Work Detail

The rain has stopped.  I had a cinnamon bagel for breakfast!  Such a treat!  Thank you Elena!!  I had lunch with Luis - it felt pretty good to be able to talk with him a bit.  I asked him how his health was - he said no problem, other than getting older.  I asked him for the remedy for that!!


No-See-Ums
The major hazards of this climate are sneaky ones.  You all know what no-see-ums are.  I had to look them up.  They are technically "biting midges", and there are more than 1,000 different species of the things.  There appear to be a few here!  When the air is still, they "pick" at my arms.  No visible bug, no visible bite - but a definite "pick" or "picada".  I have to find a spot where the air is moving or a fan is blowing.  These things are under 1 mm in size, and don't fly in the wind very well!



"Real" Work
I used to tell people that once I got promoted to management, I never had a chance to do any "real work". I've been traveling about and eating and sleeping and reading and talking with people - mostly in Spanish.  But now it looks like I may have to do some work!  We have a minor problem that needs some painting.  And I did  NOT bring my painting pants.  I should know better.  Well, Jude, those jeans weren't that expensive!!  And I'll be careful!

Employment and Wealth Creation - REAL Work
I had a chat last night with a few folk about unemployment and all that.  Their view was definitely that we should be "making work" so that people can participate in the economy.  Why use computers to replace all the people who could be doing these jobs?  I actually wrote a piece on this in 1970 or so, which is still stuck out there on the WWW someplace - about the quality of work life.  I was pretty naive back then - I know a little more now.

The thing is, we can't just make work to get ahead.  If we create a job where we don't need one, we ALL pay for that from OUR wealth, through higher prices  Of course, if we just pay someone unemployment, we ALL pay for that through taxes AND higher prices!  Unemployment is not free -- companies contribute to that fund as well as the government.  But the problem is that this is a job with NO GAIN - just expense.  We could do it more cheaply, and we are not.  Every time we do something better, faster, cheaper - we are creating wealth for everyone in the economy.  That is what development IS.  Highways work better than dirt roads, trucks better than donkey carts, trains better than walking, etc.

Creating a phony job would be the same as using public money to build a stadium so a professional sports team can remain here rather than go to Omaha and build their own stadium.  That does not create any wealth - it just takes money out.  Of course, it looks like wealth, because a bunch of people are employed to build the thing, and we use a lot of resources, etc.  But all of the above could have been used to do something that actually generates wealth - not bribe a sports team!!

The only way to advance our standard of living - and not just for one country, but that of the planet - is to create something of value, or continue to provide some thing or some service of value with less expense.  A better road does that - it reduces the cost to get something to market, to get people to the hospital, etc.  That's called productivity, wealth creation, etc.  Removing wealth, doing things less productively, does NOT create any wealth - it destroys it.

Yep - we have the problem of the dislocated worker - and I know we do not do enough for that.  Every worker is a resource of incredible value.  If that person does not have a concrete way to contribute, to create wealth, we all lose.  But it doesn't help to just have them do busy work.  Building infrastructure works, solving problems works -anything where something is actually improved.  Training that allows them to contribute in another way works.  But, my sincere hope is, that we eventually run out of work!  What do we do then?  There will always be interesting things to do - but we may not have to work so hard to do them!   We all used to work 80 to 100 hour weeks - the standard now is 40.  Some European countries have it at 35.  That affects our competitiveness in world markets, but we seem to be able to still compete in some arenas - like heavy machinery, software, health, etc.  Our higher standard of living is more of a competitive disadvantage than our hours.

Part of the goal here - at least in my understanding of it - is to raise the standard of living in Nicaragua.  Just imagine for a moment what that would mean to everyone else on the planet!  What would that world be like?  Well, let's assume that it happens for all of Central America - they do function as kind of a joint economy.  We now have a place on the planet in the tropics, with beautiful beaches, lakes, volcanoes, AND 7 million highly educated, highly productive, highly capable humans who are working hard to advance the knowledge and health of the planet!  They have schools that are open to outsiders, that provide an education in a different world view, a different approach to research, to investment, to health care.  They have art and music and poetry, and beautiful children.  They could invent "THE NEXT BIG THING", whatever that is.  It certainly improves the odds.  I don't see this economic development stuff as a competition.  If anyone advances, we all gain from that.

OK, I'll stop. I'm just thinking out loud - one of the benefits of some spare time on my hands - or one of the burdens you have to bear.