Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> It occurred to me some time ago that welfare mothers with small children 
> could be
> freed up for work if the child care were turned over to the high schools, 
> where
> pregnant teens who are still in school could learn child care under the
> supervision of a qualified teacher. 

It occurs to me that all our (collective) thinking is on a wrong tack, as 
Long John Silver says in Treasure Island, "This here's a rum start, and no 
misake."  We have a paradigm intorduced into the country 150 years ago where 
families where sacrificed in order to assure a steady supply of wage slaves 
for the 
textile mills.  I'm afraid the above suggestion would only make matters worse.

So here's my alternative:  base all pay on piecework, no matter what kind of 
work it is.  Instead of having mothers leave their home and going to an 
office/factory/whatever,  take the work to them.  Equip vans to transport 
trays of 
parts, for example, and finished items or subassemblies.  Every few days make 
the cirsuit and pick up the finished items and leave off more parts (files, 
records, packages, whatever).  The mother stays with her child.  Father too 
for 
that matter.

By the bye, this is the way it's done in most of the world, and one reason 
they can do it more cheaply than we can.