GETTING OFF THE TREADMILL?

Russell at Cafe Hayek sees a less-Scroogelike reason to say "humbug."

Suppose every American decided that life is too fast-paced, that the pleasure we get from material things is fleeting and that we all need to spend more time with our families. Suppose every American decided to look for part-time jobs with half of the hours we currently work.

The result would be an economy that was half as large as the current one. But that transformation would be good, not bad. Assuming that we indeed found that additional family time to be as satisfying as we had expected, then our economy would be healthier. We would be happier and better off.

The only footnote to this point is that if we all made this decision overnight, the transition to a smaller economy would be traumatic. But if it happens gradually, it would be fine. Having an economy half of the current size would be good if each of chooses to spend more time at home and less time in the commercial side of life.

Too many stories about holiday spending imply that spending has some sort of positive externality, that the benefits extend far beyond the buyer and the seller and that to stay home by the fire in the fireplace playing the guitar or reading to your children is somehow unpatriotic.

That third paragraph offers a variation on a theme I've posted on here, (sorry, the search screen isn't helpful tonight) about how half of (or all of) Friday away from the office will be the reality for many people, long before some amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act codifies it for everyone. (Is there a way of testing the hypothesis that legislation mandating changes that are already taking place encounters less resistance than legislation mandating changes that are not?)