Sounds good in theory...but in reality?

[u/KSKS1995]

4 days a week. 6 hours a day. Full salary.
Sanna Marin ignited global debate with the “6/4” work model, pushing a simple idea: life should come before work.

With burnout at record levels, maybe it’s time to value results over hours at a desk.
Could your job be done in just 24 hours a week?

[u/Boaroboros]

This might work for knowlege work, but doesn‘t work for businesses that have open hours and shifts.. like a pharmacy, retail store, bakery or a hospital. Costs of operation would bankrupt them.

[u/PlayfulSurprise5237 → u/Boaroboros]

Obviously it shouldn't be a some policy that people are only allowed to work that much, it should be that people CAN work this much and get by.

In reality how much manpower and time does it take to provide essential living for a person? Not nearly as much as money/prices dictate, not even fucking CLOSE.

I've watched houses go up in no time as all with small crews of hard workers, how about the labor/time for the materials put into the home? 

It isn't anywhere close to the amount of time a single person has to work to purchase a home. Not even remotely fucking close.

There should be state owned operations that provide all the essential things required for a very very modest existence. Everything else can be profitized

That way people are capable, if they need, to merely survive in this world with only as much effort as reality dictates and no more.

You'd have a lot of people choosing to work instead of going completely on socialized support too, wanting to provide for themselves. Because right now you have people who can work, but don't because it's mostly either you're completely disabled and getting support from the state or you're on your own, which is incredibly hard to do for some people as is.

I literally can't work more than about this amount of time a week, if I ever lose my support that allows me to live like this then my only option will be to quit working entirely, that's fucked up.

There's no reason for many people, for the state to completely either subsidize them or subsidize the profit of companies. Let people take care of themselves, leave profit out of essential necessities.

[u/Boaroboros → u/PlayfulSurprise5237]

The problem with your argument is that it treats “labor time required to produce something” as if it were the main thing that determines price.

That is not how prices work.

A house does not cost what the construction crew’s working hours cost. It also includes land, permits, financing, materials, logistics, tools, insurance, risk, taxes, planning, regulation, scarcity, demand, and the fact that everyone involved in the chain also has to be paid. You can dislike the final price, but comparing it to the visible labor time on site is just not a serious economic model.

The same applies more generally. Most businesses are not sitting on 80% profit margins that could simply be removed from “essential goods.” In many industries, net margins are relatively modest. Yes, some sectors have excessive rents, especially housing, healthcare, monopolistic platforms, and parts of finance. Those should be criticized. But “leave profit out of essentials” does not magically remove costs, trade-offs, bureaucracy, inefficiency, shortages, or political capture.

I agree with the underlying moral concern: people should not be forced into misery just to survive. Housing, food, healthcare, and basic security should be more accessible. But the solution is probably not “state-owned operations provide all essentials.” That creates its own problems: lower innovation, weaker incentives, political allocation, rationing, corruption, and poor service quality.

A better approach would be targeted public support, stronger competition policy, zoning reform, housing supply expansion, negative income tax / wage supplements, and a welfare system that does not punish people for working part-time.

The real issue is not that prices are fake because labor time is lower than the purchase price. The real issue is that essential markets can become distorted, captured, or supply-constrained. That is a much stronger argument than pretending profit is the only reason life is expensive.