Are We Working Too Many Hours?
Why does it cost so much in time and money to live? Have our markets made “staying alive” a commodity that is sold to each of us?
“Why am I the only one that sees a problem with working 8 to 9 hours a day then going home to have about four hours to yourself, which includes getting ready for the next day? This is not a life…” Shelby, Twitter.
Renew the Earth sees this also and we are proposing the creation of a parallel economic system that provides Worldwide the basic needs of living; food, shelter, education and healthcare.
Consider abandonment on a deserted island. Our first concern is food and shelter and the most efficient way to do this in energy, time and conservative impact on limited resources. These same dynamics are the most important on our earth/island, but the scale is so huge that this basic truth has been obscured from view by the multitude of distractions we face. Things that markets have persuaded us are more important. Our “wants”.
David Graeber addresses the time wasted by certain work in his book, “Bullshit Jobs”.
“37% of Britons said their job does not make a meaningful contribution to the World. 40% of Dutch workers believe their jobs have no reason to exist.” What are these jobs? “Most of them involve administrative, managerial, clerical service and sales functioning such as telemarketing: sectors of the job market that combined, ballooned from a quarter of total employment in 1910 to three quarters in 2000.”
If machines can do the job, let them. You are not displacing people, you are freeing them to use their time and intellect on other things. Quality of life will improve and that is the goal. Basic needs jobs will expand and the efficient, economical accomplishment and distribution of them will evolve continually. There will be no shortage of workers for these important, meaningful jobs because so many have been freed by automation from the BS jobs. Job sharing and the resulting fewer hours will be the norm. Money earned can be used for ‘wants’ because basic needs are met for each person as a right. Their right to life.
“In a more humane civilization, machines would be used to shorten the workday, increase the availability of goods and services and lengthen vacation time.” “Repetitive work activities that can be done by machines will free up the most important aspect of being human which sets us apart from other animals, our intellect.” Jacques Fresco “The Best that Money Can’t Buy”
A parallel currency dedicated to basic needs worldwide makes it possible for everyone to have the same benefits as our Senators, Congress people and Supreme Court Justices. These are our real human rights.