Trying to understand equity in income

Equity in income has troubled the world for centuries.

A shift to a Four-Hour Work Day will not in itself change that, but it will be an important ingredient in the recipe of events that will eventually bring about altered behaviour.

We have tried this,but now we
 need something differrent.

The inequity of incomes is embedded in what exists and a switch to Four-Hour Work Day, without overtime or double shifts, will not engender the necessary change.

This time, however, things will be different.

The mix of corporatism, labour and consumption that has sustained capitalism for centuries, particularly those of late, now has something else to consider; something that has always been an ingredient, but until now mostly ignored and been treated as a free asset - that is nature.

Services provided by nature have always been costed in at nil value, that however, is changing (albeit reluctantly in the minds of many) and as nature cannot be told what to do, it is emerging as the most significant cost facing businesses.

Businesses have ignored nature, profited handsomely from its largesse, but now it has to pay, as do all of us and that is not just directly in cash as the costs are coming in the form of disruptive changes to our climate manifested in unpredictable storms, floods and cyclones that are wreaking havoc around the globe.

The shift to a Four-hour Work Day will need to be a legislative change, meaning that businesses can only operate four-hours a day – an idea that collides head-on with the present agenda calling for changes to work arrangements allowing businesses to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution a couple of centuries ago, the ideology of profit and growth has been indelible etched onto our lives that we now grow believing consumption equates with happiness – it doesn’t and a Four-Hour Work Day will make all of us make all of us, from the orchestrators of our money-based society down to the oppressed soul, financially poorer and yet hugely time rich.