Why do we work for so long and rest so little?

If you were to be totally “self-sufficient”, i.e. grow your own food, make your own clothes, build your own house, etc. you would have to work about 16 hours per day every day in order to maintain even a half-decent standard of living. . The only reason you get any days off, leisure time, or holidays at all is because so many other people are doing so much for you to make your life easier. . Many of those people live in 3rd world countries to manufacture your consumer goods and grow your food, ….. . ….. and many of them do work 16 hours a day 7 days per week. . You should be more grateful for the advantages that you are fortunate enough to get out of your cushy life already. . Best wishes - Majikthise . [ who is well aware that he is one of the lucky ones ]

Hi wogoobogoo,

For some interesting reading, google The Venus Project.

They have interesting theories on why we don’t really need to work so hard.

Bloody hell%) why does everyone here take things so serious? Things you’re saying are obvoius. My question- is a joooooke. 95% my questions are a joke. I thought maybe someone would turn on his imagination and write something funny. ‘Cause there is no possible way to help us work less and rest more. Everyone knows that. And yes I konw about those poor people you’re mentioning. I’m actually probably from such a place, aha. It’s you living in USA, not me. I don’t work much. And even if I did I’d feel satisfied- such is ma character. As you I have this feeling over me- that someone lives a harder life than me. So why should I moan about my difficulties? That’s why I never so do. That’s the reason my question is- not serious. As for your supertheory about everyone needing to sew, grow and make everything they need themselves- it’s superstupid. And it’s not what I’m talking about. People do this thing called labour specialization since ancient times. It helps reduce costs. China sews, Japan makes cars and stuff. There has never been such need to do everything by yourself. People do one thing they’re best at and buy everything they need for the gained profit. And the same about countries, cities, villages etc. And [considering you’re from USA] I shouldn’t say 3rd countries live harder than you guys. USA has the shortest holiday time in the world. You work a hell lot of time a day. You make ~ 13 trilion $ a year- that’s not easy. While some 3rd countries work 16 gours, you do as much as they in 3 hours and 3 times more than they do during a day. No one said that’s easier- noo. Rich- means working a lot and having little rest- that’s what americans do. That’s what any rich people do. That’s what difficult. 3rd countries don’t feed your country- what food? USA makes most of it’s food. It even sells it all around the world. And so on. 3rd countries mostly trade with each other. Or maybe sell some crude oil, wood and stuff to developed countries. They don’t build our houses, they don’t make our furnitare, they don’t make our cars- we do that ourselfs better and cheaper than them. Yes there lifes are difficult, but it’s not our fault. And no, people in developed countries don’t work less- they work more, though in less time. No, that’s bullhit. No one’s doing anything for me. It’s me who makes my money. And that’s what I live on. The better I work the better i live. People do something only for themselves. The better infrastructure, the more knowledge- the happier they are. It’s not my uckin problem if someone needs to work 16 hours to make 20 shoes. He could make 500 in 8 hours if he had infrastructure. It’s not me who should offer that to him.

Best wishes , Wogoobogoo [Who is well aware that you know nothing about economy but is happy that you consider you life cushy, keep it up!]

Now that was freakin’ hilarious!

Ah what can I say wogooboogoo…perhaps I should not say anything. Or else I might also get a major rant from you.

Wow….he just answered your question (with a fair answer, to be honest) - why the rant? For someone who doesn’t like to take things seriously, you sure are wound up about this.

Perhaps you could do us all a favour and post your jokes on the Status Updates section then. . I understand that the Questions section is intended for people with serious questions who actually want a properly considered response. . You could end up like the “sheep who cried wolf” and find that if and when you want real advice or help, nobody will take you seriously. . Anyway, as you wish ….. . ….. I will not bother you with any serious responses to your future facetious questions. .

Coleen, it’s just that I don’t like his theory. Developed countries really do not depend on 3rd countries, isn’t that wellknown? They work for 16 hours ‘cause their presidents with their teams steal money and stuff. No one said brain work is easier than phisical. What’s that you find so fair about his theory? Specialization. Competitivness. Efficiency. The three words. Any economist here?

Steven, don’t call this a rant. I’m a very calm person. Majikthise is a good chap. I’ve nothing against him. But he doesn’t know about the exact position and role of 3rd countries. I don’t mean to offend anyone, I use rude words- it’s just a habit, it makes things sound loud. Nothing else! So, Steven, you are free to express your views. That’s the objective of funadvice- let people say what they think. You know Adam Smith? I’m sure you do. He was the first to talk about this labour theory, it makes sense.

Majicthise, your theory is poor. Unfortunately. I like it in the part where you say we lead an easy life and still moan- yes- that’s bad. As for 3rd countries working for me, for you, for everyone- nooooo. That’s incorrect. You work for yourself. You’re much more efficient than most 3rd country member. You have infrastucture, you have a whole lot of different universities. 3rd countries get help from us. You heard about International Bank of Developement and recunstruction? They gather money from developed countries (USA, Japan, etc) and shares it between poor 3rd countries. It’s we who work for them! Am I not right? I didn’t mean to offend you, no. I like your language, like your style, but not the theory- soooorry(

Majicthise, but I agree it’s rather stupid of me and unkind to complain you took this question serious- yes, this is a place where people give serios questions. You meant to help. Thanks. And I’m wrong- yes. And yes I should make it a status update- more convenient, yes.

“For someone who doesn’t like to take things seriously, you sure are wound up about this.” yes, I agree………………………..

thanks:) I`ll have a look)

“I will not bother you with any serious responses to your future facetious questions. “ That`s what I deserce unfortunately.

yeep, you`re right:) btw, ты гворишь по-русски?

Yes I know Adam Smith. I had economics in University for a year and I am very interested in economics. I am seriously considering studying formally to a doctorate level after I finish my accounting degree.

I remember his theories on labor. Basically it was something like if you take 10 laborers and let them make needles they will make like a hundred a day, but if you let each do one part of the whole process you get a thousand needles. Or something like that.

I definitely believe capitalism is the best system that we have ever had, simply because it allows anyone to get far in life.

But there are many problems with capitalism which Adam Smith himself talked about in The Wealth of Nations.

Firstly, the more uneducated a person and the poorer they are the more children they have. This can be seen in the extreme population boom that has occurred in 3rd world “areas”. (I prefer the term areas as even 1st world countries have 3rd world areas and vice versa.) Therefore the moment there are poor people in an area, there will generally be more people in a few years. Since unskilled labor is not a scarce resource, it is paid for very cheaply and therefore the unskilled labor force remains poor and therefore increases in size and therefore becomes even poorer etc etc etc.

Another big problem I have is that millions of people die of hunger each year, yet farmers destroy surplus crops in order to keep prices down so that only a few richer persons can buy it.

Inflation makes it very difficult for a person who owns nothing to get very far. The only real wealth that exists is ownership of something that brings in money. The rich have things like this since they are born giving them a great advantage. This cannot be corrected through capitalism as one of the principles on which capitalism is built on is that everyone has access to resources. This is clearly not the case.

Further for capitalism to be able to work all goods need to homogeneous. This does not happen. A perfect example is something like Facebook. It’s easy to say that anyone who needs money should make a website like Facebook and many people have tried, but is anyone actually going to use it? Also there are many other brands of soft-drinks available other than those made by Coca-Cola and they cost half the price, yet people will not buy them.

Then another principle of capitalism is that everyone has perfect knowledge. Since the poor can’t even pay to go to a university, they certainly do not have perfect knowledge.

So whilst a lot a things in capitalism makes sense, it leaves much to be desired. But don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating communism or anything, that didn’t work either.

Oh yes and before I forget. Much of the world relies very much on third world countries. Here are some examples: South Africa has 80% of the world’s manganese. We have 72% of the world’s chromite. Further, many scientists estimate that we have around a third of the world’s gold.

Basically in terms of minerals, a general rule is that the older a land mass is the more it has. Africa is the oldest continent with many parts of South Africa specifically being some of the oldest anywhere. So yes in Africa the most natural resources are usually found and therefore yes, the world is dependent on Africa for these resources. Unfortunately the companies that mine these resources are owned by a few individuals (mostly from other countries) who become extremely rich whilst the rest remain poor working for minimum wage.

In other countries where there are less resources the rich became rich in other ways. They would import goods from countries like South Africa and process it further in their countries. This required skilled labor, therefore the average person in that country needs to be skilled and since this is a scarce resource they get a good salary. In Africa the rich simply don’t need to increase the living standards of the average person because they don’t need it to become rich. Whereas in a place like Japan they need skilled labor to become rich.

Then in terms of food. America does not need food from the rest of the world. But America is not really the largest economy in the world. The largest economy is the European Union (I know its not a country, but since they have the same currency and everything its very close). They do import a lot of food from third world countries. In fact our best foods go there whilst we sit with the rotten left overs.

Another interesting thing would be to read Critical Path or The Grunch of giants, both written by Buckminster Fuller

@wogoobogoo - thank you for your conciliatory comments - they are very much appreciated. I am sure that if it is evident you are looking for serious advice in the future, that I am able to provide, I will do my best to help.

Best wishes - Majikthise.

Yes, and I can read to an extent, but I can’t type and/or write.

You should.. fix that I suppose.. It’s a great language.. D’you have any ways of doing that?

I will:) thank you very much:)

And since your busy looking around, you can also go to youtube and look at the video called: “The story of stuff”