The economically value-less: the fast growing American demographic

[Seymour Flops]

By "economically value-less," I mean people who perform no labor, no management, no creative task at all. They contribute nothing in the way of productivity, but they consume almost as much as people who do contribute to productivity, and in some case more.

We've always had non-productive people thoughout history. They have been children who are not capable of working, or not allowed to work by a given society's norms, and the elderly who are not capable or not allowed to work. Sometimes the childhood non-productivity have been extended, through lenghty college "careers," or the lives of leisure led by sons and daughters of wealthy producers.

What's different now, is that we have a growing population of people who are able survive and live comfortable lives without working at all, and who do not have a plan to ever work other than a vague idea that someday something enjoyable and highly paid will present itself.

With student loan, and careful planning, a child from a working-class family can enjoy lengthy stays in college once only affordable to the children of he upper classes. By filling out the proper forms, a poor person can live off of welfare comfortably and indefinitely, and often do.

First of all, it is a sign of the success of the free market that there are enough goods and services produced to provide for these people absent their contributions. The amount of labor that we need to provide comfortable lives for X number of producers and non-producers can be performed by Y number of producers and the Y gets smaller and smaller relative to X due to advances in technology and management.

My question is this: do those non-producers provide any economic benefit to our society?

Maybe.

I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours.

 

[Moonglow]

You seem to have zero links to prove yer stats you don't have.

 

[Dekster]

The $50B or so we spend a year on housing assistance sure does seem to create a lot of jobs and subsidize a lot of landlords...

 

[initforme]

Why are you so worried if someone else is working or not? Is work the only thing you have in your life? Remember a job is only a means to a paycheck and nothing more. It has no influence on defining a person.

 

[braalian]

Why are you so worried if someone else is working or not? Is work the only thing you have in your life? Remember a job is only a means to a paycheck and nothing more. It has no influence on defining a person.

We don’t all think that way. Which is lucky for the jobless deadbeats who live off of those of us who do work.

 

[initforme]

We don’t all think that way. Which is lucky for the jobless deadbeats who live off of those of us who do work.

Those of us who worked out whole lives and are now retired do indeed feel that way. After 42 years of working it never once dawned on me to worry about if someone else is working or not.

 

[braalian]

Those of us who worked out whole lives and are now retired do indeed feel that way. After 42 years of working it never once dawned on me to worry about if someone else is working or not.

I obviously wasn’t talking about retirees.

 

[initforme]

While I was working I never worried if other people were working or not. In the end it's sad that the best years of ones life are spent working instead of being able to enjoy life but that's the way it is.

 

[citygator]

By "economically value-less," I mean people who perform no labor, no management, no creative task at all. They contribute nothing in the way of productivity, but they consume almost as much as people who do contribute to productivity, and in some case more.

We've always had non-productive people thoughout history. They have been children who are not capable of working, or not allowed to work by a given society's norms, and the elderly who are not capable or not allowed to work. Sometimes the childhood non-productivity have been extended, through lenghty college "careers," or the lives of leisure led by sons and daughters of wealthy producers.

What's different now, is that we have a growing population of people who are able survive and live comfortable lives without working at all, and who do not have a plan to ever work other than a vague idea that someday something enjoyable and highly paid will present itself.

With student loan, and careful planning, a child from a working-class family can enjoy lengthy stays in college once only affordable to the children of he upper classes. By filling out the proper forms, a poor person can live off of welfare comfortably and indefinitely, and often do.

First of all, it is a sign of the success of the free market that there are enough goods and services produced to provide for these people absent their contributions. The amount of labor that we need to provide comfortable lives for X number of producers and non-producers can be performed by Y number of producers and the Y gets smaller and smaller relative to X due to advances in technology and management.

My question is this: do those non-producers provide any economic benefit to our society?

Maybe.

I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours.