Studies of Economic Change

Final last words

The impact of the "law" of diminishing marginal utility on the economic growth and the impact of the idea of the evolution theory on the labour productivity is the evidence for the necessity of reducing the hours worked and for increasing the wages per hour. In connection with a basic income and minimum wages maximum welfare in a leisure-oriented society is possible.

But our so called "elites" claim that we have to work harder and longer. "Preach water and drink wine" does not fit together. Since long the social cohesion erodes. Since long success and failure are related negatively to each other: One man's rise is another man's fall. This is empirically confirmed by the "Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung": The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Interestingly this happens though the traditional solutions are in effect: The wages stagnate and the hours worked increase.

The sacrifices which are expected from the common people considering the globalisation are useless.

Logical thinking suffices to demonstrate: Declining economic growth and increasing productivity offer the following alternatives: The increase of unemployment and/or the extension of wage dumping and/or the reduction of the hours worked. More psychological and material repressions against unemployed and employed are necessary to ensure the order of the social structures by conventional measures as long as the capacity of suffering is not exhausted.

BUT: Only the knowledge of alternatives might contribute to reduce the capacity of suffering. This is probably the reason why economic leaders and politicians offer generously to think representative for the citizens. However the results are not very promising. In former times Immanual Kant for example mentioned the opposite: The freedom to use one's own intelligence. But this was long ago and is already forgotten.

According to the suffering domestic demand asceticism is needless.

The division of labour is the precondition for a social community. Caused by the social structures millions of people are excluded from the use it. Consequently the human dignity is affected as unemployed talk themselves into their own fault with all negative psychological impacts. This is needed to sustain old-fashioned economic models and as a subtle mechanism to stabilise the social system. As a kind of beggar unemployed are therefore forced to be grateful to the origin (the social structures) of their situation.

The pretended decrease of the unemployment rate in 2007 merely glosses over the tremendous increase of minor employment and the increasing dependence on the export surplus.

May the capacity of suffering be limited in the light of alternatives.

A better world is possible.