The contrast between Eu and our worlds reaches its peak in the moral judgement of able-bodied adult citizens with a D-profile. Here, they are often distrusted, and we tend not to feel "responsibility" for them (we do not want to feed them out of "our" income for which we have the decency to work). See, for instance, the quotations in the indispensable paper by Philippe van Parijs: "There must be no parasites in paradise" (Senator Yee, Hawaii), "... those who surf all day off Malibu must find a way to support themselves and would not be entitled to public funds" (John Rawls), "it is unfair for able-bodied people to live off the labour of others" (Jon Elster). D-members are also a very useful symbol and instrument for demagogues who argue in favour of reducing unemployment benefits. If, in our world, you are D-member, you will be wary of letting other people know.

In Eu, their presence is highly appreciated. They are the hard core of the supply side of the Labour Right-market, and help keeping down the price, thereby keeping up the wage/unbenefit-ratio. In their turn these "nonneedy Bohemians" appreciate A-members. A-members are willing to pay a high price for their Labour Rights. Exactly this diversity in labour preference relaxes the tensions in their society. No Eunian feels the need to discuss the general validity of some system of Labour Ethics; on the contrary, they would consider such a general Ethics to be highly dangerous for the stability of the labour-market and thus for their society.

We tend to look upon the situation of an unemployed able-bodied adult citizen, who, "without giving anything in return", receives a benefit, as a defect, and start to look for "causes" of this defect. Either this able-bodied adult citizen falls personally short of what he should be, or something is wrong with his environment, which fails to create enough jobs.

This is why we insist on using the term "unemployed" for a special type of inactive able-bodied adult citizen: those who desire a job, but cannot find one. Our bureaucrats keep this group anxiously separated from other inactives such as schoolchildren, students, artists, and those who enjoy an old-age pension. The difference is sought in the motives you have, at least ought to have, to claim non-wage income. All these groups need a separate moral and economic argumentation for their non-wage income: schoolchildren and students will serve our country in the future, artist do this even now, both really "work" in a sense, and "do something" for their non-wage income. Older people did so in the past. But "real" unemployed people would like to do so and are unable to, due to defects in themselves or in our economy. Every "real" unemployed persons is, therefore, one too many. In Eu, the pathological interest in all these fine distinctions is relaxed. You decide for yourself whether you want to quit work and why. Education may be a motive. But it does not matter whether you do this because you want to become wiser, abler, capable of more interesting work (which, mind you, is not better paid in Eu), or to help needy people, express yourself artistically, enjoy art, sports or just lazy leisure. We distinguish anxiously between these and many other motives, because we need strict rules for claiming benefits in our complex bureaucracy, but in Eu, civil authorities can save themselves the trouble of weighing them morally and distinguishing between them.

Eunians may read Arendt, Canivet and Gorz with great interest. Not because they want a solution for the social problems that prompt these authors to ponder the meaning of labour, work, action, paid action, labour in itself and autonomous action: the social problems have been solved, or at least are shared by all Eunians in egalitarian fashion. Their interest is to make a good choice, in harmony with their age, situation, character, desires in life, and financial needs. And thinking about what a job would mean to them, and what unemployment would mean to them, is a necessary prerequisite for not making decisions you will be sorry for later, and thus for their optimal self-realization.

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