Having lived and worked in the UK, this does not surprise me.
Back then, for most of my co-workers, the most interesting part of the working day was the tea cart. A momentous event.
I felt a little out-of-place. That odd American who actually likes the job.
One of the problems with a society that has a tradition of strict class structures is that not working hard is associated with respect and privilege.
I'm afraid we are moving toward that kind of society. Working hard -- physically hard -- is probably the least profitable way to earn your living today.
Back when a large portion of our population farmed the land, working hard was a sign of virtue. Those who worked hardest had the best crops and the best lifestyles.
Next we will decide that working hard -- mentally hard -- is also for losers. The Wall Street crowd sticks an algorithm in a computer and just watches what happens.
I worked in the mail room of a branch of a brokerage in LA back in the 1980s. We notified people on the floor of the completion of their trades among other things. There was a lot of work to be done. You had to be very fast. Now computers do what I used to do.
Sad to see how the kinds of work we do and our attitudes toward our work has changed.
Our attitudes toward personal debt have a lot to do with our attitudes toward work. Farmers hated debt but had to take it on to buy land and seed and their equipment. They understood that they would have to repay their debt out of the profits from their produce and livestock. If they didn't turn a profit and couldn't pay their debts, they could be turned out of house and home -- and then what would they do? Personal debt was a serious matter then. Farmers did not hide behind corporations, so their business debt was personal to them. Think of Thomas Jefferson. He lost everything. That is what farmers faced back then.
Today, we sometimes view personal debt as just an inconvenience. The constant stream of credit care applications to our house has slowed since I sent a couple back -- empty, but it hasn't slowed nearly enough.
Government debt is the least worrisome to me. The UK is a good example of a country that thrives on debt. As long as the tea cart appears reliably at its scheduled time, why should the English care?
Again, our country was built on debt. We did not have the money to pay for our Revolution. But that did not stop the revolution. Government debt is a bit of an illusion. The French were forced to devalue their currency after WWII, maybe more than once if I remember correctly. Obviously, they recovered nicely only to run up more debt in recent years. As long as people in a country produce products that other people want to have and can buy, the people selling and buying the products will figure out some form "currency" to facilitate trade.
I predict that the Greek people may develop an underground barter market for certain things -- something outside the tax system. Something like I will trade the vegetables in my garden for your car repair services. That's what happens when governments impose draconian austerity measures. People just change to a different kind of currency. It's hard to tax or punish the exchange of favors.
= new reply since forum marked as read
