Why aren't we all working 3-4 hour days?

[pErvinalia]

Of course I'm serious. What the fuck are you on about?

[laklak]

I don't always work, but when I do it's propping up a bar.

And where's my fucking flying car, huh?

EDIT FOUND IT!

[Coito ergo sum]

"..., despite our technology", asks David Graeber in this article about nonsense jobs.

"Huge swathes of people in the Western world spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-s ... z2dzwlL5Yb

Do you agree? What about your job?

What? Another thing Keynes was wrong about? Color me shocked.

[Coito ergo sum]

From the article --

Why did Keynes's promised utopia - still being eagerly awaited in the 1960s - never materialise? The standard line is he didn't predict the massive increase in consumerism. Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we've collectively chosen the latter.

Not merely toys and pleasures, but things that in the 1920s did not exist, and which now are considered necessities in the West.

But rather than allowing a massive reduction of working hours to free the world's population to pursue their own projects, pleasures, visions and ideas, we have seen the ballooning not even so much of the ''service'' sector as of the administrative sector, up to and including the creation of whole new industries such as financial services or telemarketing, or the unprecedented expansion of sectors such as corporate law, academic and health administration, human resources and public relations.

So, the projects do not include the things that have expanded? Why does the author assume that people's projects, visions and ideas would not entail making money with them? Especially considering that people don't just get free food, clothing and shelter, and they have to earn money to pay for them. Thankfully, we don't get "free" food, clothing and shelter, because that would be miserable.

[laklak]

I heard from some guy on the internet that somebody knew someone who invented a Star Trek replicator but Big Oil and Micky D's had him assassinated. That could be true, right?

[Mysturji]

Of course I'm serious. What the fuck are you on about?

What the fuck are you on about copmparing me to seth?
As I don't know where you are, I'll explain it simply.
Most Americans (Several forum members excluded) seem to think that anyone to the left of Genghis Khan considers Karl Marx a right-wing asshole, think "liberal" is a dirty word, and frequently use it as a pejorative.

To anyone from outside the USA, Obama is right-of-centre. (Just not by anywhere near as much as a Republican.) So I consider him moderately right-wing, along with most of Europe.
The mere thought of a genuine liberal (i.e. middle-of-the-road {no, not I35}) being elected in the US is laughable.
Are you with Seth, or are you a genuine Marxist? I'm a (Non-American) liberal (NOTE: Small "l"). All extremists smell the same to me.

[Coito ergo sum]

We have genuine liberals in the US. What we have fewer of than in Yerup are genuine Leftists. Left and liberal are not the same.

This whole "there are no liberals in the US because what the dumb-ass Merkins think is liberal really isn't liberal" meme is extraordinarily tiresome. We have plenty of liberals in the US, and they are no less "liberal" than "liberals" in Europe. What we don't have are Leftists -- we have a dearth of Socialists. Bernie Sanders is a socialist in the House of Representatives. He might be the only one.

[pErvinalia]

Of course I'm serious. What the fuck are you on about?

What the fuck are you on about copmparing me to seth?
As I don't know where you are, I'll explain it simply.
Most Americans (Several forum members excluded) seem to think that anyone to the left of Genghis Khan considers Karl Marx a right-wing asshole, think "liberal" is a dirty word, and frequently use it as a pejorative.

To anyone from outside the USA, Obama is right-of-centre. (Just not by anywhere near as much as a Republican.) So I consider him moderately right-wing, along with most of Europe.
The mere thought of a genuine liberal (i.e. middle-of-the-road {no, not I35}) being elected in the US is laughable.
Are you with Seth, or are you a genuine Marxist? I'm a (Non-American) liberal (NOTE: Small "l"). All extremists smell the same to me.

you don't seem to know what a "neoliberal" is.

[Coito ergo sum]

A liberal version of the main character in the Matrix movies?

[pErvinalia]

Yes.

[Mysturji]

We have genuine liberals in the US. What we have fewer of than in Yerup are genuine Leftists. Left and liberal are not the same.

This whole "there are no liberals in the US because what the dumb-ass Merkins think is liberal really isn't liberal" meme is extraordinarily tiresome. We have plenty of liberals in the US, and they are no less "liberal" than "liberals" in Europe. What we don't have are Leftists -- we have a dearth of Socialists. Bernie Sanders is a socialist in the House of Representatives. He might be the only one.

I didn't say you didn't have any, I said they would never get elected. Try to keep up.

[Mysturji]

Of course I'm serious. What the fuck are you on about?

What the fuck are you on about copmparing me to seth?
As I don't know where you are, I'll explain it simply.
Most Americans (Several forum members excluded) seem to think that anyone to the left of Genghis Khan considers Karl Marx a right-wing asshole, think "liberal" is a dirty word, and frequently use it as a pejorative.

To anyone from outside the USA, Obama is right-of-centre. (Just not by anywhere near as much as a Republican.) So I consider him moderately right-wing, along with most of Europe.
The mere thought of a genuine liberal (i.e. middle-of-the-road {no, not I35}) being elected in the US is laughable.
Are you with Seth, or are you a genuine Marxist? I'm a (Non-American) liberal (NOTE: Small "l"). All extremists smell the same to me.

you don't seem to know what a "neoliberal" is.

Oh, Please, do enlighten me.
And just so I know whether I should don rose-tinted or All-American-Red-White-and-Blue spectacles while reading it, where are you from?

[pErvinalia]

Why don't you drop the smart-arse attitude if you want to have a conversation?

[klr]

People! You should all calm down and take a stress pill [/HAL 9000]

[Mysturji]

Why don't you drop the smart-arse attitude if you want to have a conversation?

You started it.