I wrote this on Microsoft Word, and we know that sometimes MW doesn't translate well to AG. Hopefully there won't be any conversion errors. Anyways, here's my essay on the Work Voucher:
Money controls the world. If you have money, you have power. I used to believe in the concept that if you worked hard, you would be successful. Now I realize that is a bunch of rubbish. Approximately 80% of 2008-09 college graduates do not have a job in the field they received a degree in. Too many hard workers are falling through the cracks. They canât afford basic needs such as food, health insurance, or medications. The US likes to call itself a civilized society, but when a sixth of your population doesnât have health insurance, and a quarter of all US children suffer from hunger, you realize how barbaric the system is.
People work extra jobs just to break even. Many people I work with at Target have two or even three jobs. I am breaking even, despite working 32 hours a week. And I live at home where I get free housing and food. Imagine someone who is living on their own on a minimum wage job. Itâs impossible to live like a human being.
This is what I consider "wage slavery." The term "wage slavery" came out of the Union movements in the 1800âs. They define wage slavery as being totally and immediately dependent on the wages earn. Because people canât find decent paying work, they have to work minimum wage to barely make ends meet. They are completely dependent on that wage to live day to day. Should a person living as a wage slave get injured, or has to take work off, they will not be able to afford basic living needs.
People who work, no matter what job, should have a decent wage and should be able to live without worrying about living paycheck to paycheck. That is why I advocate the "Work Voucher" system. Rather than making a wage or a salary, people are paid in work vouchers. No matter what job one has, they earn a voucher for every hour they work. If you work 40 hours in a week, you get 40 work vouchers. These work vouchers would replace money, wages, and salary. Janitors, teachers, soldiers, police men, cashiers, nurses, doctors, and everyone would earn the same wage for working.
The first criticism that always comes out is, "Thatâs Socialist!" or "Thatâs Communist!" And my response is, "Yes, it is." The major problem with the "Thatâs socialist or communist" argument is that itâs baseless. If I argued against the free market and my main argument was "Thatâs Capitalist!" my argument has no ground to stand on. Now if I were to say that the free market creates inequality, inflation, class differences, etc, then my argument has some support behind it, whether or not you agree. So simply saying "Thatâs Socialist" wonât cut it for me. Nothing in the Constitution demands a free market, or says anything against Socialism or Communism.
The major criticism of the Work Voucher is that it promotes laziness. But there is a real life example of the Work Voucher in practice. In Anarchist Spain (1936-1939), people were paid with Work Vouchers or coupons. Spanish Civil War scholar Burnett Bolloten writes:
"In many communities money for internal use was abolished, because, in the opinion of Anarchists, 'money and power are diabolical philtres, which turn a man into a wolf, into a rabid enemy, instead of into a brother.' 'Here in Fraga [a small town in Aragon], you can throw banknotes into the street,' ran an article in a Libertarian paper, 'and no one will take any notice. Rockefeller, if you were to come to Fraga with your entire bank account you would not be able to buy a cup of coffee. Money, your God and your servant, has been abolished here, and the people are happy.' In those Libertarian communities where money was suppressed, wages were paid in coupons, the scale being determined by the size of the family. Locally produced goods, if abundant, such as bread, wine, and olive oil, were distributed freely, while other articles could be obtained by means of coupons at the communal depot. Surplus goods were exchanged with other Anarchist towns and villages, money being used only for transactions with those communities that had not adopted the new system."
Author G. Helseyâs 1994 book about Anarchist Spain reveals that production in Anarchist communities with Work Vouchers increased by over 20%. Decisions about businesses were made by the workers and workerâs councils, as opposed to an elite group of rich who care about profits. Because workers had a direct say in the company, motivation was increased and production went up.
Iâm not going to say that Anarchist Spain was a paradise. There were definite problems, mainly stemming from the Fascist movement which took over Spain in 1939. There was some oppression and violence. But this was a first real attempt at total equality. No economic system has ever had a good track record in the beginning. Even Capitalism was violent and oppressive when it first began to take over.
One final criticism is that people would try to just work the easiest job possible. I personally believe that 99% of people in the world want to work and be productive. Most people also work jobs that they want to do, not jobs that give a big paycheck. I would take a teaching job over Target any day, even if they paycheck for teaching was smaller. If the Work Voucher system was in place, I still believe that most people would do jobs that they wanted to do. They would not just pick the easiest job. The Work Voucher will ensure total equality and happiness in the world. The masses wonât be ruled by profits and CEOâs worried about their paychecks. They masses, will in fact, rule themselves and have a direct say in everything that happens. With an equal distribution, society will not have to worry about hungry children, uninsured people, or corporate Capitalism.
Some jobs are inherintly more dangerous, difficult, and requiring of a high level of expertise. The system you suggest penalizes those that have worked hard to get where they are, and rewards people who pick up just any job that's available; which are often jobs that require no training, are not difficult, and lack danger.
So - if you get out of highschool and someone tells you:
"Hey, you can get out of high school, train mercilessly for years and years to become a highly skilled doctor so that your job has the same level of reward and merit as some guy who shovels poop out of a cage at a zoo."
Where's the incentive to work for all of those years where you don't make any money at all training for this job, when you would have financially been better off just picking up a mop and doing the floors at the local Gas N' Gulp?
And the police officer, or firefighter, or military men & women that literally put their lives on the line in their chosen profession - is that worth the same amount of work units' or money as the person that serves McDonalds to you from behind the counter?
It also creates problems with pricing things to buy. Some things are more expensive to make or create then others, either in the length of time that it takes to create it (artificially made diamonds meant for drilling take a while to produce) or the huge amount of people involved in a product (like say, modern video games).
Lets take movies for examples. So, you have to pay work units to every person working on the project - you directors, producers, actors, props people, extras; and then you have to pay for all of the equipment needed - the props, the sets, the camera equipment, the editing computers, the catering, cables... do all of these things that absolutely have to be purchased for a movie to work cost the same amount of work units each? Or do they cost lots of work units? Where do the work units for such a large production come together? Does that cost of work units get passed onto the consumer at the movie theater?
People who work, no matter what job, should have a decent wage and should be able to live without worrying about living paycheck to paycheck.
This is an awesome sentiment, and I totally agree. What I don't agree, is that every job has the exact same level of value to a society.
All people may be equal, but jobs that we do are not. How does the work voucher system make people want to risk their lives putting out fires, defending their country, putting criminals away, or even crab fishing?
I do like the idea of evening out the playing field for people financially, but this doesn't sound like a winner of an idea.
If everyone was just payed the same wage then janitors would be making more money than doctors. Doctors have to go through 6 or more years of training while janitors don't even need to go to school. If you have a more difficult or dangerous job you should be payed something like 10 vouchers an hour or so but 1 voucher an hour should be able to get you by with a bit of money left at the end of the month.
