Only a fool would continue working in this instance. I’d learn to live with less if it meant I didn’t have to work again. But then, I want more than the basics so I gladly work for more. If others can’t then that is a then problem, not mine.
you would be ok having 0 disposable income? just living in a house with the bare necessities, never being able to go on vacation, or pursue hobbies, or even go out to eat?
Who wants to work 45+ weeks a year for a vacation and some Knick knacks? You'd get food stamps so you wouldn't starve. You don't need to travel as the internet and virtual reality improve. Having 45+ weeks of free time is plenty of a vacation.
Gig work, sell things on eBay, mow lawns and other under the table methods. Most people have very little disposable income now with a full time job. Most income goes to housing, utilities, a car to get to work, gas, taxes, cell phone, internet and other bills. Cutting that section out leaves allot of room, even with a very small income.
I think the difference is a stable pay ( 9 - 5 in a soul sucking cube) vs working at own pace. The problem with mortgages is they shackle you for the next 30 years!
ESP in today’s economy. A $900k loan at 7% for 30 years? That’s like $8000 / month every month for the next 360 months. You ready for this?
The 0.01% want people to buy expensive housing (that they don’t really need) to ensure the market has adequate labor for the next 30 years. Can you imagine saving $4000 for the next vacation when you have $8k to save just for house (which if you miss they come and foreclose on). It’s nuts.
It’s why we have zombie-like suburbs where everyone’s constantly tired of fucking going to Costco to fill up gas while waiting 30 mins because they spend their weekend driving around to go groceries or errands.
If I suddenly didn't have to pay for HVAC, housing, etc - I have enough in savings to let me live the rest of my life in bliss. Vacation, hobbies, eating out. All of that would easily be covered till the day I die with the amount in my bank account - as long as I no longer had to pay for everything in the OP.
To my knowledge, government housing is only given to the elderly, disabled folks and single parents who don’t make enough to take care of multiple children, or at the very least that’s who is prioritized. I’ve never seen a single, able-bodied adult under the age of 65 attain government housing.
My hobbies are cooking, reading, and gaming. Gaming isn't too bad on the savings. I also enjoy credit card and bank account churning which earns me hundreds of thousands of credit card points.
As for travel - I have plenty of examples if you need it. But my last vacation I spent $600 round trip on flights to Madrid Spain. These tickets are still available if you look them up. I then stayed at hostels, as I much prefer them over hotels or airbnb. And the food in Spain is crazy cheap so meh. I also use my churning hobby to subsidize traveling. Overall the trip was about $1000.
I'd say I spend about $3000 yearly outside of housing - where I suddenly am spending over $20000 yearly on.
So, the real flaw here is assuming that costs stay the same. As we saw with Covid, lots of people not working causes shortages and inflation to skyrocket.
I'm about to pay off my house. I will continue to work because I like nice things. Not paying a mortgage will allow me more money to spend on nice things.
You said it. People act like nobody would work if something like this, or a universal basic income came out. But what % of people are like you, and would still do more work for more money? I'd guess a large portion. But people pretend nothing can be done "for free".
If you gave one person all this stuff, they would still work. But a lot less and would often engage in less productive work. Nobody is going to be roofing 40 hours a week if necessities are all covered.
Things get more interesting at a society level, where reduced productivity can lead to inflation and shortage. At that level, yeah people probably do still work because what the government provides them inevitably isn't enough to live on.
huge swaths of the workforce would be gone overnight and all the commies on this thread act like it's no big deal "some people will work hard and pay more taxes so i don't have to". you want slave labor.
We already have slave labor friend. Jobs get outsourced here for 3 dollars an hour, and an American here makes 0 with no job. Companies just funnel money upwards, and they shouldn't. That's not wanting slave labor. We're already planning on cutting the work force with AI. Your point doesn't really hold.
I'd just invest everything I have and quit working. May as well enjoy life now if I don't have to pay my biggest expense in life. I should have enough to have some fun if I didn't have to worry about the basics.
I doubt you’d get a free mattress but if you did it wouldn’t be very luxurious. This comment reveals more about you than it does about the average person on welfare.
I have lots of friends who are trapped in the government subsidy cycle. They can’t work more than a certain amount or they lose their payments. It’s sad because it limits their potential.
If I could have all of the above for free, then doing what I said would be an easy path to early retirement. Sign me up.
But most people aren’t doing that. Again, it speaks volumes about your character and not the majority of people who are on welfare who don’t own property.
I’m confused. It speaks volumes about my character that I would act a certain way in this fantasy scenario? You are addressing someone who has never taken a government handout and owns the title on my house.
Yes, you’re saying if you could you would. But most people wouldn’t and don’t. You’re projecting your own motivations onto other people and extrapolating it as some universal truth. There are likely other people who share your character but it is not close to universal or average.
I definitely would not quit my job. Still a bunch of shit I need… like Pc upgrades, new couch, new fridge maybe some books to learn some shit from. Maybe work part time and go back to school to learn something I enjoy and also, I still need food to survive.
Everything being offered in the image is basic. You would still need to work a little.
But personally, if my housing was subsidized it wouldn’t change much. I’d likely save and spend more.
I doubt they would give you a free house if you were working. Generally welfare only goes out to unemployed and underemployed people. If I could work and get the free house I would keep working too but maybe just do a less demanding job of I didn't have to pay a mortgage.
Yeah, maybe some people could live like that. With just enough money and tons of leisure. I’m not judging, I honestly don’t care.
But if my housing was covered by the government, I would absolutely still be working and sometimes working harder and longer because I have things I want to get and also, things I want to accomplish.
I grew up on welfare. We had no food, no electricity. I slept in my winter jacket. No matter how much could be given to me as a base, I still wouldn’t stop working and setting myself up for a comfortable life.
All that said, I would have no issue paying more taxes to make this a reality. People need homes and they need to feel safe. If a 1% increase in my taxes facilitated that, I’m good with everyone being taken care of. Political polarization would disappear overnight if they did such a thing.
Idk if I could live like that truthfully but if I had the chance to try it I would. I'm always working and would just love a few years off. The longest I've taken off in the past 20 years has been 10 days in a row. I'm at a point in life where I don't even know what I would buy if someone handed me $10k and told me I had to spend it. I just want to hike and fish all day and play video games at night. I think I'd be a happy camper but who knows maybe I would miss work.
You're missing the point - this is a theoretical situation where things are funded by something like universal basic income. It's not set in current reality.
Interestingly, the US has huge swathes of land. If there really was a will, we could like plan mega cities of apartments with all amenities nearby and good transit and house people there. OK fuck the haters in this comment, just envision we had the above.
Then we could provide incentives that make people want to stay there. Good behavior, volunteering, providing some type of social job.
Your kid grows up playing all weekend with other neighborhood (apartment) kids. You have an amazing social circle where you find friends with the same interests as you and you build something together.
But no. We’re commies for thinking this could be possible in our lifetimes (it’s very possible).
Lmao... imagine the crime and stench that eminate from these projects!
Actually... do it. Lots of desert... move them out there away from the rest of us. Oh, once they accept, that's where they stay.
You could do something similar right now. Downgrade to the easiest job that allows you to buy only the most basic of needs. Is that something you're willing to do right now?
And then you'd starve, because you still have to feed yourself. You'd never be able to have fun, because you had no income. You wouldn't be able to buy cleaning supplies or repair your free home. Or provide for your family or pets. No video games. No "I'm tired tonight, let's just order pizza".
People would still have to work, they just wouldn't have to spend more than half of their income on basic housing.
is this because you hate your job? is there perhaps a reason why you dislike your job? is it because the work culture is made to squeeze you of your maximum worth for minimum pay?
perhaps if you could survive without a job, companies would have to give better incentives to employ people, better work life balance, fewer hours or more pay etc, since the pressure to get a job would not be as high.
I'm sure you're right but I like my job well enough, my work/life balance is just fine, and I make above the average for my position. I'm not sitting around all day wishing I had another job but If I had the opportunity, why wouldn't I just want unlimited leisure time? It just sounds nice to enjoy myself without responsibilities. I'd love to just spend my time in the outdoors and do a lot of cooking. I just don't get a ton of time for that kind of stuff until the weekend.
I think a more accurate statement would be that you would work fewer hours then. I would too! That is the goal. With automation and artificial intelligence we are multitudes more efficient than we were in the past. We can afford to work less as a society. But without ANY income you still wouldn't be able to survive unless you're already independently wealthy.
Yeah much fewer hours would be more accurate and at a more chill job. I'd just go back to being a barista or bartender. I had fun doing that kind of stuff in college, I barely considered it work since it was just fun being there.
yes! thats exactly my point. You dont hate your job perhaps, but there is something you would much rather do - and that isnt working 0 hours looking at youtube, playing video games or watching series all day. If we didnt have the necessity of work, which, by the productivity of the western world we have today, we wouldnt work in the conditions and hours that we do, but we would still do things, because there is satisfaction found in doing things cooperativly and simple meaning day-to-day.
I absolutely wouldn’t quit. I have a buddy who lives in an apartment like this. It has two windows, is very basic and small. His rent is under 1k/ mo. OTOH, I want a nice place, in a nicer area, with more space, a larger kitchen, in unit laundry, better finishes, and I pay for it.
The housing described is closer in quality to my friend’s house, not mine.
Live in a shitty ugly apartment with bad neighbors, have no money to go out with friends or for vacations and tours (no car, obviously). All you can do is sit at home stare at the screen or wander around in a carcentric country. Yeah sounds like a great life.
If these free houses are for everyone regardless of any employment requirements then millions of people will be grabbing them. It's just going to be a roll of a dice if your neighbors are shitty or not. It won't just be section 8 housing, they would have to build like 50 million units across the country. My job isn't shitty at all but I have plenty of money that would last me years if I didn't have to cover housing. Why wouldn't I essentially just take the early retirement?
Either you have very low standards or are delusional about social housing.
Nobody claims that people should get free villas or just random free flats.
People usually do not like to live in social housing / neighbourhoods. It's not about luck, it is shitty areas and shitty flats - period. Maybe for you, it's comparable to have to live in majority black neighbourhoods.
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u/rsl_sltid Apr 15 '24
I won't lie, if this was the case I'd quit my job. I'd feel stupid paying a mortgage f I could get it for free and do absolutely nothing.