tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post1516783235434916533..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: Low income and wellbeingDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-16435118539267968932011-09-11T12:31:29.278-04:002011-09-11T12:31:29.278-04:00Anon on Sept 7:
While I am sympathetic to your sk...Anon on Sept 7:<br /><br />While I am sympathetic to your skepticism of the idyllic village life, your comment on what a good non-affluent life requires shows that you are trapped in a materialistic/consumerist worldview. For example, Dan mentions gardens. There are many ways in which gardening can be a source of personal satisfaction that are completely separate from income or affluence. The feeling of achieving something for yourself, of helping things to grow, of making mistakes and then correcting them, of learning how interrelated the physical world is, etc. etc. And the value of a community, which basically means friendships or family, is independent of income above a certain threshold. Whether you make $30k or $80k, you can still have satisfying and fulfilling friendships and family relationships. This is the point Dan is trying to make, not that people should do without air-con.Talleyrandhttp://recessional08.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-91333750401384941412011-09-07T10:51:58.758-04:002011-09-07T10:51:58.758-04:00You had me going for a while, until I got to the b...You had me going for a while, until I got to the bit about the "stable farming communities in India" with various admirable qualities. Ummm, so just where are these places? Having had a little bit of personal experience of Indian village life I am sorry to report that you will, on the whole, also find more envy, long-nursed resentment, hatred, greed and fierce, sometimes lethal competition over scarce resources than in any American suburb. As you note, poverty is no basis for an optimal "non-affluent" state of well-being. <br /><br />Perhaps you could make progress by trying to pin down what specifically a good non-affluent life would amount to in the present-day U.S. E.g. how many square feet of living space? Air-conditioning? Health care services? (MRI scan, yes?) Ditto for education, books and multiple channels of access to culture? I fear one may land up in a spot not too distant from the very same average "middle-middle" class suburban existence that one was trying to exit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-30896931677786641162011-09-06T15:36:49.518-04:002011-09-06T15:36:49.518-04:00Rebekah, Thanks for your note on this. You are rig...Rebekah, Thanks for your note on this. You are right -- Sachs's piece is highly complementary to this line of thought.Dan Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-68163730780413538472011-09-06T15:24:41.497-04:002011-09-06T15:24:41.497-04:00Terrific piece. I think Jeffrey Sachs' op-ed o...Terrific piece. I think Jeffrey Sachs' op-ed on Project Syndicate (http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs181/English)dovetails with your piece to create a compelling argument that national unhappiness is a national problem and it makes economic sense to make it a national priority. Thanks for posting.RChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10936815640945549487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-13718182385189703942011-09-06T11:45:59.800-04:002011-09-06T11:45:59.800-04:00One aspect of affluence that positively contribute...One aspect of affluence that positively contributes to environmental sustainability is the associated demographic change. Can we reconcile a standard of living plateau with human population stability?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com