The Problem with Work and Money

• Work is what allows people to specialize and build civilization.
• The current labor market is not functioning that well due to massive layoffs across many industries, raising the question of what these workers were doing before they were let go.
• The blame for this problem lies with fiat money.

Work Lets You Specialize

Money, or the common medium of exchange that we all employ, allows us to specialize and do what we’re good at. A fisherman can catch lots of fish, far more than he can eat; a cobbler can make shoes, far more than he can wear. Through trade, they leverage their skills to get everything they want and need. This specialization of work builds our civilization.

Optimizing for Value Provided per Time Worked

People optimize for value provided per time worked while minimizing the unpleasantness of the task. We try to make the most money we can while doing things that we dread the least; however, there are some tasks that pay very well but people don’t want to do them because they are unpleasant (e.g., collecting garbage). This causes wages to increase in order to entice more people into these jobs.

The Problem with Fiat Money

The main issue here is that fiat money does not have an intrinsic value; its value is based on its trustworthiness as a currency backed by governments or banks, which isn’t always reliable. As a result, prices become unstable and it becomes difficult for businesses and consumers alike to plan ahead financially since there’s no way of predicting how much something will cost in the future due to inflation or other changes in currency values. This makes it hard for businesses to hire staff as wages rise without any guarantee of being able to cover those wages in the future due to economic uncertainty caused by fiat money’s lack of intrinsic value.

Conclusion

In conclusion, work provides us with valuable goods and services while allowing us to contribute meaningfully towards society; however, this equation between productive labor and money isn’t working out too well right now because fiat money doesn’t have an intrinsic value which erodes confidence in its reliability over time causing economic uncertainty . This results in businesses being hesitant about hiring new staff since wages are rising without any guarantee of being able cover those costs in future due inflation or instability caused by currency fluctuations