• saimen@feddit.org
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    2 months ago

    What do you mean with quality of life? Remember people will only get their basic needs met. If they want more quality they have to pay for it and thus have to work. So the rest should be figured out by the free market (even better than now because labor market isn’t free if people have to work to survive). Of course there will be a certain percentage that is okay with just surviving but I am sure their needs can be met by the taxes of the overwhelming amount of people who want more than that.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Well, like I said, even today, it is basically impossible to starve to death in the Western world. You can get your caloric needs met from charity programmes and government assistance alone. It requires you to sacrifice your dignity and accept a very low quality of life, but you will not die.

      So if coercion is defined as “forced to perform some action under threat of not having one’s biological needs met”, nobody is in fact coerced to do anything.

      • Electricd
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        2 months ago

        and if you’re not doing good then there’s always the “go to jail” route: free housing and food, at the cost of your freedom

        • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          In some parts of the Western world (particularly in the US), prison is also forced labour. The state I live in has abolished it but many other states still have it.

          • Electricd
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            2 months ago

            I completely forgot this was a thing

            Still a way not to die I guess?

            What happens if the prisoner refuses to work?

            It seems like they get less privileges, not specifically punished

              • Electricd
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                2 months ago

                It doesn’t state that this is a punishment that can happen when refusing to work

                • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  It’s a general prison punishment. What do you expect them to do if a prisoner refuses to work? Shrug and say “aw shucks, too bad I guess”?

                  • Electricd
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                    2 months ago

                    You can’t just assume things. From my research, there is no forced labor. Prisoners work to gain benefits