[lbo-talk] To each according to work

[andie nachgeborenen]

The world is full of Wallys (the deadwood character in the comic strip Dilbert). We all work with some of them. At the risk of being humorless, I can't see how this can be a fundamental principle of social philosophy. If we allow the Wallys to self-select, this will undermine solidarity and incresae the sense and reality of exploitation by enhancing the suspicion among the Dilberts that many of the self-designated Wallys are faking it and goofing off at their expense, If we select the Wallys involuntarily, that will be unforgiveably damaging to the self-respect of too many people, a sort of socially acknowledged way of say, You are good for nothing. In any event, given the distribution of talent, someone who is a Wally at one thing may be a Dilbert at another. If someone is just plain lazy in every area, a goof-off who hates work and would rather be a parasite, I don't see why he should not be either coerced to contribute or given substanially less

 material rewards. He won't have done anything to deserve material rewards; giving him equal rewatds will have bad effects, and if he is permitted to stay at home and watch the socialist equivalent of Who Wnats To Be A Millionaire, won't he already have his reward in the form of tolerated laziness?

--- On Sat, 4/19/08, Andy F <andy274 at gmail.com> wrote:


> From: Andy F <andy274 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] To each according to work
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Saturday, April 19, 2008, 6:46 AM
> On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 3:41 AM, andie nachgeborenen
> <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> >  There is nothing wrong with coercing people to work
> (by formal or perhaps, as JS Mill onserved in another
> context, even more effective informal) methods, any more
> than there is with coercing people to pay taxes to provide
> public goods -- a form, litertarians mote, of forced labor.
> I don't see why the lazy should benefit from the taxed
> work done by others to provide benefits all enjoy, a
> related point.
> 
> Just for the fun of it, consider Dwayne's argument for
> welfare: there
> are people who detract from the productivity of their
> workplaces.
> People who might best serve society by staying home and
> watching "Who
> Wants To Be A Millionaire".
> 
> -- 
> Andy
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ