Theory of Time

Imagine a pie chart totalling where our earnings go. It's split into 4 portions, A - D

A: our lives now, and our families if we have them
B: our future lives: savings, pensions
C: our society: other people, community, infrastructure: tax
D: money we pass to shareholders via profits on stuff we buy, including consumer goods and financial services - so including interest payments on mortgages and loans that become shareholder profits.

So my thinking is that under the current economic model, portion d is too large. If it were smaller, we would have either more money or more time for a, b and c.

This is why it's a sustainable lifestyle issue.

(There's a question of what would happen to tax income if d were reduced. More radical question of what would happen to required tax income if time for a and be were increased; eg, lower NHS bills).

One implication is that the money project is only really useful alongside broader efforts to help people to derive pleasure and meaning from less material things, that need time rather than money.

This means opportunities, like, FF, rural hub, community food gardens, kids club, 'special sundays' and so on. (NB need to ask charlie for a name for special sundays)

These things are a rich source of happiness and social health.

That's what I'm interested in.

But as long as D is large, we work a lot and don't have much time for the good stuff.

But NB the risk: without the other stuff, the money project simply has the potential to distribute wealth more evenly, rather than aiding the emergence of more sustainable lives and society.

It's a big lifelong social / environmental / economic experiment.

Eg, Student co-operatives in the US cost 40% less than average private student accomodation.

What does that mean? a) they get in less debt, b) they work for money less and have more time for studies and fun, c) they spend more money on other stuff

But, in sum, I think this thinking is central to addressing the work-life balance and family time issues.