General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: DU was for change, not progressivism... [View all]Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)The 'root cause' of a lot of our problems atm isn't 'people not making an effort to improve themselves'. It's quite literally a lack of jobs. We figured out how to solve this problem something like 80 years ago. When the private sector isn't creating jobs, the government should be. There's a hell of a lot that needs to be done in this country, and if we're going to be paying people, we might as well get useful work in exchange. Why aren't we? Because folks on the right are ideologically opposed to the public sector employing anyone. They want to privatize every function of government they can that can possibly funnel public funds into private pockets, but are simply unwilling to do jobs that need done, but won't result in lots of profits for shareholders.
As a liberal, I *am* for 'subsidizing outcomes', when those outcomes are things that are good for people, like a cleaner environment, an educated and innovative populace, and a lack of people starving and homeless. Because I realize that some things that are good for people and the country are simply not 'profit generators'. Police and firefighters, for instance, are not 'profit generators'. But you still need them for the good of society. They create a 'good' that is not monetary, but still incredibly worthwhile.
Government exists to let people band together to do the things that benefit everyone, not just those with capital to invest for monetary return.