We’re informed that Americans who are currently receiving an entirely taxpayer-funded lifestyle (housing, health care, food, smartphone) would prefer to work and be self-sufficient (“strong and independent” if female; “just a man” if male). We’re informed that there is an affordable housing crisis, which prevents Americans who choose to work from living decently (because of this shortage of housing, we should maintain an open border and maximize the number of immigrants we bring in; an increase in the number of people who need housing will necessarily result in a lower price for housing).
Wouldn’t the most obvious course of action for an able-bodied American on welfare be to apply for a job on a cruise ship? An American is easier and cheaper for a US homeported cruise line to hire because no visa is required and the cost of getting the worker back home after a contract is much lower than for a Filipino or an Indian. If the American on welfare is a native-born American, he/she/ze/they likely speaks English, which is a requirement for many cruise lines.
The skills required for entry-level cruise ship jobs are minimal. There is plenty of work sweeping up in public areas and cleaning crew areas, for example. The cruise line provides unlimited food (no need for SNAP). The cruise line provides comfortable climate-controlled housing. “The Maritime Labour Convention requires that medical care and health-protection services for seafarers while onboard or landed in a foreign port be provided free of charge to seafarers.” (ChatGPT) In other words, the cruise ship is already a dream environment from a classical socialist point of view (not from a modern progressive’s point of view since work is actually required).
Why don’t we ever hear of an American who transitions from welfare to gainful employment on a ship?
ChatGPT agrees that every American on welfare wants to work and it is mostly an accident that anyone is on welfare for 1-4 generations. Why won’t Americans on welfare apply for a cruise ship job then?
they prefer benefits plus local autonomy to hard, regimented, full-time work with room and board
Losing subsidized housing is a huge risk.
SNAP and phone service are relatively small. A housing voucher or public-housing slot can be enormously valuable and hard to regain. A single person who leaves for a cruise contract might lose eligibility, fail local recertification, or have nowhere affordable to return.
(It’s interesting that ChatGPT considers a taxpayer-funded house or apartment to be valuable. In nearly all studies of American poverty or inequality, taxpayer-funded housing is valued at $0 and a person with a lifetime entitlement to live in public housing is considered destitute and completely lacking in wealth.)
Loosely related… Norwegian Joy at Icy Strait Point, Alaska (home of the Huna Tlingit who were expelled from Glacier Bay first by a glacier and then by the National Park Service, which acknowledges that the land belongs to the Huna Tlingit):
Your blog is a smorgasbord of ideas for New Americans like me and my four wives (ages 8, 9, and two at 11), all of whom I purchased in Kabul last year. We would very much like to investigate this opportunity, but wondering: 1) will the cruise operators welcome all of us for the tons of Diversity we will bring to cruise passengers like yourself? 2) Will they provide us with multiple rooms so that when I need to engage in child rape with my wives we can do this with some privacy?