Satisfying Our Wants

     Humans view the world around them.  They fear that
future conditions will not be as satisfying as they would like. 
Because we can think and plan we imagine ways that we can
make our futures more satisfying.  We then seek to implement
our plans for greater satisfaction.

     We act to alter conditions to provide us with more
satisfaction.  We call those actions work.  Thinking and planning
is as much a part of work as is digging ditches.

     There are two kinds of work, productive and
nonproductive.  Productive work alters conditions so as to
increase satisfaction more than it decreases it.  Nonproductive
work produces no net gain in satisfaction.  It may decrease
satisfaction.

     All work requires consumption of resources.  Thinking
may require little more than time.  Time is our most important
resource.  It is also the resource that is most limited.

     We can find and use more natural resources, if we have
the time to do it.  When we run out of time, we reach the limit
of productivity until someone discovers how to more efficiently
use our time.

     In our quest for satisfaction we acquire resources,
consisting of labor, materials and ideas.  We use these resources
to produce something.  That something can be anything from an
automobile, to a rubber band, to a massage.

     If the product provides more satisfaction than the
resources consumed would have provided, the work has
increased value.  The value of everything is ultimately judged by
how much satisfaction it will provide for someone.

     The worker judges his accomplishments based on their
contribution to his own satisfaction.  Thus, an individual with
the liberty to choose will choose to discontinue work that doesn't
provide him with more satisfaction than he gives up to work.

     Others may gain great satisfaction from the efforts the
worker finds unsatisfying.  If the satisfaction of others doesn't
bring a net increase in satisfaction to the worker, he will choose
to quit.

     Thus, throughout history individuals, for their own
benefit, have tried to force unsatisfying work onto others.  The
most obvious example is slavery.

     Division of labor through specialization is essential to the
high level of productivity we have today.  Self sufficient
individuals, each producing what he consumes, will never be
able to produce much more than the minimum requirements for
survival.

     In our trading economy we all work mainly to provide
satisfaction for other people.  Most of the things each individual
uses to increase his own satisfaction are produced by others. 
Why should workers continue working when mainly they are
working to satisfy someone else?  Consideration of this question
must wait until next time.

     Work that doesn't increase satisfaction is a waste.  It
consumes more value than it produces.  It is like trying to fill a
tank by punching holes in the bottom.

     This is why the politicians' obsession with creating jobs
is so wrong headed.  Only productive jobs, those that produce
more value than they consume, are of any value.  Nonproductive
jobs are holes in the bottom of the tank.

     Most jobs created by government are non productive. 
They consume more value than they produce.  Even the few that
may be productive usually produce less from the consumed
resources than would a private sector job using the same
resources.  Wages from government created jobs are usually only
disguised welfare payments.  It makes little difference whether
the jobs are created through direct spending by government,
subsidies, mandates, tariffs or something else.

     Such jobs may temporarily increase employment and
create a false impression that production is increasing.  In the
end they are simply more holes in the bottom of the tank from
which we all draw our satisfaction.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2013
Albert D. McCallum