4 ms·

We'll all just eventually "lay flat" like they do in China now when we figure out that hard work doesn't get one anywhere meaningful. https://www.brookings.edu

We'll all just eventually "lay flat" like they do in China now when we figure out that hard work doesn't get one anywhere meaningful. https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/the-lying-flat-movement-standing-in-the-way-of-chinas-innovation-drive/ https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/the-lying-flat-movement...

kybernetyk 5y ago
That’s what happened in communist Poland. When a doctor makes the same amount as a receptionist or a street sweeper the motivation to be a doctor is pretty low.
- homero 5y ago
  Respect and power are still strong drivers
  - ghuin 5y ago
    Who's going to respect you if you make the same money as a grocery store cashier? Personally I would think you're a sucker. Also what power would you have in a Communist country?
    - A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
      I will answer this since I believe I can offer some insight ( born in the old country during Communism reign ). People sometimes erroneously assume that money equals power. That may be true in the west, but a more accurate statement is that money is a good proxy for power. Absent that, power moves to another useful resource that can be bartered for power. In the old country, people were getting paid regardless so 'everyone had work' and money was a secondary consideration. As local currency became less of a good proxy for power, it immediately became about relationships ( can you ensure make this bureaucrat assign this job/flat/whatever to me? ). And as always, some people do get power and since it was communism, quite a lot of it. Not to search very far, police had tremendous amount of power. Communism is just a name we gave to the system. People are the same everywhere.
  - rasz 5y ago
    Under Iron Curtain in Poland all the respect and power were in the hands of car mechanics and meat shop clerks.
imtringued 5y ago
When some people supply work more than they demand work, then others must demand more work than they supply work. That is what it means to lay flat and it explains the whole credit/debt crisis thing. The problem isn't a mythical fixed demand in the labor market, demand is entirely up to the people making up that economy. The real problem is that people desire to supply more work than they demand, which then inevitably has to be redistributed through income sharing, usually known as charity or welfare. Supplying more work than we demand has become a cultural phenomenon. People insist on working hard even if they have no use for that hard work themselves. Saving (the act of demanding less than you supply) has become sacred and is considered morally good. It's like people don't believe in the market anymore. The interest rate tells you how much you should save or spend. You are supposed to save and spend according to the interest rate which is determined by the availability of solvent borrowers who need slack capacity in the economy (supplying more than you demand), not according to your morals. For some absurd reason people want the central bank to get out of the way of their manipulative morals that distort the market. It's not just the government that distorts markets, the entirety of reality distorts them. Getting rid of governments just gives rise to other forms of distortion like outdated moral frameworks.

kybernetyk 5y ago

That’s what happened in communist Poland. When a doctor makes the same amount as a receptionist or a street sweeper the motivation to be a doctor is pretty low.

homero 5y ago
Respect and power are still strong drivers
- ghuin 5y ago
  Who's going to respect you if you make the same money as a grocery store cashier? Personally I would think you're a sucker. Also what power would you have in a Communist country?
  - A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
    I will answer this since I believe I can offer some insight ( born in the old country during Communism reign ). People sometimes erroneously assume that money equals power. That may be true in the west, but a more accurate statement is that money is a good proxy for power. Absent that, power moves to another useful resource that can be bartered for power. In the old country, people were getting paid regardless so 'everyone had work' and money was a secondary consideration. As local currency became less of a good proxy for power, it immediately became about relationships ( can you ensure make this bureaucrat assign this job/flat/whatever to me? ). And as always, some people do get power and since it was communism, quite a lot of it. Not to search very far, police had tremendous amount of power. Communism is just a name we gave to the system. People are the same everywhere.
- rasz 5y ago
  Under Iron Curtain in Poland all the respect and power were in the hands of car mechanics and meat shop clerks.

imtringued 5y ago

When some people supply work more than they demand work, then others must demand more work than they supply work. That is what it means to lay flat and it explains the whole credit/debt crisis thing. The problem isn't a mythical fixed demand in the labor market, demand is entirely up to the people making up that economy. The real problem is that people desire to supply more work than they demand, which then inevitably has to be redistributed through income sharing, usually known as charity or welfare. Supplying more work than we demand has become a cultural phenomenon. People insist on working hard even if they have no use for that hard work themselves. Saving (the act of demanding less than you supply) has become sacred and is considered morally good. It's like people don't believe in the market anymore. The interest rate tells you how much you should save or spend. You are supposed to save and spend according to the interest rate which is determined by the availability of solvent borrowers who need slack capacity in the economy (supplying more than you demand), not according to your morals. For some absurd reason people want the central bank to get out of the way of their manipulative morals that distort the market. It's not just the government that distorts markets, the entirety of reality distorts them. Getting rid of governments just gives rise to other forms of distortion like outdated moral frameworks.