But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work. We’ve been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don’t have. We buy so much because it always seems like something is still missing. David Cain Thanks for passing on this nicely self-aware article, Amy. There is nothing clearer about temporary living in the big city of Sydney: people have no time and more cash for spending, and we all suffer for it - humans and non-humans alike.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:55:16 +0000