I’m asking this as someone who truly doesn’t understand, and I’m hoping to get legitimate answers and not just called a troll, downvoted to hell and back, etc. I’m just here hoping someone more knowledgable than me can help me understand.
So the most upvoted comment on a post earlier about how Covid was handled said:
What grinds my gears was “essential” workers were paid less to risk their lives than unemployment was paying. And that most jobs somehow weaseled into “essential”.
I fully agree with this view (as did many, obviously). It’s insane that the people risking their lives, working crazy hours, and in the case of the medical field having a tangible impact on saving lives were being paid less than people sitting at home.
That brings me to my question. What systems/policies would socialism or communism have in place that prevent this? How would we keep producing food for everyone if there was no incentive to slave away on a farm vs staying inside in the air conditioning? How would we encourage people to go to school for a decade to be doctors if they would be compensated the same as someone who didn’t spend 100+ hours a week studying through med school and instead (insert less demanding job here)? I’ve been scratching my head trying to figure it out, and I can’t see how in a completely even outcome system we’d incentivize people to make insane sacrifices that they’ll get literally no personal gain from (which is human nature to expect some return on effort/investment). Someone please help me to understand.