"Albert Einstein. The world as I see it (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора the world to-day nothing like all the available labour is wanted.
The result is unemployment and excessive competition among the workers, both of which reduce purchasing power and put the whole economic system intolerably out of gear. I know Liberal economists maintain that every economy in labour is counterbalanced by an increase in demand. But, to begin with, I don't believe it, and even if it were true, the above-mentioned factors would always operate to force the standard of living of a large portion of the human race doom to an unnaturally low level. I also share your conviction that steps absolutely must be taken to make it possible and necessary for the younger people to take part in the productive process. Further, that the older people ought to be excluded from certain sorts of work (which I call "unqualified" work), receiving instead a certain income, as having by that time done enough work of a kind accepted by society as productive. I too am in favour of abolishing large cities, but not of settling people of a particular type-e.g., old people-in particular towns. Frankly, the idea strikes me as horrible. I am also of opinion that fluctuations in the value of money must be avoided, by substituting for the gold standard a standard based on certain consumption-as Keynes, if I am not mistaken, long ago proposed. With the introduction of this system one might consent to a certain amount of "inflation," as compared with the present monetary situation, if one could believe that the State would really make a rational use of the windfall thus accruing to it. The weaknesses of your plan lie, so it seems to me, in the sphere of psychology, or rather, in your neglect of it. It is no accident that capitalism has brought with it progress not merely in production but also in knowledge. Egoism and competition are, alas, stronger forces than public spirit and sense of duty. In Russia, they say, it is impossible to get a decent piece of bread.…Perhaps I am over-pessimistic concerning State and other forms of communal enterprise, but I expect little good from them. Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work. I have seen and experienced too many dreadful warnings, even in comparatively model Switzerland. I am inclined to the view that the State can only be of real use to industry as a limiting and regulative force. It must see to it that competition among the workers is kept within healthy limits, that all children are given a chance to develop soundly, and that wages are high enough for the goods produced to be consumed. |
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