Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There

In 1968, New York City’s sanitation workers went on strike, and whatever the merits of their grievances, the immense piles of trash throughout the city made them a force to be reckoned with. The city ultimately had to cave to their demands. Conversely, many contemporary jobs could disappear with minimal social disruption, such as lobbyists or advertisement writers. Bankers and lawyers are two of the most powerful professions in modern society, but they move money around rather than create wealth, while those who create wealth either directly or indirectly receive much less compensation. Agriculture, the bedrock of civilization for millennia, is vastly more productive than at any time in history, but because supplies are so cheap and plentiful, agriculture accounts for only a small fraction of the overall economy. Finance has a much greater share of economic activity, yet when a banking strike occurred in Ireland in 1970, it went on for months with little social disruption because citizens generated homemade cash and used pubs for deposits. Although the situation did have complications, it proved that banking was not absolutely essential to a functioning society. Bankers are good at concentrating wealth, but they do not create it.

One of the most significant facets of the contemporary economy is what Bregman, citing David Graeber, calls “bullshit jobs,” which might pay well and require real skills but have no inherent social worth.