In my own life, I have observed the major economic
"motivator" is the need to put a roof over my head.
I can always get a cheaper car, or fix the one I
have. I can less or eat better. But something like
50% of my takehome income goes to rent, and that's
a big chunk.
Consider if good housing was *not* expensive. Suppose,
like in the old days, you lived on the family farm.
You probably wouldn't *need* to work 40-60 hours a
week to make ends meet. You could get by on part time
work, or less. (In Maine, one friend reports that
"getting by" is a way of life -- with seemingly no
income at all, people somehow manage to "get by" from
month to month...)
Now, if you wanted more toys, or fancy dinners, or
you were motivated by a particular project, you might
well choose to work more. But you wouldn't be *forced*
to do so by the economic gun pointed at your head.
As a collary observation, I observe that rents keep
going up at the same rate as wages. So every raise
makes you feel better for a little while, but then
along comes the rise in rents to chew it up. Largely
responding to the raise in rents, I suspect, every
*other* price goes up as well. So pretty soon you find
yourself where you were before -- and you find yourself
running ever harder and faster on that treadmill, just
to keep up.
As you get older, the picture gets even more bleak. As
a youth, you can look forward to ever increasing income
as your skills and experience grow. But at some point,
you top out. Then, all you can look forward to is
steady income, while economic forces push prices ever
higher. As you near retirement, you will suddenly be
faced with *reduced* income. At that point, what was
previously an "effective" reduction in your economic
position becomes accelerated to the point that it is
inescapable. At that point, you will be losing ground
fast -- unless you happen to have amassed a wad of
capital -- something which the economic treadmill makes
rather difficult.
So, how can this situation be improved? How can you help
to stop the treadmill so that people can live more
humane, fun lives, where fun is found in productivity
and helping others, as well as in playful pursuits, but
where the hours you spend doing that are not so forced and
stressed as to eliminate all joy from the activity.
I see one possible way it *could* happen. But it won't
help you, or me. There is no way for us to get off the
treadmill. But there *is* a way we can help ensure that
succeeding generations don't have to stay on it.
That possiblity, the way I see it, entails adding certain
encumberances to one's real estate, when it is passed on
in one's will. I don't know if it is legally possible but,
if it is, property in the form of real estate could be
passed on so that:
* It cannot be sold for more than the cost of
back taxes, associated fees, and moving costs.
* It cannot be rented for more than the cost of
taxes and maintenance expense.
Now, the real trick is adding those encumberances to the
deed *in perpetuity*. Regardless of who owns the house,
it can be lived in -- essentially for free -- or rented
without the possibility of deriving income from it.
One would still be free to pass on cash and other assets
to one's heirs. Real property could be passed on, as
well -- but only with those restrictions.
If that idea gathers steam, the result over time would be
a stiff left jab to the economic forces that produce
ever-lengthening work weeks. It might also turn out
horribly, given the unpredicable, surprising reactions
that result from complex systems.
But I expect it is an experiment that may be worth trying,
if only because the downward pressure on the economy that
would result may well help stem the tide of consumerism
that threatens to engulf the world's resources before
this century is half over.
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