Interesting. Gene and Tom will be interested in the work-sharing
proposal (which is part of a larger program). Of course, any such
reforms seem quite unlikely unless we figure out how to tilt the
balance of political power. If we can do that, we might want to go
much further than the Skidelskys do.
A big problem is the Skidelsky's top-down approach ("non-coercive
paternalism" and more). It's a matter of greedy ideology (insatiable
wants "abandoning any interest in the social outcome of [GDP] growth,"
the "philosophy of untrammeled self-interest") taking over. One of the
reasons why people (i.e., poorer people) are working so hard is
because they're trying to survive. It's not just a matter of ideology.
(BTW, I wish that they would clarify what they mean by "efficiency."
It can be something good (more wanted output per unit of input) or it
can mean profit maximization.)
Sabri Oncu quotes:
> John Maynard Keynes’s generation of
> economists assumed that as people became more efficient at
> satisfying their wants, they would, and should as rational
> agents, work less and enjoy life more. Yet power relationships
> and the insatiability of human wants are such that we have
> maintained an ethic of acquisitiveness.
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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