2016

General Discussion
21

You have now stated, and thank you for that, that the Italian Government (at least) has the Responsiibility to CREATE jobs as a Constitutional RIGHT of the workers. As I follow it, theoretically at least then, there should be no such thing as unemployment in Italy.The State MUST by the Constitution provide jobs. Logic?

Yes indeed. Its the government duty as public servants to create the condition for all to have jobs and a dignities life. Failing so is to fail in its duty. For what els do you think (may I ask) do politicians get elcted?

As I explained every government could do so easily by controlling its own solvency and monetary system. By injecting money flows and regulating/deregulating the value of currency spending/investment ability of enterprise and peole. This term is called "competitive devaluation". Its what economies like France, Italy have built their immense industrial assets (and hence employment) in the 80'90'.

The economy is able to create conditions because public debit is, unlike in orthodox monetary theory, not a debt. Then again its the enterprises that, supervised by governmental regulation, act as the engine. The relationships between employers and employe are contracted in the interest of the whole. But that is secondary. The primate of warranting economic prosperity and hence jobs is and must be guaranteed by the state trough control of the currency.

This days the banks are dictating government while it should be the opposite.

22

Its one thing to state that everyone has the right to work another to provide the person with a basic dignity ie. a fair retribution for his work right and duty.

This must be not only written in labour laws but as a constitutional article.

The central role of stating that the society is funded on sovereignty and the right of work by its citizen is to prevent authoritarian regime, as it happened in past, to abuse its powers. Because labour laws and laws can be changed, besides then when they go against the constitution.

Even in Russia, China, Nazi_Germany there was a right of work but how that looked was quite different from what we would expect this days.

I think we make a bit of a confusion when we talk about a constitution and its court which in fact represent the whole social organism vs. the state exerting its powers.

The state oversees the tree powers or political system.

But the Constitution is monitoring that the powers are in alignment with the interest of the whole society and not being abused. This role is preceded by the President of the Republic which has not any political affiliation and must be neutral. He is the person signing laws and must verify that they act for the good of all.

The Constitutional Court can file in treason against the President if they can prove that he has acted in breach of the constitution. It happens rarely but its important that it can happen.

In practice things yes things always do look different.

I'm very skeptical of this unconditional basic wage, mainly because its a form of modern enslavement. People are so desparate they will do all to get that income and keep quiet.

23

oh dear!

Well you are not on your way out boys BUT even of you were in you twenties

there is very little you can do to change the political climate.

24

Barbara, we are doing as well as we want and I am not worrying about employing people.
We have advance bookings for four weeks already and we have mainly Belgian and Dutch guests who will not be put off by the thought of terrorism.

25

I look forward to the next time too mucker.

26

Yes old son,

why don't we all just give up trying in our small ways to improve or change things, let the whole thing go to pot. Don't worry about silly things like democracy or voting, or rights or responsibilities or anything stupid like that.

After all, why should WE care? We are just old farts on our way out, and no-one else gives a toss, so REALLY what are pissing in the wind for?

Time for another departure I think.

See ya around, hopefully.

27

I have tried so long it would be hard to give up trying although I am never going to achieve anything. In a way I am so used to living in that contradiction that I can often turn it round on itself and make it into something positive. But for all of that, saying it for myself only, I am not going to change the world.

28

Jane I do believe that you must just do your best with your gite and

not worry about employing people. Just sell enough weeks which you can manage.

The cleaning and maintenance can be more work than we think.

If you do need a little help with cleaning, perhaps have a look around the area and

see if there is someone who wants to help from time to time. Cheque Employ.

SEPT is a good month in many ways. You could promote vandage....try to find a

local vineyard which would provide a vandage party in exchange for help.

You could promote Sept in this way......just an idea.

29

Do you agree that you are NOT going to change the world?

30

Exactly.

31

Brian, yes a classic case of 'Cause & Effect'

32

The Right to work looks to me common sense. How else would we make a living? And how else would otherwise function a society without services and trade?

Or is there a Law the says work is prohibited?

I was reading now lots of comments and arguments and either I live in a different world or has the nanny state now also been taking over to decide who can "own" a work and who not? Next will be then who has to do what kind of work.

In some countries like Germany, Finland etc, there are some groups of activists demanding the "un-conditional basic wage", no matter if you work or not... They notoriously forget to explain who is paying for it.

I wish you all for 2016 your own ducats shitting donkey. ;-)

33

Barbara, when you are just selling your time you are either very limited or you neeed to work longer hours.
The huge cost of social charges makes employing just one extra person almost impossible and if they don’t work out so difficult to replace.
We all know this but no one in government does anything about it.
In the hospitality industry the closed shop of the hoteliers and the ridiculous attitude whereby a cabinet maker has to have an extra company to repair the furniture he has already made shows that paper pushing jobs are viewed as more important than people who are really productive or who provide a much needed service.

34

I believe something along those lines was tried with the Apprentices Act during the Cromwell Commonwealth. Every 'qualified' craftsman had to take on apprentices. They learned the skills of their masters and then after some years were craftsmen themselves, so sought work but had to take on apprentices themselves. In a couple of generations of apprenticeship many trades were saturated thus craftsmen not earning enough to live. After, I seem to remember something like 18 years, the act was repealed as part of the action against the impoverishment of specialist trades. Other countries tried similar laws with similar outcomes. Something of that nature would surely happen all over again.

35

To quote the Red Queen 'Orf with his head!', so they did and made up all the 'evidence' in order to do that. Strange how often people lose their heads when others make up stuff.

36

Barbara, I'm sorry you think this is all 'intellectual expression' no matter how flattering the term 'intellectual' is when applied to me - and totally inaccurate!

I agree with you 100% but this Right to Work is not just an ephemeral or intellectual exercise.

Most of us 'littlies' in business usually put in far more than the 35-hour week. We do this for a mixture of reasons - obviously to make some money, but also because we enjoy what we do, and sometimes simply to fill in time.

Now what would happen if the Government suddenly decided that as we were working more than the statutory 35-hour week, we had obviously created enough 'work' for other people, and that their RIGHT to Work meant you had to give them that right - i.e; employ them. You have work, they have the right to it, you must give it to them.

If a Government with a big unemployment problem finds a loophole through which they can massage the figures we all know they will do so. If through some such mechanism and pseudo-justification for what I have just outlined, I for one don't have enough faith to think they wouldn't try and do it.

Don't think for one moment small business or the individual is safer than Big business - usually the reverse is true. Governments can change what they like at the stroke of a pen - my loss of Australian Pension was one such example.

37

It wasn't too 'utopian' for old Thomas, he had nis noggin chopped off !!!

38

Thomas More wrote about that in about 1515 and called it the island called Utopia with its municipalities Tallstoria, Nolandia and Aircastle in which such things were the norm. Although it has always been an influential idea since, none of it has ever happened.

39

Paragraphs filled with intellectual expression.

I will state the obvious!

If the French government could create a system which allows people

to become self sufficient in creating their own income and, at the same

time finds a way to deal with taxation which embraces a reasonable life style.

That is the miracle ingredient for happiness.

The problem is that the leaders are not leading for the right reasons.

They are there to enjoy the power which they are given not the desire to make

life easier.

So without the leadership which makes economical sense the people need to

get up and get on with creating work................ and this happening. It just needs more encouragement.

In my immediate area I know of people who grow organic vegetables and sell

them to those who have no time to grow their own. During summer they serve the

community at fetes and fayres providing light meals at the events.

The is the walnut producer, the pharmacist, the vineyard owners, the roofer,

the upholsterer and the gite and b and b owners.....all creating their own income.

Not everyone needs to earn 2.000 pounds a week!

You can be happy and have a full life developing your own product which can

inspire your children and provide for them.

As for the turmoil in the world ....well none of us can change the situation.

40

Quite right Norman. What ALL governments have avoided is making work a right so that each and every citizen of working age is entitled to work. To make it a right in that sense would be to expose governments to litigation by those unable to find work. Therefore the right to be allowed to work or be able to work is there in most constitutions with a few anomalies like the German 'Arbeitsverbot' which does not actually forbid somebody working as it implies but excludes them from particular jobs, usually by being disqualified from them by malpractice, having a criminal record or the like. The ILO is best at explaining all of these nuances but the notion of a right to work that would make a government vulnerable is not one because it simply does not exist although the international trade unions movement who founded the ILO in 1921 floated the idea but dropped it very quickly.