"The present moment is a desperate one. If you look at statistics, the reality has never been more clear that, the west, particularly the United States, has always been built on the idea that the U.S. has it so much better than the rest of the world. Isn't better a relative word? I mean, in 2019, fifty million Americans are living in distressed communities. The desperation is real, with high unemployment, dependancy issues, addiction, and high crime rates. Well, okay, what if we didn't treat employment as a status? What if it was socially acceptable to not have to grind and slave away? Wouldn't that make crime rates and addiction rates drop sharply? Maybe we should de-stigmatize unemployment and encourage others to not be so dependant on a job. Granted, work is valuable and needed for societies to exist, but under global capitalism, employment isn't about working for the benefit of society. Millions of jobs don't need to exist. Employment is about productivity that benefits the capitalist class. So, I would argue that, if employment isn't about benefiting society, it shouldn't be seen as a sacred idea. And to be unemployed should not be so stigmatized."

DAVID GRAEBER, University of Birmingham, 2019 

 @429bb265 Happy to work at a job where I actually serve a purpose and help  people everyday! 

 @429bb265
@bbbcfe5e 
So much this.
My wife is a full time carer for her mum, who has alzheimers and lives with us.
For this, she receives £76.75 a week from UK gov, or less than 8 hours minimum wage, for what is effectively a full time job.
And for doing this thankless task, the government classes her as "economically inactive", and once our youngest hits 13, will be pressuring her to get a job.
And there are a lot of people in the same situation. 

 @429bb265 

I stopped working at the start of the pandemic. When people ask, I’m retired, rather than unemployed. Unemployed, they pity you. Retired? You are envied & they stfu. 

 @429bb265 And don't forget that your employer comes before family, friends and health! 

 @429bb265 "The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living." - Buckminster Fuller