Slave to the Grave ..or perhaps not

Yesterday I saw the stories about raising the retirement age to 75. I first thought it was some sort of policy announcement when I saw the headlines. So my initial feeling was this is terrible timing. Why depress everybody with a story like this now. Get Brexit out the way first. However, it was just a think tank report, so it's not quite as bad. Still though it's going to set a bad tone. This is the sort of thing that kind of annoys normal working people.

Of course, everyone knows it's highly likely that things will be heading this way sooner or later anyway. So it's not really news. The initial reaction will be "where will all these extra jobs come from in the future?". But from a government point of view it will probably save money even if many just get shifted from being on a pension to being on unemployment or sickness benefit.

Again, these type of trends are quite depressing on face value. It doesn't exactly feel like progress knowing that everybody's going to be working longer. Where's the technological dividend?

Shouldn't progress be meaning less work for everybody. More leisure time.

Such changes would feel more welcome if it was along of the lines of; yes, we're working longer, but the quality of working life will be better. Perhaps the working week itself shorter even.

It's a little bit like the green belt.

Currently we have a view that says. From leaving school or university your life will be a long miserable slog, but then you get a completely work free retirement which you can enjoy.

A la with the green belt. We're going to completely ruin most parts of the country, but these "green belt" bits are going to be kept completely pristine.

Surely it would be much better to try to make our entire lives happier and more in tune with our desires. Likewise it would make much more sense to make our entire country as beautiful and as in tune with nature as possible.

Of course, these two ideas are entwined and complementary, but politicians and the various think tanks guiding them seem to lack the vision to see beyond the GDP.

What sort of country do we want? What sort of world? What sort of lifestyle?

I've already written more than I planned to, but I really think we need a 21st century vision for the economy that transcends previous models. That actually focuses on what people actually need in real terms. Food, housing, water, energy. And that gives them the ability to provide these things for themselves.

I've wrote about the housing issue elsewhere; The False Dichotomy of Rent and Mortgage

This is the nub of the problem. People are so disenfranchised as things currently stand.

you cannot be resourceful if you do not have resources

People not only need their own homes, but they need access to resources. The greatest of which is land. Things as simple as allotments. We have huge waiting lists for allotments. People want to grow food. We should make this easier, it's the most basic market economy. It makes every community more robust if they have the space and opportunity to grow and create. Unleash the gardener in people.

Likewise with energy. Technology should be moving us towards a situation where people and communities can take responsibility for their own energy production. Again though, they need the resource of space to do it.

Our towns and cities are currently facing the prospect of having empty unused high streets as their focal points. We should have beautiful towns and cities with public orchards, allotments, gardens as their focal points. Seamlessly intertwined with what remains of more traditional high street commerce. Flowers, trees, bee-keeping. The 21st century village green. The city green.

I'm getting a bit flowery and heady myself now. So I'll stop (I'll return to Brexit tomorrow, I promise)

I do feel we lack imagination though. Where's the vision for something that's actually better. A way of living that's more sustainable and enjoyable.

The current vision seems to be; "it's the same as the 20th century, but you work longer and have iPhones."