Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Listen up, Americans. Listen up, citizens of the world’s advanced economies.
Stop. Just stop it.
You’re rich enough. Well, at least a good chunk of you are. Time to take it easy. Forget your life’s work,even if it brings you deep satisfaction. Forget about innovating and producing more with less.
You’re really just wage slaves, laboring automatons persuaded by slick advertising that you want that new iPad or iPhone. A job is just a way to afford more consumption of stuff you don’t really want and sure don’t really need. Nothing more.
But enough of my exhortations, British historian and John Maynard Keynes biographer Robert Skidelsky says it so much better today in the Financial Times:
So what is to be done? First, we must convince ourselves that there is something called the good life, and that money is simply a means to it. To say that my purpose in life is to make more and more money is as insane as saying my purpose in eating is to get fatter and fatter. But second, there are measures we can take collectively to nudge us off the consumption treadmill.
One is to improve job security. Government should restore the full employment guarantee. This does not mean guaranteeing everyone a 40-hour a week job. Government should gradually reduce the maximum allowable hours of work for most occupations, guaranteeing a job for everyone who wants to work that amount of time.
At the same time it should institute an unconditional basic income for all citizens. This would aim to improve the choice between work and leisure. Critics say this would be a disincentive to work. That is precisely its merit in a society which should be working less and enjoying life more.
Third, government should reduce the pressure to consume by curbs on advertising. We already have curbs to guard against specific harms: it would not be a big jump to recognise that excessive consumption is itself harmful – to the environment, to contentment, to any mature conception of the good life.
Underpinning these measures would be a steeply progressive consumption tax, with a top bracket of, say, 75 per cent. This would be a tax on what is spent, not on earnings. It would reduce the pressure to consume, finance basic income, and encourage private saving for old age and infirmity.
Wow. In just a few short paragraphs, Skidelsky advocates frightening new limits on economic and political freedom so that we could all be “happier” — with happiness defined by Skidelsky himself. This might be the worst FT op-ed I’ve ever read.
And it apparently never really occurs to Skidelsky that, you know, lots of people might actually get something better, deeper than “happiness” — which to Skidelsky may mean nothing more than superficial entertainment or materialist diversion — from their jobs. AEI’s Arthur Brooksoffers a different perspective, “But what does the right to pursue happiness mean? It means earned success: The right to define and seek our happiness as we see fit, through creating value in our lives and in the lives of others.” And for many people, that happiness comes through their work.
But elites like Skidelsky have often frowned on work despite their professed affection for the working man. As economist Deirdre McCloskey writes in Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World, the rising reputation of commerce—of making money through private trade rather than government favor—was a key driver of the Industrial Revolution. Historically, elites have looked down on the merchant class, particularly what today we call small business and entrepreneurs. She notes that in ancient Rome, Cicero declared that “commerce, if on a small scale, is to be regarded as vulgar; but if large and rich … it is not so very discreditable … if the merchant … contented with his profits … betakes himself from the port itself to an estate in the country.” Even the commercial Dutch in the 1500s thought hustling for a buck was disreputable, an attitude summed up by the proverb, “A lie is a merchant’s prosperity.”
But then that all changed:
After about 1700 in Britain … the vulgarities of the economy and of money and of dealing with their unsettling creativity came gradually to be talked about as noncorrupting. They began to be seen in theory as worthy of a certain respect, as not being hopelessly vulgar or sinful or underhanded or lower caste. In a word they became dignified, in part because they were recognized as good for the nation, not a useless scam.
Work can be mindless repetition. But it can also be an outlet for creativity and imagination, one that brings a sense of self-worth, identity, and achievement. A job well done as a way of doing the Lord’s work, of creating a “good life.”
Somehow I doubt Skidelsky thinks in those terms, at least not explicitly. But imagine if a government official told the 73-year-old that he had written enough books. Time for some enforced leisure, Mr. Skidelsky (who, by the way has a new book coming out, his tenth, How Much is Enough? The Love of Money and the Case for the Good Life).
Skidelsky’s life work is almost certainly meaningful for him. He doesn’t work to consume or work to live, he lives to work. Too bad he doesn’t recognize that same desire in the rest of us.
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Comments:
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
"[I]magine if a government official told the 73-year old [Skidelsky] that he had written enough books."
Careful, James. You tempt me to accept Skidelsky's argument.
Apr '12
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Only an intellectual could say (and believe) something so stupid and so obviously wrong.
May '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Only a biographer of John Maynard Keynes could say (and believe) something so stupid and so obviously wrong.
Dec '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
First I think of "Harrison Bergeron," the short story by Kurt Vonnegut in which all members of society are made equal -- equally mediocre -- by various handicapping devices.
Then I think of "The Obsolete Man," Rod Serling's story for his "The Twilight Zone" series, in which the State determines what ideas are obsolete and how to dispose of those who cling to those ideas.
Should we not tell Prof. Skidelsky that, being past a decent age for retirement, he should not be permitted in any activity that remunerates him? Shouldn't we point out to him that he is crowding out younger and perhaps more deserving writers from the pages of the FT and the shelves of Waterstone's?
Dec '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Howellis: “There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them” is attributed to George Orwell, yes?
Edited on July 6, 2012 at 12:15amDec '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
I also think of H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine." Wells did not foresee that the Eloi would have no need of the Morlocks once they developed machines capable of running and repairing themselves... so there would be no incentive to tolerate the habit of the Morlocks of harvesting Eloi flesh. I suppose Prof. Skidelsky envisions something of the sort, in which the only people alive are the right kind of high-minded people.
Mar '11
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
What's frustrating about these screeds is that they actually contain a few nuggets of truth among the pile of rubbish.
I agree that working a job is not everything in life. Finding satisfaction in a job well done is great, but we also need janitors, and having been one for a while I can attest that it's not very fulfilling when you give your very best and still get yelled at by 95% of the workplace. Some people will never find happiness in their job, and for those people the promise of a good life outside of work can give them an impetus to be more productive.
And as for a progressive consumption tax - well, a consumption tax with some exemptions for the poorest sounds great for me. But my ideal consumption tax is still probably not Sidelsky's.
The difficulty with many social democrats is not that they can't tell the difference between a screw, a nail and a bolt, but that they nonetheless still only know how to use a hammer.
Feb '11
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Tenured academics as a class demand total autonomy in their own work, and have no respect for the idea that people in other fields might want a high level of autonomy as well.
Dec '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
This can be difficult for people to digest. It was certainly difficult for me to digest.
I used to earn a small fortune, based upon what was, to me, legal quips. Just thoughts, put on paper.
Now I barely scrape along and it is a tragedy when a chick dies. Chicks die, almost every day, no matter how hard we work.
The monetary orders of magnitude we have passed up for subsistence are just not imagineable, to folks sitting on the sidelines. When animals and vegetables die, before getting to the kitchen, it is a tragedy to a home budget.
I will admit it. We are very poor farmers. We have lots of land and have put in a great deal of effort into attempting to raise crops and livestock, but we suck at this.
In the real world, I have to go back to work for people that know what they are doing, or we will eventually starve.
My expertise is environmental nuance, for which I used to earn a fine living, but I now know that we suck as farmers, no matter how hard we work.
Somehow, I need to re-enter our normal economy. Bad timing.
Jun '12
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Is Skidelsky publishing his book for free? If not, why not?
Aug '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
I wouldn't be completely opposed to an unconditional minimum income for all, AS LONG AS it's accompanied by a reduction to ZERO of ALL government spending on health care, welfare and other social programs, corporate subsidies, farm subsidies, bailouts, arts funding, etc, etc, etc, etc...
Get government spending to something like less than 1% of GDP, and then we can talk about an unconditional guaranteed income.
Somehow, I don't think that's what Sidelsky has in mind.
Jan '11
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
He's right. We should all stop working and live on what the government gives us.
Hey! Where did all the tax money go?
Apr '12
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Is Skidelsky proposing we all become slothful? It sounds as if he likes the idea of a human zoo where the minimum food, habitat and maybe the TV (but not the Internet with Ricochet) are guaranteed. Yet why do some say zoos are cruel? Young, male testosterone might not be as attracted to this set up as males in their 70's. Has he forgotten his own drives and the thrill of success? Leaving so many with free time on their hands is not a good idea.
Jul '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Under his plan, where will the exciting innovations come from? Or do we have enough right now, no improvements needed? Where will the passion to find a cure for ________ (fill in the blank) lie? “I would have continued on that study – was on the brink of a breakthrough – but my time for the week is up. I’ll probably get around to it sometime next week.” Or is medical science sufficient for the rest of the ages? And Heavens to Murgatroyd!, how will cable stations continue to exist without revenue from products for infomercials?
Talking with young people is a real eye-opener. (Too) many like the idea of a shorter work week, long vacations, etc., – just like the Europeans. This, they say, for the purpose of spending more time with family. Funny thing is, European birth rates are alarmingly low, with more and more choosing not to have children.
His theory sounds suspiciously like the agenda advanced by “The Story of Stuff,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8, and those advocating population control, all from a Malthusian standpoint.
Aug '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Ron Avitzur, Skidelsky's nemesis: When His Project Was Canceled, an Unemployed Programmer Kept Sneaking Into Apple to Finish the Job
Jul '10
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Should have said, "...all from a Malthusian, anti-capitalist, and green perspective." There. Think I got it all on a 2nd read.
Apr '11
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Well obviously many people have jobs because they need money, and I would guess for most people the goal is not so much that ones work fulfills you but rather that it simply does not crush you. As Mendel points out, people should ask themselves what they are gaining by working longer or harder. How much is spending time with family or friends worth it to you vs. living in a really nice and spacious apartment/house, having a fancy car, etc?
As the saying goes, you can't take it with you. Right? I would postulate that we do in fact work less in a life time. Until graduate school I never needed a job, so for 22 years I really had nothing to do but play, learn, read, and so forth. If people actually can retire at 65 they have about another 20 years or so of more free time. So for half their lives many modern humans do not need to labor.
In the past most people began work when they were teenagers and then just died. Now we don't. I mean depending on the length of schooling some one can avoid all jobs until 30.
May '12
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Over here in France, I just today received payment for work billed in March. In the same stack of mail, I also received bills for provisional VAT and social security payments which, totaled, were 27% more than the incoming check. On days like this one is sorely tempted to give in and play the system for all one can. (I, having some odd, dated notion of propriety, have thus far resisted that temptation).
Apr '11
Re: Sorry, America, You’re Rich Enough. Stop Working
Absolutely mind-boggling. Do people think the world would be a better place if Henry Ford had decided early on "I've built enough cars, I'm closing the company down"? Or if Thomas Edison had decided he had invented enough or Willie Nelson decided he had recorded enough? I don't know what drives very productive people to go to work every morning when they clearly have more money than they can spend, but I'm grateful that they do.