The rise of the pointless job
In the US, I think it largely stems from our individualistic natures. Our fierce independence comes at a cost to the greater community; we often don&#x27;t interact, and in the worst case outright loathe, our neighbors. People would rather bitch on NextDoor about a loud party down the block instead of confronting them directly about it. We solve disputes not by working it out with the other party, but with subpoenas. Public jobs are low-paying and staffed with people who couldn&#x27;t find jobs in the private sector, resulting in little incentive to do more than the absolute minimum. Many well-meaning government initiatives aimed to benefit the greater good are met with intense suspicion (your NIMBYs). Companies don&#x27;t see offering jobs as enriching communities, but rather bestowing saintly privileges that those plebians better be thankful for. They&#x27;re decked with such ridiculous liability clauses that the case of the carpenter in the story is not an exception, but the norm.<p>That was somewhat of a rant, and I don&#x27;t really have any kind of solution to all of it. America is several thousand tragedies of the commons, from a neighbor-to-neighbor level all the way up to the federal government.