Why the poor don't move

[doodab]

Except there wouldn't be a market for those things if they were much more expensive due to having to use British made ships, made from British steel using British coal.

This is a very British attitude, this assumption that the only thing that matters is cost. Perhaps we could produce excellent ships. Perhaps they would be cheaper to run, and hence cheaper to own, despite the higher up front cost. Or perhaps we would produce warships so technologically advanced that foreign navies would rush to own them.

[doodab]

1) Well call centres are the new sweat shops or are you going to tell me they cannot use a telephone and a simply keyboard mouse interface? (call centre software is designed to be used by almost anyone)

I suspect it's more that they cannot maintain the required standard of conversation for long enough to be worth paying.

[original PM]

I suspect it's more that they cannot maintain the required standard of conversation for long enough to be worth paying.

so options on employing these people are very limited then - well we'd best ensure they have enough money for blue pop and beds to breed on so they can continue being a leach on society then.

[VectraMan]

This is a very British attitude, this assumption that the only thing that matters is cost. Perhaps we could produce excellent ships. Perhaps they would be cheaper to run, and hence cheaper to own, despite the higher up front cost. Or perhaps we would produce warships so technologically advanced that foreign navies would rush to own them.

Yes but it's already happened. There's a reason why the ship yards closed, and it wasn't because we were able to make more excellent ships out of more excellent steel made with more excellent coal.

[doodab]

so options on employing these people are very limited then - well we'd best ensure they have enough money for blue pop and beds to breed on so they can continue being a leach on society then.

Perhaps this is the curse of technological progress in a pre-post-scarcity society. A percentage of humanity simply aren't useful and have no place. Education might solve some of that, but perhaps like a diseased branch that part simply needs lopping off.

[original PM]

Perhaps this is the curse of technological progress in a pre-post-scarcity society. A percentage of humanity simply aren't useful and have no place. Education might solve some of that, but perhaps like a diseased branch that part simply needs lopping off.

yep forced sterlisation and work houses are the way forward

[alluvial]

1) Well call centres are the new sweat shops or are you going to tell me they cannot use a telephone and a simply keyboard mouse interface? (call centre software is designed to be used by almost anyone)

Actually, a lot can't. But aside from that, the article stated that last year there were 8,000 people seeking work, are there 8,000 vacant call centre positions? Don't forget that Blaenau-Gwent isn't alone in this. All the Valley's towns have high unemployment rates, are there enough call centre jobs for all of these as well?

2) Sorry to clarify the job in the mines in the valleys dissapeared 30 years ago - still sitting in the valleys now moaning about it is not really an option.

Not forgetting the steel industry and a lot of others.
What annoys me is the constant harping on of people about how everyone out of work should get off their arse and move or go where the work is. In reality, most people do just that. The Valley trains are packed in the mornings to take people to work in Cardiff. For a lot of others, it just isn't an option, for all sorts of reasons.

[alluvial]

Perhaps this is the curse of technological progress in a pre-post-scarcity society. A percentage of humanity simply aren't useful and have no place. Education might solve some of that, but perhaps like a diseased branch that part simply needs lopping off.

I wouldn't propose anything quite so drastic but you are right that the nub of the problem is that there are just too many people now. In the past, there was huge demand for manual workers and if that wasn't fancied, then the armed forces were an option.

[d000hg]

Where does this view come from that everyone should ideally be in work?

What's the point of automating people's jobs if we then insist those people get other jobs?

[Spacecadet]

Where does this view come from that everyone should ideally be in work?

What's the point of automating people's jobs if we then insist those people get other jobs?

So we can look down on them for not having a job