(Replying to PARENT post)
This attitude is why democrats have so much trouble understanding why republicans have so much support from working class voters. People don't want to go on welfare, they want a job.
It's about identity. Free money can keep you fed but it can't give you a sense of pride and self worth.
👤derekdahmer🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
and it is laughable that we can't afford to take care of those no longer employed within the economy
👤myowncrapulence🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Why not, instead of putting them on Social Security, subsidize the installation of solar and wind generation facilities in areas that previously were economically driven by coal mining, and then provide training programs so those displaced miners instead are attractive to employers as workers that can manage and maintain the new electricity generation networks? A single coal-fired power plant can generate far more electricity than a single solar panel or wind turbine, and keeping those up and running will need a lot more hands.
👤ascagnel_🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Average coal miner's salary is a lot more than $32k/year.
e: the salary info wasn't in the comment when I replied.
👤ceterum_censeo🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
But in a society where personal identity is increasingly at risk, you can't pay for that. It's fiction, but you end up with at least a few Boyd Crowder characters from "Justified."
FWIW, this is how Trump voters are made. And at least in the U.S., the coal industry looks done.
👤ArkyBeagle🕑9y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
The average coal miner salary is ~$22/hr, or ~$42k/year. 174,000 coal workers in the US @ $31,668k/year (the max SS benefit permitted) = $5.5 billion/year. This is not expensive, nor in perpetuity, only the years from now until they would've hit their full retirement age regardless, not to mention the cost savings from drug addiction and other social negatives currently occurring from the industry collapsing (please, please, please take the 2 minutes to read this footnote) [1].
People should not be harmed by our transition to renewables, and it is laughable that we can't afford to take care of those no longer employed within the economy.
This is not unprecedented. The shipping industry used redundancy payments to transition longshoremen out of the workforce when containerization exploded, funded by profits from the efficiency gains of containerization. I'm simply arguing for the formalization of the process, and administration through the Social Security Administration (one of the most efficient orgs in the US government).
To be clear: I am essentially advocating a bridge basic income for these workers. Not subsidies, not incentives. You quit your job at the coal mine or coal generator today, and you're retired from the coal industry.
EDIT: @derekdahmer & @ArkyBeagle: I'm not requiring someone to retire if they don't want to. I'm simply ensuring they don't fall into poverty. What more can be done when your job is destroying the environment? Allow it to continue? That is unacceptable. I'm not proposing welfare, I'm proposing financial freedom to explore other options to find purpose and self actualize.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/07/us/drug-overdo...