{"id":11595,"date":"2025-12-11T12:49:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kabbalah.info\/?post_type=book&#038;p=11595"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:49:16","slug":"capitalism-and-happiness-not-what-you-thought","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/capitalism-and-happiness-not-what-you-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitalism and Happiness\u2014Not What You Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On January 20, 2011, Prof. of Political Economy, Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, and author of a prize-winning biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes, wrote&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/eng\/content\/view\/full\/108932#anchor_ftn1\"><\/a><a><\/a>[<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/eng\/content\/view\/full\/108932#f47\">47<\/a><\/strong>], \u201cCapitalism may be close to exhausting its potential to create a better life, at least in the world\u2019s rich countries. By \u2018better,\u2019 I mean better ethically, not materially. &#8230;It was, and is, a superb system for overcoming scarcity. By organizing production efficiently, and directing it to the pursuit of welfare rather than power, it has lifted a large part of the world out of poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYet what happens to such a system when scarcity has been turned to plenty? Does it just go on producing more of the same, stimulating jaded appetites with new gadgets, thrills, and excitements? How much longer can this continue? Do we spend the next century wallowing in triviality?..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIndeed, the \u2018spirit of capitalism\u2019 entered human affairs rather late in history. Before then&#8230; A person who devoted his life to making money was not regarded as a good role model. &#8230;It was only in the 18th century that greed became morally respectable. &#8230;This inspired the American way of life, where money always talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe end of capitalism means simply the end of the urge to listen to it. People would start to enjoy what they have, instead of always wanting more. &#8230;As more and more people find themselves with enough, one might expect the spirit of gain to lose its social approbation. Capitalism would have done its work, and the profit motive would resume its place in the rogues&#8217; gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c&#8230;The evidence suggests that economies would be more stable and citizens happier if wealth and income were more evenly distributed. The economic justification for large income inequalities\u2014the need to stimulate people to be more productive\u2014collapses when growth ceases to be so important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPerhaps socialism was not an alternative to capitalism, but its heir. It will inherit the earth not by dispossessing the rich of their property, but by providing motives and incentives for behavior that are unconnected with the further accumulation of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/eng\/content\/view\/full\/108932#anchor_ftnref1\"><\/a><a><\/a>[<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/eng\/content\/view\/full\/108932#47\">47<\/a><\/strong>] Robert Skidelsky, \u201cLife after Capitalism,\u201d&nbsp;<em>Project Syndicate<\/em>&nbsp;(January 20, 2011), http:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/commentary\/skidelsky37\/English<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On January 20, 2011, Prof. of Political Economy, Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, and author [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":11582,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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