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Overview
We all have things that we want, and sometimes we envy others for having those things. For example, some people might look at their neighbors’ homes or cars and think about how they can get something similar or better.
But we’re not the only ones. All people think this way, and it’s part of being human. The authors say that our ceaseless pursuit for more things is driven by insatiability of wants, which are innate to humanity and can’t be changed.
The desire for more is the root of all evil. In earlier times, this was considered to be a bad thing, but now it’s been transformed into an ideal that we should strive toward.
The Skidelsky duo presents a well-informed, intelligent argument against the harmful effects of modern capitalism and how it has corrupted society. They use their knowledge of Aristotle and John Maynard Keynes to prove that we could work less than 40 hours per week if we wanted to. They also state that states can afford to pay people in order for them to be happier. Most importantly, they show why greed is not good but rather an evil thing that must be fought at all costs.
Big Idea #1: Western societies are richer than ever, but that hasn’t translated to less work.
Imagine a world in which you can do the things you love and work only if you want to. It’s remarkable how this idea is coming true today, thanks to the economic theories of economist James Maynard Keynes, who predicted that it would happen 100 years ago.
Keynes predicted that in 100 years, we would have so much wealth that people wouldn’t need to work more than 3 hours a day.
We are certainly rich, but it’s not because of the amount of work we do. In fact, technology has made us so efficient that all our needs could be met with little to no effort. Having a life filled with leisure time should already be possible for everyone. Instead, most people still have to work hard and spend less time on recreation than they’d like. Keynes’ prediction was correct in saying that GDP per capita would increase, but he failed when it came to predicting how much leisure time we would have available.
A 15-hour workweek hasn’t become mainstream because there has been an unequal accumulation of wealth over the past few decades, in which most people don’t have much money.
For example, the richest one percent in the United States have about 18% of national income.
Even though Keynes had predicted that technological advancements would lead to more leisure time, instead we have an army of underpaid workers who are not in control of their own destiny.
Keynes’s predictions were wrong because he didn’t take into account the human element.
Big Idea #2: Contemporary capitalistic societies are stricken by an undying desire to acquire more than we have.
How often do you replace your TV or car? Do you do it because they’re broken and need to be replaced, or because you want the latest technology? The answer to this question reveals how much time we spend working in order to afford new things.
The tendency to want more and more things is a desire that can never be satisfied. But how does it work?
Some psychologists believe that our insatiable desires are the result of boredom. This is especially true for those who live in affluent societies. Other sociologists argue that this behavior is driven by a desire to distinguish ourselves from others and have something unique, or something no one else has.
Capitalism is a system that encourages people to never be satisfied with what they have. If you have $100,000, then you want more. You need to buy more stuff and become wealthier so that other people will like you. In the past, if someone had $100,000 he would just spend it on a house and live out the rest of his life in leisure. Today’s capitalists are different; they invest their money and try to make even more money by buying houses or stocks or bonds or whatever else might increase the value of their wealth. We don’t care about quality anymore; we only care about how much something costs compared to other things because we think that having lots of money makes us better than everyone else (which it does).
