[p2p-research] a new funding mechanism for useful online services

[Kevin Carson]

On 1/7/10, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> a 32 hour working week would certainly make sense for physical labour, and
> routine white collar jobs, but for knowledge workers like us, I'm not sure
> it makes a lot of sense,
>
> politically, the last reform in that sense, in France, is dead in the water,
> it doesn't have broad popular support ...
>
> so, how do you see it happening in the U.S., where the work ethic overshoots
> even more?

Well, in part a cramdown of housing prices and other asset values that
contribute to the fixed costs of living, and all the monopoly and
artificial scarcity components of healthcare, would remove some of the
pressure on income.  And the trend toward unemployment and
underemployment would increase pressure for work-sharing as an
alternative to unemployment.  It's a lot better to have 32 hour work
weeks than to have 25% of the population unemployed.  The more people
feel the wolves nipping at their heels and start to think "it could
happen to me," the more the possibility of secure employment at
reduced hours will seem like a hope rather than a threat.

> interesting in europe are the many measures for work and life transition,
> which allow people to take one or two year's off, in the mode of
> sabbaticals,
>
> the measure is invisible but does wonders for those who choose it, it's a
> great factor of personal happiness
>
> Michel
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 6:47 AM, Kevin Carson
> <free.market.anticapitalist at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > On 1/5/10, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > Regardless, I don't expect the current work situation to extend to the
> > > normal lifespans of my children who are 8 and 12.  Work is about to
> change
> > > dramatically...I'd guess within 15 years.  The end of the baby boom,
> > > demographic crises, etc. are all drivers.
> >
> > Also quiet declines in total employment as a percentage of the
> > population, and in average work-weeks, that don't really show up very
> > well in the kinds of macroeconomic indicators you see in the newspaper
> > every day.
> >
> > My hope is that the growing surplus of industrial capacity and labor
> > power will continue to be reflected in such quiet stagnation, and not
> > in sudden or catastrophic mass unemployment.
> >
> > It would be good, toward that end, if artificial scarcities in
> > benefits like healthcare were removed so that it would be easily
> > affordable outside the traditional model of full-time employers as the
> > primary institutional base for the social safety net.
> >
> > It would also be good if some sort of job-sharing, either formal or
> > informal and unannounced, gradually chips away at the average work
> > week rather than there being a sharp dichotomy between the
> > still-employed and a growing class of long-term unemployed.  We could
> > gradually transition to a society in which a shrinking percentage of
> > people had full-time jobs, and a larger share were part-time workers
> > living in extended families, cohousing and other income-pooling
> > arrangements.
> >
> > And it would be good, in general, if more social safety net functions
> > were to gradually shift from the employer-based welfare state to
> > primary social units like the income-pooling arrangements (e.g.,
> > membership in one of Greco's credit-clearing networks might entail a
> > modest monthly payment (assessed as a percentage of one's total
> > transactions within the system) that would go toward sick benefits,
> > unemployment and disability, old age pension, etc., so that those who
> > became incapacitated would be able to obtain necessities from members
> > of the network.
> >
> > What's needed, in sum, is 1) a "cramdown" or "mark to market" of most
> > of the inflated asset values that impose high fixed costs on the
> > average person, 2) an end to the artificial scarcities that enable
> > owners of fake property rights to prevent the benefits of increased
> > productivity from being passed on to workers and consumers, so that it
> > takes fewer hours of work to live comfortably.
> >
> > If the full-time work week today were reduced to 32 hours in lieu of
> > 10% unemployment, but the price of housing were allowed to fall to
> > normal historic levels (i.e. 20% of the average monthly income, rather
> > than 40-50%), and per capital healthcare expenditures were reduced to
> > European or even Canadian levels, we'd be a hell of a lot better off.
> >
> > --
> > Kevin Carson
> > Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
> > Mutualist Blog:  Free Market Anti-Capitalism
> > http://mutualist.blogspot.com
> > Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
> > http://www.mutualist.org/id47.html
> > Organization Theory:  A Libertarian Perspective
> >
> http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html
> >
> >
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>
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-- 
Kevin Carson
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
Mutualist Blog:  Free Market Anti-Capitalism
http://mutualist.blogspot.com
Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
http://www.mutualist.org/id47.html
Organization Theory:  A Libertarian Perspective
http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html