Washing Machines vs School Attendance (1 Viewer)

[guidomerkinsrules]

I think some of the reaction to donato's comments are interesting.
There is a prevailing notion in this country and throughout much of the western industrialized world that things are evidence of success. It is essentially what keeps the economy going. More than that, the push for having everything in your individual house is largely what keeps the 1% at the 1% level.
Community laundries, including laundries at school are one of the many enemies of the 1%. that is why there must be a lot of social pressure to make you think that being respectable, non-loser, etc. requires your own personal laundry machine in your house to be used by 2, 3, or 4 people as opposed to a community wash that might have 1 machine for every 150 people or something.
And of course, god forbid if you didn't even need a machine at all to do your laundry - the horror!

and we should have more community gardens
i look forward to the convergence of autonomous cars and ride sharing
i think libraries can expand into loaning out tools and digital equipment
there are MANY ways we can live more communally - go to a 32 hour/week schedule so there is time to do that
i agree that we do not have to use material possession as our mark of worth
HOWEVER
as a response to the issue at hand - dirty clothes encouraging absenteeism - washing machines at schools are EXCELLENT things
and your points are for a 'down the road' disscussion

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

To do it by hand would probably be less expensive, but again that is time you cannot spend doing something else. It's taking away from the American Dream. Ignoring that is disingenuous at best.

???

Depends on what the "American Dream " is , I would guess doing laundry isn't on the top of the list of AD for many , surely isn't for me which is why I do it when I drink but neither is sweeping , dusting , dishes, mowing the yard etc - but chores have to be done it's called Life

 

[Tapxe]

???

Depends on what the "American Dream " is , I would guess doing laundry isn't on the top of the list of AD for many , surely isn't for me which is why I do it when I drink but neither is sweeping , dusting , dishes, mowing the yard etc - but chores have to be done it's called Life

True, but since man discovered tools we've been continually evolving towards more free time and less chore time. I'm not suggesting that we give everyone a washer/dryer, but it isn't too much to ask that someone who works a 40hr week makes enough to support a reasonably sized family with a decent life.

The suggestions that those less fortunate just need to buckle down and work harder lose sight of the cost. A person used to be able to work 1 summer at min wage and buy 2 semesters of college to dig themselves out. Now that same person is having to work multiple min wage jobs year round and can't afford basic necessities for a family.

• How the heck are they supposed to get ahead?
• Where are all the good jobs that the trickle down economy was supposed to net us?
• Why should the majority accept a lesser lifestyle than their forefathers while a very small percentage of people get so much?

 

[The Mongoose]

and we should have more community gardens
i look forward to the convergence of autonomous cars and ride sharing
i think libraries can expand into loaning out tools and digital equipment
there are MANY ways we can live more communally - go to a 32 hour/week schedule so there is time to do that

Not me. I'm looking for technology to allow me to further isolate myself. People are getting worse and worse, and they have germs.

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

True, but since man discovered tools we've been continually evolving towards more free time and less chore time. I'm not suggesting that we give everyone a washer/dryer, but it isn't too much to ask that someone who works a 40hr week makes enough to support a reasonably sized family with a decent life.

The suggestions that those less fortunate just need to buckle down and work harder lose sight of the cost. A person used to be able to work 1 summer at min wage and buy 2 semesters of college to dig themselves out. Now that same person is having to work multiple min wage jobs year round and can't afford basic necessities for a family.

• How the heck are they supposed to get ahead?
• Where are all the good jobs that the trickle down economy was supposed to net us?
• Why should the majority accept a lesser lifestyle than their forefathers while a very small percentage of people get so much?

Several factors I'm sure , I've mentioned them in another thread

We don't manufacture as many goods , some companies move to production other countries , service industry dies out as goods become disposable vs repairable , companies import labor from other countries etc.

car plants went from manufacturing to assembly , I remember when almost all GM cars had fisher bodies On the metal plate that ran along carpet seams at the door jam - those kind of jobs are gone

Technology in some cases reduces the number of people needed

many employers (was happening when I worked at Sears in HS) went from full time employment to part time - me and the other HS part timers took the place of 30yr full timers as they retired

My grandparents were raised during the depression , my dad was was born at during the depression and while times were much harder everyone worked any job they could get , we would hear the stories from my grandparents when they were alive and from my dad who talks about working delivering papers at 10 . There was a different attitude and work ethic back then, people my age were raised by those people - I've worked at places that hired non-skilled workers, people in their 20s mainly but some older and paid well above min wage and good for this area- easy work, a/c , sitting not standing , mutiple shifts , promoting from within - they closed the facility because they couldn't keep people and couldn't hire. I would see people coming to interviews bringing their kids, laying on the couch in lobby playing on their phones , bringing their BF/GF to hang out with them as they waited etc

Also have to factor in the low cost of goods (Walmart ) the wages are going to be lower $10 maybe ( that's what my nephew made there) he had to quit because if he made too much his entitlements would have been cut and it would have affected his disability payments

Personally I don't see fast food as a 30k a year job as some want it to be, those jobs were never meant as careers , I knew people who made decent money as a McDonald's manager in the late 70s but that's like 1 or 2 on the staff not the entire staff - while the 30k worker in those jobs people expect in today's market maybe in areas like NYC and not central Louisiana the pay compared to cost of living in the area to have someone make that pay in my area would be absurd

Also when you don't have career jobs with pensions and 401ks are the common retirement plans companies have to generate profit/revenue to be attractive to investors - employees are an expensive commodity for companies they cost more than the salary they earn- hence they are the last to be added, first to go , first to be replaced by technology and by labor willing to be paid less.

 

[LAhotsauce]

People do still hand wash and air dry clothes in Murica. I know air drying is even healthier since UV rays kill bacteria more effectively. Even though we've always had a washer and dryer, my mother still air dries when she can, which can be challenging in a wet area of the world like south Louisiana.

Spent a week in Mexico City and there was never even a threat of rain the entire time there in late July. That time of year that threat is daily in New Orleans.

All that said, there are probably more details left out of this story. Cleaning clothes without a washer and dryer is really not that much of a foreign concept in the states even now.

 

[BHM]

True, but since man discovered tools we've been continually evolving towards more free time and less chore time. I'm not suggesting that we give everyone a washer/dryer, but it isn't too much to ask that someone who works a 40hr week makes enough to support a reasonably sized family with a decent life.

The suggestions that those less fortunate just need to buckle down and work harder lose sight of the cost. A person used to be able to work 1 summer at min wage and buy 2 semesters of college to dig themselves out. Now that same person is having to work multiple min wage jobs year round and can't afford basic necessities for a family.

• How the heck are they supposed to get ahead?
• Where are all the good jobs that the trickle down economy was supposed to net us?
• Why should the majority accept a lesser lifestyle than their forefathers while a very small percentage of people get so much?

First you must determine what exactly is enough to support a reasonably sized family with a decent life. What is a reasonable sized family. What exactly is a decent life?

Ideally one would not be supporting a reasonable sized family on minimum wage. Even with minimum skills and education most anyone that shows up for work should be making above minimum wage even in fast food. Go to any BK or MD and you will see that it does not require much to be a shift supervisor or assistant manager.

We are trying to fix the wrong problems. Instead of making minimum wage enough to raise a family of four, we should be addressing why people raising a family of four are only working minimum wage jobs.

Either our economy is too weak, people are not learning job skills or something else is going on. Bottom line is that when we have a lot of people only earning minimum wage at 25 years old, we have bigger issues to address

 

[JimEverett]

and we should have more community gardens
i look forward to the convergence of autonomous cars and ride sharing
i think libraries can expand into loaning out tools and digital equipment
there are MANY ways we can live more communally - go to a 32 hour/week schedule so there is time to do that
i agree that we do not have to use material possession as our mark of worth
HOWEVER
as a response to the issue at hand - dirty clothes encouraging absenteeism - washing machines at schools are EXCELLENT things
and your points are for a 'down the road' disscussion

Oh, I agree 100%. No problem at all with schools having laundries. I think it's great.

Another benefit to having things/chores done communally - less depression and isolation.

 

[Jameth]

True, but since man discovered tools we've been continually evolving towards more free time and less chore time.

Individuals within Paleolithic communities worked an average of 4.5 hours a day. There also existed a near-equal distribution of what such a community produced.

I don't feel encumbered by free-time, amidst all this technology.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Individuals within Paleolithic communities worked an average of 4.5 hours a day. There also existed a near-equal distribution of what such a community produced.

I don't feel encumbered by free-time, amidst all this technology.

what did "work" entail
curious

 

[Galbreath34]

Mostly Fred worked at the quarry.

 

[Optimus Prime]

very interesting article

it's something that I never would have thought of