But, actually, Tom Walker's post led me in some other directions ...
There is probably no shortage of things to be done, but if we define a job as " a regular activity performed in exchange for payment, especially as one's trade, occupation, or profession" then there appears to be a problem. As we all know, volunteers with other sources of income perform any number of useful and necessary tasks to smooth out the rough spots in our society. And many social services increasingly rely upon voluntary donations as government cuts back its support in favour of reducing the tax burden.
And that is what government ought to do - put pressure on all of us to become more creative in seeking a new basis of support as we find that the increase in income from tax reduction is slipping away to pay for private healthcare, education, and various social services.
Just as the Tobin Tax on foreign exchange transactions was intended to capture some of the millions of cross-border dollars, so we might ponder how to capture for society some of the returns from automation (cybernation). At present most of the return goes to the high-tech sectors which design and produce the hardware and software which provide the infrastructure of our cybernated systems, but the rest of us in our highly interconnected economy have indirectly played a role in the emergence of such systems. Sometimes such a role has been in the form of money through investment in stocks, mutual funds, and other financial instruments, and if one has some savvy in these matters some financial reward is enjoyed. Others serve in seemingly unrelated roles which, nevertheless, contribute to the ambient quality of life. They ought to be entitled to participate in the largesse of our cybernated systems.
The large corporations which disburse these emoluments are forming a new aristocracy with total control over the means of production. This development may be roughly analogous to the landed aristocracy of mediaeval and pre-industrial days and the reformation of that system required violent and bloody revolution, though not in every instance.
What all of us have in common is that we are consumers. If we don't consume (i.e. buy) then the producers cannot survive. We vote with our dollars. As the producers vie for our dollars they wish to appear (and actually be) magnanimous. The large sums which flow into advertising and other promotional activities may be perceived as a tax (albeit an indirect one) on the consumer. Those of us who are shareholders may actually have some say in how this money is spent. But even non-shareholders can and do exert pressure on the corporations to support various good works. Of course, often it is the corporation itself which offers financial support to some institution in return for advertising space.
The idea of Coke signs on hospital beds or Microsoft banners in the video content of educational DVD-ROMs in schools may not sit well with many of us but, then, neither were the dark Satanic mills of the 19th century everywhere welcomed with open arms. But they were but a stage in the evolution of our present system. Now, while it may be argued that they were an unnecessary stage, and with such hindsight one might agree, they were the product, even then, of an emerging learning society. Firms may learn that a social conscience is good for business. (Some may have to learn the hard way!)
In a fully fledged learning society, citizens will advance beyond their role as consumers to that of information providers. As consumers people provide information by the simple act of purchasing an item or visiting a website. Frequently a purchase is made via a credit card which enables the credit company to construct a purchasing profile of its clients; similarly, websites can create "cookies" which are stored on a surfer's computer drive and contain information on what items a visitor clicked on while surfing the site. This information is valuable and can enable producers to reduce cost by selling directly to niches most likely to buy their products. It should follow that those who provide this information ought to be paid for it.
In this way may evolve a rationale for paying people for consuming. This is where some similarity with the Tobin tax perhaps becomes most explicit. We may see emerge what some writers have already anticipated: micropayments on numerous purchases, i.e. payments based on bits of information. While individually miniscule, in the aggregate the pay out may be substantial.
Payment for consumption of individual items may be matched by the evolving pattern of distributed production. The current trend to contract employment, flexible hours, concurrent with decreased loyalty to firms, may also entail the generation of income from a number of sources to make up an adequate income. The closer integration of education and the workplace will blur and perhaps in time erase the distinction between work and play, returning society to a form closer to what was typical of the Middle Ages (in Europe) and earlier.
The emergence on the Web of virtual communities (while spatially non-proprinquitous) may be the basis of a new form of support system. Already people are seeking and finding the answers to health and other problems. Such cybercommunities may not fully displace the geographically contiguous neighbourhood and other religious and social groups, but have proved to be invaluable when seeking information that is esoteric and fugitive. As in conventional mutual help systems there are monetary implications, i.e. one may extend a limited income through barter and sharing. And one should not forget the LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) which may become increasingly sophisticated and Web-based. As noted in my recent post:
"The large number of disparate communities will
be based around a common
interest or value system. An example already
exists in the newsgroups on the Internet -
these are a usually very reliable source of information
for users seeking advice on
purchases and reliable vendors. Individuals and
companies are likely to be members of more than
one "commune" depending on the matrix of interests
and markets the consumer or vendor
operates in. These markets will be self-regulating
as purchasers and vendors apply commonly
agreed values to the nature and method of business
transactions. The rule of law will
NOT apply in these marketspaces - the rule of
the "commune" WILL."
We may anticipate attitudinal shifts as the learning society advances and its infrastructure simply becomes part of the natural environment and disappears (probably literally) into the woodwork. In the industrial age, when the work ethic ruled, those out of work tended to be shunned and considered somehow guilty of the sin of joblessness. In what some call the information age may emerge a new social ethic which may stress the duty to be informed and to share information. In a world awash in information there may be no excuse for ignorance. We may become just as harsh on the ignorant as we tend to be today on the jobless. Not long ago in a referendum in Sweden concerning nuclear power, one had to demonstrate a sound knowledge of the issue in order to be eligible to vote.
Bob
Timework Web wrote:
Microsoft Timeline--
Business @ the Speed of Thought
Remarks by Bill Gates
Georgetown University School of Business
March 24, 1999QUESTION: During the course of the presentation, you mentioned job
reduction a number of times. While, as business students, we can all
appreciate what that means for the bottom line, have you put any
thought into what it means for society as a whole?MR. GATES: Well, part of the lesson of economics is that there are
infinite demands for jobs out there, as long as you want class sizes
to be smaller, or entertainment services to be better, there's not a
lump of labor where there's a finite demand for a certain number of
jobs. And so, as efficiency changes, such as in food production, the
jobs shifted to manufacturing. As efficiencies were gained there,
those jobs moved into services. In fact, there's no shortage of things
that can be done. So, it's not like we're going to run out of jobs
here.Tom Walker
http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/
