As we begin
the run up to the next General Election, which may or may not be in 2015, apart
from the trivia much of the argument is around Health, Welfare and Employment
with some Barnum and Bailey events in finance, the media and policing.
Meanwhile
the world is changing and we are reluctant to notice or even to work out why or
to what effect. The science or roulette
wheel of economic theory is not telling us much and if it can no longer explain
the recent past then it is unlikely to make much sense of the future.
Today’s
“Naked Capitalism” features an article in the New York Times Magazine in which
Adam Davidson discusses the actual basic structure of the labour market past
and present.
NC suggests
that the article indicates a favourable view of the economics of exploitation
as they apply to the labour market in the USA . But it could just as well apply to Europe .
What it
means is that the future for the bulk of the working population is becoming
increasingly bleak. This means an impact
on the development of the economy in adverse ways, more or less a self
reinforcing system of decline.
It is a
little long but not much and clearly written.
It might
explain why so many people now spend so much of their disposable income on
lotteries and in gambling. Those who
watch football on satellite TV will be all too aware of the relentless
marketing of the betting companies and agencies.
Life has
always been a lottery, but we had a brief time in the late 20th
Century when for many people it was not like this.
Which
brings me to the theory of what will happen in a polity where there are too
many young men with too little to do and too little a future to work for or
hope for.
Around the
world we are already beginning to see.
"It might explain why so many people now spend so much of their disposable income on lotteries and in gambling."
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that's true. Apart from the obvious attractions of wealth, maybe it is now seen as the only safe haven. Once it was a family and a steady job, but not now.