RC,
Like you if people are physically and mentally able to work they should do so and earn their keep no questions on that score whatsoever.
It appears the doughnut model they're experimenting with is questioning whether growth for growth's sake beyond providing for a decent quality of life for everyone is the way to go. Without pushing the whole ecology over the edge which is where we're heading today unfortunately.
Like you we cut lot's of corners to provide ourselves with a decent lifestyle. Cooking from scratch is a prime example.
Making our beer and wine from kits, fermenting and preserving food, growing our own garden and making composts, etc...
Overall we probably live a lifestyle comparable to people making double our income but if takes some effort and a bit of planning.
Questioning our impact on resources , environment and each other should always be a consideration.
We will not get to "first do no harm".
At the same time , balance has to come in somewhere. In costs.
I worked with many folks from many countries and multiple types of government from dictatorship to communism.
How refugees and immigrants view North America and North American attitudes and thier own potential here is interesting.
None noted a better deal.
While note was made in varied forms of a system where folks incomes are "evened up" and even those not performance based.
as one guy put it , "you hold the wall. I'll go get the check".
Same country folks would break equipment so they could go home.
I'm all for philanthropy. More so where mentoring for an individuals sake (not a country's) is combined with a hand up. Vs a hand out.
Forced taxation to even things up without the recipient(s) performing is not in my opinion a working model.
I've been here 16-17 years living in a shack that sat empty as no one wanted to work it into a home.
In that time not one person has stopped to ask if I needed someone to do work for a fair pay. Not one!
Leaves to rake. Snow to shovel. Stumps I've dug. Plenty more . And if I can , like many other principles related to performance , so can many others.
Stopped at a house party hosted by a couple former co-workers.
I had a good idea of thier incomes related to our employment. And what other they had.
She had recent implants (and no , not in her jaw) fancy salon hair and nails and a nice truck (nicer than mine anyways).
A church group stopped by to drop off presents for the needy kids...
At the time I was fairly calloused , but sheesh. I'd have been ashamed.
My point is to the able bodied , don't complain your stove is cold if you're not cutting wood.
And don't bother to point at my woodpile either.
If I wanted you to help yourself I'd have told you so. But more likely it would go to "needy" family first.
Like the one shot repeatedly and left for dead who still labors waiting tables despite trouble walking , among other issues...
Folks who are wise with a low budget do better with a higher budget.
Those who apply a low budget unwisely seldom do better with a higher budget.
An earned budget vs a free budget? One may speculate the results .
