultimate dream. For teenagers, too, there are plenty of other things to do.<br /><br />It's tempting to attribute the violence to ennui, cynicism about the rigged economy, despair over same, etc., but none of those explanations addresses the fact that only a tiny fraction of teens are violent. For them, I doubt more plentiful jobs would help. Not many employers would hire one of the teens who participated in a riot like this. Businesses aren't social welfare agencies. They don't want the headache of dealing with somebody like that.<br /><br />The unpleasant fact is that not everything about personality is determined by environment (actually most of it probably isn't), and some people are simply bad people, and those people are presumably teenagers at some point in their lives. If hundreds of people rioted and there were only six arrests (and probably even those won't face any serious punishment), there's no deterrent to the behavior and they will probably just continue to escalate it until more serious crimes later in life bring them into the adult criminal-justice system.<br /><br />I don't know what the answer is. We really do need to look at what other countries are doing. I suspect that if a riot like this happened in Japan, the police would do a lot more than arrest six people.Infidel753https://www.blogger.com/profile/10965786814334886696noreply@blogger.com