PStar,
Just to elaborate a bit, when I say those are meaningless jobs, I don't mean to imply they have no meaning to the person who has the job or to the economy. They are meaningless in the sense that they build or produce nothing.
Let's take a hairdresser, or barber, for example. Her job contributes nothing to the material wealth of the society, unlike a farmer or miner. Her job could go away and society would function just as well. But her job DOES give her a place in society, a position where she feel like she is contributing. Now she could do that in an informal setting and not get paid, which brings us to the second meaning her job has. Is is a way to redistribute wealth. It's "trickle down" economics. I think is is the bit you were alluding to. So for her, and the current economic model, it is very important.
The hairdresser example is pretty benign. As is the insurance clerk. But let's look at a ballon salesman. His output puts mylar waste into the environment and it depletes our helium reserves. But also he has a store front nd maybe a delivery truck. All these things need resources; water, gas, electric, which consume resources.
Theoretically we could resolve much of this unnecessary consumption by changing how we distribute wealth. Just make direct payouts from the government for people to stay home and NOT CONSUME. That would address the financial aspect, but it would not allow folks the dignity, the feeling that they are doing something for the society. That's why it fails.
This is a temporary problem, created by a highly efficient agriculture system, made worse by automation. It will cease when the cheap fuel runs out. Then we will be back to hoeing fields by hand and being too tired to worry about our place, our contributions. They will be quite tangible.
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Buy me three beers (or one) and I'll go on about how prisoners have a valuable position in our economy.
