Obviously irrelevant

Oh. Do say more. People don't want to work hard because, in general, people don't like to work.

Your fable states that there is a time for work and a time for play, and contrasts a worker that did nothing vs workers that did work and can survive.

The premise of the relevant discussion is that the marginal value of additional work and wages beyond the basic requirements is largely nothing. You cannot accrue meaningful savings, but still probably have enough disposable income to live comfortably enough, so it’s just a bad deal to work more.

Very simply, the marginal utility of additional wages is much lower than the cost of working them at the rates being paid.

And the point of the fable is that the ants understand that the marginal value of working now includes future benefits, whereas the grasshopper doesn't. The original comment doesn't really seem worth debating. People would rather work less because they ascribe greater value to their contribution than potential employers. Fine.

No it’s not equivalent. The young folks do want to work. They don’t want to work the last bit because they’re not being given anything of meaningful value. This is not the case of the grasshopper. Nor is it similar to the ants.

Marginal utility changed with each unit.

> So you've pretty much given up on housing. What's the point in working hard?

They don't want to work some last x% because they're happy with their current condition. The ants work the last x% so that when they retire they can continue to live in the style to which they've become accustomed.

The young folks are being offered money. They don't think it's meaningful because it doesn't enable them to afford some item now. So they can either decline the money or increase their estimate of its utility by taking their future into account.

Nice, going full circle to the point of just ignoring the original point.

More like A Bug's Life.

The modern version has both the ant and the grasshopper freezing together as the ant was laid off and booted out at the start of winter after the larder stocking was finished. There just wasn't much work to be done in the winter and since productivity was down the hive would be more vital without the now useless ant.

They both freeze to death but at least the grasshopper had fun during the short summer first.