The Guard Economy Keeps Us All Down
Samuel Bowles is an unappreciated yet wise economist who runs the Santa Fe Institute, a radical hotbed where people with big brains meet and talk about issues. I read in the Santa Fe Reporter about one of Bowle’s theories, which intrigued me.
He states that in the US, one in four people are in the business of guarding other people’s wealth. Whether they work as a private security guard for a gated community, or a rent-a-cop in a shopping mall, their job is to keep the rich rich by keeping the poor at bay.
Bowles speculates that we lose millions of dollars in productivity because so many of us are doing the work of guarding, instead of creating new businesses or doing other valuable things. He says what he calls ‘guard labor’ supports the beat down economy. These are the marginalized, the workers who sadly, in most cases will pass along their poverty to their kids. The SF Reporter story was titled “Born Poor,” cites Bowle’s study.
LarryK4
February 8, 2010 @ 1:38 am
I liked Sam better when he was just a lowly Umass/Amherst Professor keeping the stars in the eyes of young impressionable socialistic undergrads.
Stephen Hartshorne
February 8, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
It always amazes me how much time people spend figuring out, to the penny, how much they or someone else makes, what's deductible, etc. It's almost as much time as people spend making the money in the first place.
Sonja Stark of PilotGirl™
February 9, 2010 @ 1:57 am
Sam's theory are truly eye-opening. I'm looking into more of his revelations now. Thanks for this!