work, work, work

A citizenry that spends too much time at work doesn't have the time to be govern itself responsibly... now there's a thought (from Orion Magazine):

The Gospel of Consumption and the better future we left behind, written by Jeffrey Kaplan, is an interesting article which does a good job in summarizing a lot of the current thinking about what ails our society. I take issue with the idea that it is overconsumption of consumer goods that are the source of Americans' need or desire to work more. If everyone stopped buying the latest luxury toys, would all of our problems go away? Hard to believe, although it would be nice if it were that simple.

I'm not a typical case by any means, but here's an example. My last significant luxury purchase was my car, a Toyota Prius. I probably spent about $6K or so extra for my car than I really needed to. Let's say I could have bought a used car, instead, or even just repaired my old car, which would have saved me $10K or $15K more. Would saving this kind of money have decreased my desire to take a higher paying job which forces me to work longer hours? No.

I take jobs which require more hours for two reasons. One of them is a carrot and the other is a stick.

The carrot is a big motivator: I want to become financially independent as soon as possible (yes, "financially independent" is a very slippery term).

The stick is fear: I can see inflation driving up the costs of necessities at an unreasonable rate. Forget about my car, what about necessities like health insurance, food, and a roof over my head (I waffle about the latter being a necessity)? I have been unemployed twice over the last seven years, and each time I saw my savings eaten away quickly while I desperately looked for a new job. Perhaps this is what really keeps Americans with their noses to the grindstone - the constant gnawing fear that they will not have a job tomorrow.