Jacqueline and I were out yesterday, deliberately looking at the work from different directions. Aside from birdwatching, our main focus was the economics of attention, which I will write more about soon, but we also spent time deliberately reframing well-known issues to see whether we could add new angles.
For example, we discussed unemployment and agreed that instead of thinking of it as the absence of useful things to do, we should describe it as a state-imposed prohibition on people doing work society plainly needs because no authorised funding stream connects the worker to the task.
In summary, there is no shortage of work in Britain; there is just a shortage of funding to do it.
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That is totally correct – just walk down most streets in Britain and you can see it wholesale; use public services and marvel how long it takes you to get things done or get what you need.
This is a country that has a plague called ‘austerity’ and one of its pathogens is ‘debt’. It is a strange pathogen because it works psychologically rather than biologically. And once it takes hold, the effects on society are real and devastating.
Work to do, literally under our feet. Ask any user of a wheelchair or mobility scooter. Neglected pavement politics.
Agreed
I wonder if it might be better to word it like this instead?
“There is no shortage of work in Britain; there is just a shortage of the political will to fund it”
The problem I see with the current wording is that, for someone unfamiliar with the rest of your thinking, it may simply reinforce the “we can’t afford it” narrative. When in fact the lack of funding is a policitcal choice rather than a financial constraint.
I thought about that – bit I seek to reach those who do not understanmd as well
Wealthy people and organisations are using their wealth to extract value rather than to create it. Hence no jobs. They exist in a bubble that they believe will protect them from all the negative implication of their actions. Bubbles burst.
Much to agree with