Re: and when we're all rich, then what?

["Barry Brooks" <barrybrooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >Instead of making fake paid jobs to match the labor force we need to
> >match the labor force to the paid jobs we really need, and that is much
> >less than full employment.
>
> The flaw here is elevating paid jobs that can be justified
> commercially or on basis of urgent social need as "real",
> and paid jobs of any other sort as "fake".  The system inside
> which the "real" jobs gain their status as "real" is socially
> constructed.

No one needs to decide exactly what jobs are fake. When we stimulate
demand with the goal of providing jobs we are making fake jobs.

Planned obsolescence, the shopping culture, etc. are ways of making jobs
by wasting resources.  Future generations aren't here to bid up future
prices.  We need to stop the flagrant waste which goes with making jobs.
Or, perhaps we could maximize our selfishness and consume as much as
possible in one generation.  Isn't that what GDP is all about?

The goal of the economy should be to build a stock of goods in service,
rather than to produce a flow of goods that will keep workers busy. We
should be preparing an inheritance for the future. We should try to
minimize consumption if we care about our children.

If people had the choice of living on a small income then we could really
become resource efficient.  We could increase durability to cut the
production needed to provide goods and services. (3 years has nothing
to do with it!)

The amount of unearned income could be varied to stabilize wages.  Those
workers who are ambitious and qualified take paid jobs. Others could
experience leisure, security and freedom.  And, they could sing in the
choir.  Must that be paid?

As for what Berger and Luckman might say about our shopping culture and
the reality of conventional economics, I couldn't say.  What did you
mother say about it?  We may be stuck with that primary reality.

I asked my mother if we earn our livings or if the food we eat is really
a gift from God.  She said that it really is a gift.  We don't make rain,
soil, chickens, etc.  The amount of work we do is a measure of how
primitive our society is.

Barry