Which is better for society?

Question

To give a man a fish for a day or to put a whole crew of people to work building, storing, and maintaining my yacht? And why?

It's called creating jobs. Work is therapeutic. Marx

Okay, lets stipulate any size fish, any purpose for the yacht, the workers all get paid market wages, and the government is only involved in the taxation end of things.

So you aren't serving God by creating tons of jobs and going sailing on His water?

Answer 1

I just love the insulting answers being flung around here. Grow up people.

I'd say it's the latter. The whole crew is multiple job creation. Assuming you may from time to time use your yacht for financial gain (like a fishing yacht), you'd also provide jobs onshore to commercial fisheries. And that guy who only ate once might just have a shot on your crew or getting a job at the fishery, and eat for a long time.

Just don't overfish, ok?

Answer 2

Putting together a crew to build and maintain your yacht provides them salaries and a sense of purpose needed to exist. Creating jobs is what makes a country great, a welfare state does not help the GDP. Even France is starting to rethink it's 35 hour work week.

Creating jobs benefits the country (taxes) and benfits the crew (jobs). Why feed them for a day when you can give them jobs so they can feed themselves?

Answer 3

Hmmm. That depends. If you mean as an individual choice in a free market, employing a crew is better. If these are types of government programs in the US, I'd say giving the man a fish....you'd steal less from the tax payers that way. Not to mention the government crew would be putting local privately owned crews out of business.

Answer 4

That's new veiw on a old skew. The rich man does have it's power in money-wise. But if the rich man is helping them by being fair when paying and job assigning, I don't anything wrong with it, but when you compare the two, I must reflect my own life, and being the baby of the family, my mom always gave me everything which has made it hard for me to accpect challeges of life, like finding jobs, saving money, getting myself out of trouble, so I would say let the rich man have his way, but for only today.

Answer 5

Teaching one how to surrive or providing jobs is what it should be about, handouts are a tempoary fix and really solve nothing , in fact handouts create more probelms than they solve, as then people become lazy and those that do work are penalized in the form of taxes for the lazy

Answer 6

The problem with this concept for the Democrats is how they sustain their base if they don't give them fish each and every single day for the rest of their lives. If liberals have to work and pay taxes they will become Republicans and then what?

Better for Democrat Society - is to keep taxing the Republican workers and buy votes from the don't-want -to-be-employed.

Better for Republican Society and Society as a whole - employ that man and get him off the Democratic dole.


EDIT - note to liberal name callers - if you are not smart enough to understand the question and you must resort to names...just don't attempt these type of "thinking" questions if you can't handle them. It only makes you look foolish. I'm trying to help!

Answer 7

I would prefer it if we can help building, storing, and maintaining your yacht. That is if we get paid for it, of course.

Answer 8

Ahhh, the eat for a day or a lifetime quote . One of my many favorites !!
When I worked with young teens.. . showing them how to be assertive and to blaze their own trail, I often used that quote when one of them was wanting me to do their job, instead of doing it for themselves . Believe it or not, the kids really liked that quote, they thought that I must be some kinda guru who thought it up on my own !! LMAO.... .


That was over 10 years ago, and I've encountered several of them now that they have grown into adults.. . . their parents too !!
And each and every one of them, kids and parents, are very grateful for the lessons learned . Too much gratefulness actually .
So I'd conclude that although people don't always 'like' the high road, because it's a more difficult road that requires more effort, in the end, it is the BEST ROAD TO TRAVEL !!!!

.

Answer 9

The people who build and maintain the yacht contribute as much as anyone else. They should have free use of the yacht.

Answer 10

If I gave a man a fish for a day, I served that man. And in doing so, I served God. I have absolutely no problem with that. As far as the yacht goes, Jesus said it is easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man into Heaven.