#165: Life after recession

Now that everybody is shouting ‘recession’ and demanding belts to be tightened, I have a question for you: “Can efficiency cost too much?”

Most people think that the point of efficiency is to reduce cost, so how can it ‘cost’ too much? Efficiency costs too much when society pays the price.

For example, efficiency gives us canned elevator music instead of soaring symphonies. Efficiency gives us cramped cubicles instead of quiet offices, bland warehouses instead of grand cathedrals, parking lots instead of parks. You get the picture.

Inefficiency can be a bit wasteful, but it’s a small price to pay for beauty. And for honest jobs. Don’t forget that the mad scramble for efficiency has given us downsizing, rightsizing and outsourcing, all meaning the same thing - your fired.

What we do going in to a recession matters, because it will determine how we live when we come out of it.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
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