Friday, June 15, 2012

Labor Day

This has been driving me a bit nuts.

Countries should have people work until they are older to reflect longer life expectancy rates, Slim reportedly saidSlim added the current retirement age was established “when jobs were more physical and people died at 60, but now we live until 85 or 90.”

El Universal reported one of the world’s savviest businessmen as saying: “We live in the knowledge society, so knowledge and experience should be valued. This is why a person’s work life could be increased.”
Every building this man enters; every vehicle that transports him to that building; every stitch of clothing he puts on this back; every piece of food he puts in his mouth; every fork he lifts, plate he eats off of, road he travels on or the goods he buys travels to him on, every material thing this man touches that he deems necessary or pleasurable or useful to his existence, even the very "information society" he thinks now has replaced the material world humanity has lived in since the first human being...

is the product of manual labor; is the product of physical effort; is mined or harvested or cut down or reaped or gathered or cooked or otherwise prepared for him, by the work of hands.  And those hands have not been replaced by "knowledge" and have not been replaced by "executives" and cannot be replaced by white collar employment in an office at a computer; because none of those things, from the white collar to the office to the computer, is possible without the work of hands, without manual labor.

And to say those people are living longer or can work longer because you imagine all people who earn their bread by their efforts do so in a physically non-demanding way, in a way that only employs their fingers and what goes on between their ears, is as mindless and idiotic and undeserving of anything but contempt and scorn, as the belief that the earth is flat and the stars are just tiny lights in the sky.

3 comments:

  1. Windhorse5:45 PM

    And to say those people are living longer or can work longer because you imagine all people who earn their bread by their efforts do so in a physically non-demanding way, in a way that only employs their fingers and what goes on between their ears, is as mindless and idiotic and undeserving of anything but contempt and scorn, as the belief that the earth is flat and the stars are just tiny lights in the sky.

    Amen and amen.

    This was very much a "Why, let them eat cake!" moment for our wealthy friend. Wikipedia tells me his personal wealth is roughly equivalent to 5% of Mexico's yearly economic output, which is not surprising in that he holds a monopoly on a number of that country's largest industries. He was afforded that opportunity by having been sitting on a pile of cash during a severe economic downturn, allowing him to purchase businesses at less than their true value. I don't imagine his sentiments toward aging workers are any less opportunistic or cynical.

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  2. All that you've written about where our stuff comes from that is so very true must have slipped the mind of "the world’s savviest businessmen". If he's so damned savvy, he should try to keep up.

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  3. Off topic:
    Don't know why it didn't occur to me before this morning while reading about the gazillionth atheist whine about donations to religious organizations being tax deductible but I know for a fact that donations to the :


    American Humanists Association,
    Center for Inquiry,
    Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (I ususally write "Skeptical" in quotes in this case)
    James Randi Educational Foundation (same for "Educational"
    Freedom From Religion Foundation
    etc.

    .... are tax deductible.

    How many of them are directly involved in care of the sick, feeding the poor, clothing the naked or other legitimate reasons for tax deductible status?

    You care to add to the list of atheist and anti-religious organizations that have "tax-deductible" status?

    http://zthoughtcriminal.blogspot.com/

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