1/

🧵 THREAD about probably one of the BEST discussions about social value of work, economic wealth and fairness in a while.

40 mins with @amolrajan, @PJTheEconomist @elerianm @KGerlich777 Louise Casey

@davidgraeber 🗣️ "The more your job helps others, the less you get paid"

2/

Reminded me of @euan_lawson for @BJGPjournal quoting Michael Sandel on meritocracy: https://t.co/tAl6sobtKW

🗣️ "In an unequal society, those who land on top want to believe their success is morally justified. In a meritocratic society, this means the winners must believe...
3/

🗣️ "...they have earned their success through their own talent and hard work.… at a time when racism and sexism are out of favor (discredited though not eliminated), credentialism is the last acceptable prejudice."
4/

@PJTheEconomist over the last 20 years:

⬇️ 30% per person spending on social care
⬆️ 100% more hospital doctors.

No extra GPs - actually the number of full time equivalents is dropping: https://t.co/n20woUk0Wu

And they aren't equally distributed either (inverse-care law)
5/

When we look at care work @KGerlich777 talks about care sector:

➡️ How it is heavily gendered? 80% women
➡️ How poorly it is paid and misconceptions about what it involves.

Louise Casey explaining needed huge reform and re-structure
6/

Reminded me a lot about how childcare system needed reform from @NEF: https://t.co/ETtY5micyB
7/

Interesting insight @elerianm: wealth gives you resilience, opportunity and agility.

When he changed jobs for more family time, people told him

1⃣ you have to be lucky enough to change work
2⃣ they were worried about other's opinions - do we afford too much power to others?
8/

Life is not inherently fair but we do still have people who are working but are incredibly poor.

Universal credit does not cover living costs but was initially meant too.

Since 2008, income increased by 6% but wealth has increased by 18%.
9/

Solutions?

➡️ Basic income - generated from tax?
➡️ Taxation? land value tax, inheritance tax
➡️ Would a maximum wage cap be insanity?

Throw in political power it become hard to see who will back these policies as in the current climate seem unpopular.
@threadreaderapp unroll please

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This is a pretty valiant attempt to defend the "Feminist Glaciology" article, which says conventional wisdom is wrong, and this is a solid piece of scholarship. I'll beg to differ, because I think Jeffery, here, is confusing scholarship with "saying things that seem right".


The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.


Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)


There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.


At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?