Do you agree with the theory that at least 50-60% of jobs nowadays are uneeded?

Good book called "BS Jobs"

Quit being mean to Jamin..

Are you on Goodreads or anything similar? Feel like you need to share out a reading list or something. Let me know.

ck3237 wrote:

Good book called "BS Jobs"

Unless the OP loves his job (he doesn't) he has a BS job.

jamin wrote:

Just finished reading a decent book on this subject.

Examples of useless jobs:

* HOA President

* Lawyer (only exists to counteract other lawyers, i.e. no net value for economy)

* Middle Management

About 3/4 of white collar government employees actually do negative work in that what they do actually makes life worse for everyone else.

Anything heavily touched by the government. A lot of roles in the education system and roles is the healthcare profession are administrative or paperwork roles that are totally worthless.

Although there is a lot of waste in corporate America most of those employees are necessary.

Hedge funds are totally unnecessary. Many just perform market manipulation and add no real value to the investment community.

Security guards at most stores, gym teachers, anyone that is able to walk leisurely during their shift and is always on their phone is also useless.

Flagpole wrote:

jamin wrote:

Just finished reading a decent book on this subject.

Examples of useless jobs:

* HOA President

* Lawyer (only exists to counteract other lawyers, i.e. no net value for economy)

* Middle Management

1) Most HOA Presidents are paid nothing or very little. It's not a full time job.

2) Lawyers? Lawyers protect copyright infringement and help punish criminal behavior. Sorry, but they are necessary.

3) Middle Management? Well, that depends on the size of the company. I once worked for one of the largest companies in the world, and Middle Management was a necessity there. In smaller companies, there's a case to be made, but as a blanket statement, no.

In the company I work for, middle management are the ones doing probably 90% of the work that actually makes the company profitable.

Absolutely Jamin. I could easily do my bosses job and mine, but so could he so... The fact is a more efficient society would have a lot more homeless which would lead to civil unrest or rebellion. Given this it's a lot better to have these subsidized jobs and maybe less costly in the long run.

fake-ware wrote:

obviousnessrightness wrote:

You are unneeded.

See my prior post. His job is at the top of the useless list.

Add.

* LRC trolls (jamin)

* Dating websites

* Ukrainian women seeking American husbands

This.

Just add: internet protector of this individual.

Wasn't San Francisco offering something like 65k salary to pick up the turds off the streets? Not that you can even live there on that much. They want someone to go into town, pick up the poop and go away again.

Anyhow it was a very useful job. All around the country there's a lot of crap and filth lying around that needs to be cleaned up, but noone wants to do it.

Other useless jobs:

Waiter and most service industry jobs.

seattle prattle wrote:

What i think is that probably half the stuff we have nowadays, in this country at least, we could do without, or do with a much more efficient or basic version. I think we are addicted to stuff, latch on to far to much of it, discard it much too early, and enjoy it far too little.

So, probably the labor it takes to channel all that unnecessary stuff could be considered arent really needed except that it is filling an unnecessary demand.

at.

Excellent point. Are jobs involved in developing and making and brining to market products that we don't need included in this. How about products that we don't "need" but that we like?

lyinglosertrump wrote:

seattle prattle wrote:

What i think is that probably half the stuff we have nowadays, in this country at least, we could do without, or do with a much more efficient or basic version. I think we are addicted to stuff, latch on to far to much of it, discard it much too early, and enjoy it far too little.

So, probably the labor it takes to channel all that unnecessary stuff could be considered arent really needed except that it is filling an unnecessary demand.

at.

Excellent point. Are jobs involved in developing and making and brining to market products that we don't need included in this. How about products that we don't "need" but that we like?

Well, that's the conundrum. And you tap into it exactly.

I would say emphatically, no, we could be much better stewards towards living sustainably, and affordably so that more might have access.

I am not going to get preachy, but there's a sermon though I'm not going to be the one to deliver it.

YouTubers, any kind of online “influencer”

fake-ware wrote:

* Software developers

* Real estate speculators / Apartment owners

* Investment talking heads

* Stock speculators

Apartment owners and stock speculators are investors. That’s not a job.

Probably. I do the job that two people used to do. The reason it used to take two people is because both of them were really old and barely knew how to use a computer. Once someone came in who did the work got done much faster. I imagine that's the case with the majority of jobs done by old people who refuse to learn modern technology. And that's in the private sector. The public sector is far worse.

seattle prattle wrote:

lyinglosertrump wrote:

What i think is that probably half the stuff we have nowadays, in this country at least, we could do without, or do with a much more efficient or basic version. I think we are addicted to stuff, latch on to far to much of it, discard it much too early, and enjoy it far too little.

So, probably the labor it takes to channel all that unnecessary stuff could be considered arent really needed except that it is filling an unnecessary demand.

at.

Excellent point. Are jobs involved in developing and making and brining to market products that we don't need included in this. How about products that we don't "need" but that we like?

Running shoes.

Did you read "Bullsh*t Jobs" by David Graeber? It's a great read. I agree, I think over half the jobs in the economy are useless.