> Installers

I've long held that, at least in developed countries, we should be ending unemployment insurance and moving to guaranteed employment and utilizing unemployed folks for public service projects such as solar installs.

Yes, of course not for disabled or high skilled folks who just need to transition. But for many many cases there's little reason to give someone hundreds per week for no work.

"we should be ending unemployment insurance and moving to guaranteed employment and utilizing unemployed folks for public service projects such as solar installs."

While I agree with that, it seems the implementation of a program like that would be quite difficult...especially considering how difficult it is to get pretty much anything done.

Are these new workers doing things that other union workers could be doing? Would they have to join the union? Those two simple things would derail any plan like that for one side of the isle in the US, at least.

I agree politically it's a hard change. I'm just speaking about ideal policies at this point.

Perhaps a wide retraining program offering. Something like "Hey you've been unemployed for 2 years, you're losing benefits starting (sometime). To help you along you can take a free solar installer course paid by the tax payer."

>"utilizing unemployed folks for public service projects such as solar installs"

And when suddenly there is not enough of them work for food people? This is how GULAG came to be.

Ok, i guess I was unclear. By guaranteed work I simply meant that people had the choice still. Not forced slavery, but guaranteed optional work for pay, rather than paychecks for nothing.

I'm thinking national projects like hoover dam and interstate highway systems.

"Not forced slavery"

"hoover dam"

Book Recommendation: The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25814021-the-profiteers?...

Thanks for the book recommendation. added to my list :)

I think a better way to word it is, "hey, are you having a hard time finding a job? If so, we will give you one for the time being." Which Germany kinda does this to my understanding. If your having difficulty finding a job, the state will help find at least a temporary gig for you in the mean time.

Yes, I like this. At least in my experiences in USA / Canada, there's a lot of actually able bodied folks, doing nothing for pay. Even if it's not worth the money, they could at least partially contribute to the work of society by something as tiny as being part of a street cleaning crew, being a volunteer worker with a not for profit etc.

As i understand it having even a little work/contribution can help with holding off depression . It doesnt have to be 40hrs a week, but even a single day of work can help keep normalcy.