Keeping Screw-ups out of the Work Force
How the UBI benefits the economy.
Tony was living on the same floor in my apartment building. Tony was a small, scruffy man who was overly friendly. He was not scared to talk to anyone. He was probably the only person in the building that I exchanged small talk on a regular basis. I will give him credit for this trait.
Tony was always borrowing money from me. Twenty dollars here, $50 there. He always paid me back within a week.
According to my landlord, Tony was usually a few days late with his rent payment. He happily paid the $20 late payment charge. Tony took pride in being able to solve his cash flow problems.
More than a few times, there was alcohol on Tony’s breath. And there were a couple of times when he was drunk. In the first year, he did invite me to his apartment for a drink. But that activity was half a lifetime away for me.
Tony was seldom unemployed. In the four years he was living in my apartment building, he held a variety of jobs: beef plant worker, construction labor, delivery driver, forklift operator, repairman, tire shop, pipeline worker. But he never held on to a job for very long: maybe four months at most. He always had a good reason why he had to “quit” his last job.
Tony’s outgoing nature landed him another job quite quickly. But one year, he managed to put together enough employment hours to qualify for unemployment insurance. He stayed on that social program for the entire 12 months of eligibility. He supplemented his income with occasional “day work for cash” at construction sites, moving material from one spot to another. Tony was quite proud that he could cheat the government: he was supposed to report his cash earnings, but he knew the government would not be able to connect his cash work to reduce his unemployment benefits.
Tony had a driver’s license, but he never owned a vehicle. He either got fellow workers to pick him up or he used his bicycle. Not having a vehicle in a town makes employment more challenging.
After about a year of being around Tony, I concluded that Tony was a screw-up in the workplace. He was not a good employee for most jobs. Another three years of living next to Tony only confirmed my suspicions. Poor…
