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On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast.
why does anyone need to grow?
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On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow?
it's hard to play basket ball if you're short
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On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short
What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends?
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On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends?
We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy...
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On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy...
Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding?
"we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. a treadmill to hell!
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On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste.
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare...
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On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare...
But does this ever allow for a conservative approach, whereby we can just keep what we have instead of always wanting new/more stuff? I don't think the consumer is right that we should build an economy on constantly churning out new stuff. Think of the waste and exploitation necessary for that. Also think of the 'planned obsolescence' inherent in the buy new stuff paradigm, where the economy needs all the stuff to fail at some point in order to keep the economy going.
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On March 28 2014 11:10 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... But does this ever allow for a conservative approach, whereby we can just keep what we have instead of always wanting new/more stuff? I don't think the consumer is right that we should build an economy on constantly churning out new stuff. Think of the waste and exploitation necessary for that. Also think of the 'planned obsolescence' inherent in the buy new stuff paradigm, where the economy needs all the stuff to fail at some point in order to keep the economy going.
Yeah I think we can keep what we have if we want to. I made that clear a few pages back.
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On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare...
Educators, scientists, and artists make a lot of money.
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On March 28 2014 11:10 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... But does this ever allow for a conservative approach, whereby we can just keep what we have instead of always wanting new/more stuff? I don't think the consumer is right that we should build an economy on constantly churning out new stuff. Think of the waste and exploitation necessary for that. Also think of the 'planned obsolescence' inherent in the buy new stuff paradigm, where the economy needs all the stuff to fail at some point in order to keep the economy going.
I think we should let the consumer decide what he wants to do. Imposing the views of intellectual minorities on a large group of people has been tried repeatedly and has always ended pretty bad.
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On March 28 2014 11:29 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... Educators, scientists, and artists make a lot of money.
Good for them.
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On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare...
I think what also deserves mention is the creation of jobs for an expanding population. New starter jobs, new jobs for college grads, etc.
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On March 28 2014 15:52 Danglars wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... I think what also deserves mention is the creation of jobs for an expanding population. New starter jobs, new jobs for college grads, etc.
If the current number of people and jobs could provide for an expanded population without increasing jobs, why wouldn't we just distribute the work more evenly so that everybody works less?
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On March 28 2014 11:34 Nyxisto wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:10 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... But does this ever allow for a conservative approach, whereby we can just keep what we have instead of always wanting new/more stuff? I don't think the consumer is right that we should build an economy on constantly churning out new stuff. Think of the waste and exploitation necessary for that. Also think of the 'planned obsolescence' inherent in the buy new stuff paradigm, where the economy needs all the stuff to fail at some point in order to keep the economy going. I think we should let the consumer decide what he wants to do. Imposing the views of intellectual minorities on a large group of people has been tried repeatedly and has always ended pretty bad.
That's a pretty accurate description of austerity. Economic policy in general really. Actually it's a pretty good description of government.
And constant economic expansion as a given is a problem. It's simply unsustainable long term. It's also a gross oversimplification of what human achievement is.
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On March 28 2014 11:10 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... But does this ever allow for a conservative approach, whereby we can just keep what we have instead of always wanting new/more stuff? I don't think the consumer is right that we should build an economy on constantly churning out new stuff. Think of the waste and exploitation necessary for that. Also think of the 'planned obsolescence' inherent in the buy new stuff paradigm, where the economy needs all the stuff to fail at some point in order to keep the economy going.
I think you're nibbling around an important point.
The absolute hardcore denial it takes to ignore the insane hole in most 'capitalism' based thought.
The clear and empirical fact that people don't always 'act in their own rational self-interest'.
But a few people who do can, manipulate the living shit out of the people who regularly don't have the faculties for one reason or another to act rationally in their own self interest. (to the point where they jeopardize the economic well being of themselves and the entire global economy)
I just don't get how people can continue this obvious and ridiculous lie.
If you ignore that idiotic notion, the economy actually makes a lot more sense.
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On March 28 2014 16:53 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 15:52 Danglars wrote:On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... I think what also deserves mention is the creation of jobs for an expanding population. New starter jobs, new jobs for college grads, etc. If the current number of people and jobs could provide for an expanded population without increasing jobs, why wouldn't we just distribute the work more evenly so that everybody works less? I'd like to see the regime that redistributes the workload without disastrous side effects and failure in its primary mission. Short of some hitherto undiscovered method, I just see increasing unemployment and decreasing opportunity for the new generations. The growth in the economy is one way, maybe even the primary way, to combat this problem in a free society.
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On March 28 2014 11:34 Nyxisto wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:10 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:51 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:47 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:38 Roe wrote:On March 28 2014 10:32 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 28 2014 10:04 Roe wrote:On March 27 2014 06:29 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On March 27 2014 06:18 IgnE wrote:
Or growth within Germany at the expense of Europe, and political pressure from an increasingly vocal labor force pushed through higher wages and a minimum wage. Who benefits from German-enforced austerity measures in other countries? Could it be German industries? At best Germany is benefiting relative to other Eurozone countries. They still aren't growing at anything resembling fast. why does anyone need to grow? it's hard to play basket ball if you're short What end do we need to get to? What's the "goal" as in basketball? Or are we just playing a perpetual game that never ends? We're all a computer sim doing as programmed? Sorry, I'm no good at philosophy... Stop making it hard on yourself then...unless all you can do is read spreadsheets, it's a pretty basic question. what is the point of expanding? "we have to grow in order to compete" doesn't make much sense to me. just seems like a chaotic spiral of consumption and waste. What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... But does this ever allow for a conservative approach, whereby we can just keep what we have instead of always wanting new/more stuff? I don't think the consumer is right that we should build an economy on constantly churning out new stuff. Think of the waste and exploitation necessary for that. Also think of the 'planned obsolescence' inherent in the buy new stuff paradigm, where the economy needs all the stuff to fail at some point in order to keep the economy going. I think we should let the consumer decide what he wants to do. Imposing the views of intellectual minorities on a large group of people has been tried repeatedly and has always ended pretty bad. It's amazing hearing this viewpoint from you. You actually think intellectual minorities imposing their views on the rest of us, even in the less-waste-less-exploitation caveat, could continue to end bad?
Be careful or you'll be called right wing in time.
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On March 28 2014 19:49 Danglars wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 16:53 IgnE wrote:On March 28 2014 15:52 Danglars wrote:On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... I think what also deserves mention is the creation of jobs for an expanding population. New starter jobs, new jobs for college grads, etc. If the current number of people and jobs could provide for an expanded population without increasing jobs, why wouldn't we just distribute the work more evenly so that everybody works less? I'd like to see the regime that redistributes the workload without disastrous side effects and failure in its primary mission.
Longer weekends. Boom! Did I just blow your mind? I just blew your mind.
On March 28 2014 19:49 Danglars wrote:Short of some hitherto undiscovered method, I just see increasing unemployment and decreasing opportunity for the new generations. The growth in the economy is one way, maybe even the primary way, to combat this problem in a free society.
Because of increased automation?
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Norway28790 Posts
On March 28 2014 19:49 Danglars wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 16:53 IgnE wrote:On March 28 2014 15:52 Danglars wrote:On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... I think what also deserves mention is the creation of jobs for an expanding population. New starter jobs, new jobs for college grads, etc. If the current number of people and jobs could provide for an expanded population without increasing jobs, why wouldn't we just distribute the work more evenly so that everybody works less? I'd like to see the regime that redistributes the workload without disastrous side effects and failure in its primary mission. Short of some hitherto undiscovered method, I just see increasing unemployment and decreasing opportunity for the new generations. The growth in the economy is one way, maybe even the primary way, to combat this problem in a free society.
I'm not gonna make the claim that Norway is "there" yet, but we have certainly moved in this direction and without disasterous side effects.. We're working shorter and shorter weeks, taking fridays(or mondays) off to enjoy a 3 day weekend is becoming more and more common. There's some political effort made, although not sufficient to break through yet, to reduce working days from 7.5 hours to 6 hours (and thus the average working week from 37.5 to 30).
Now yes we have a unique oil wealth and what works for Norway might not work elsewhere, but my personal preference is that for halted economic growth in exchange for more spare time. I'd much rather maintain my current wealth and work less than work more and become wealthier.
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On March 28 2014 21:54 Liquid`Drone wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 19:49 Danglars wrote:On March 28 2014 16:53 IgnE wrote:On March 28 2014 15:52 Danglars wrote:On March 28 2014 11:02 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
What's the point of growing the economy? So you have more money to buy more stuff. Most people want that, which doesn't always mean more consumerism. More stuff can be more education, scientific exploration, more art, more healthcare... I think what also deserves mention is the creation of jobs for an expanding population. New starter jobs, new jobs for college grads, etc. If the current number of people and jobs could provide for an expanded population without increasing jobs, why wouldn't we just distribute the work more evenly so that everybody works less? I'd like to see the regime that redistributes the workload without disastrous side effects and failure in its primary mission. Short of some hitherto undiscovered method, I just see increasing unemployment and decreasing opportunity for the new generations. The growth in the economy is one way, maybe even the primary way, to combat this problem in a free society. I'm not gonna make the claim that Norway is "there" yet, but we have certainly moved in this direction and without disasterous side effects.. We're working shorter and shorter weeks, taking fridays(or mondays) off to enjoy a 3 day weekend is becoming more and more common. There's some political effort made, although not sufficient to break through yet, to reduce working days from 7.5 hours to 6 hours (and thus the average working week from 37.5 to 30). Now yes we have a unique oil wealth and what works for Norway might not work elsewhere, but my personal preference is that for halted economic growth in exchange for more spare time. I'd much rather maintain my current wealth and work less than work more and become wealthier.
It's not just that Norway has oil it's that Norway does relatively sensible things with the money received.
Britain also had oil. We pissed the money up the wall and now we work more hours than [edit:almost] anyone in Europe.
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