I have not had a "Job" since Christmas 1994. I am part of the growing number of folks, 8 million in the US, who are employed in a less structured way. I am sure that many in this group want and need a "Job" but a "Job" is the last thing that I want. In fact one of my ongoing nightmares is that I have one again.
Why do I hate the idea of having a "Job" - is this you too? Is there a pattern about not having a "Job" that makes sense?
4 years ago I wrote this post called "Unjobbing" one of the most visited post I have written - it looks more deeply into why I think that the corporate world of hyper control is so harmful
Maybe it is because the world of jobs is a world that no longer makes sense to me. I could not bear the subservience that I had to agree to to be part of it. I could see that it only offered an illusion of security. I could see that if I went back to it I would be a slave in a system that was all about slavery of a kind.
I think that the corporate world - I include any bureaucracy in that term - was in fact a reincarnation of the old Feudal world. I think that now we are seeing the same kind of collapse of that world for many of the same causes as the collapse of the feudal world at the end of the middle ages.
Far fetched? Well here goes...
Quick history lesson. In the feudal era, all were owned by another. The King and the senior princes owned the keystone - land. Barons and and Knights held their part of the land for service to the Prince or King. The people on the land were owned by the Barons and Knights. All made a living but only the people at the top really made a lot - for this was a vast pyramid-scheme where the wealth moved up the system.
The Barons and Knights had a lot of privileges but they were dependent on their liege lord. The people were utterly dependent. See any parallels yet?
The people were owned by the land and their liege. This feels horribly familiar to me. But even the Barons and Knights are trapped. Many of my friends who are barons and knights today, have the trappings of freedom but are as locked in as their predecessors. The econolypse is making it clear to them that they are a vulnerable as the peasant really. It is just that their chains were made of gold.
Then the keytone then was land - now it has become credit.
The old system demanded that millions of subservient peasants toiled on the land. Today, they toil for credit so that they can buy stuff. They have no control over what is truly important for them - access to housing, food, energy and their own money. All control of these things has been removed and is owned by the Kings and Princes and is administered by the Barons and the Knights.
The Black Death wiped out the base of the old feudal system. Our credit crisis has wiped out the base of the new - in effect, the modern "peasant", the knight and the baron are all bankrupt.
This shows us why and how.
This image is from one of the best pieces that I have seen on what is happening - it is an article in the Oil Drum (a great resource) written by Gail the Actuary. It says that in reality our entire bubble has been built on the base of exploited people. That the bubble is way larger than what can be sustained by the base, and so there can be no soft landing. The base has been wiped out. The working and middle classes have been bankrupted and too much has been extracted from them by the upline of the downline scheme.
The base of the system can no longer do what is required to make it work. The burden is now too great. It can't be fixed so that we can all return to the feudal system now or then.
They cannot contribute anymore. No bailout in sight can restore their balance sheet nor give them an income because the system itself was based on a fantasy - that our economy was based on all of us shopping for things we don't need.
Worse - like the Black Death in 3 years time, we will start a new chapter in the history of mankind. For the first time ever - except maybe after the Black death, there will be a an extreme shortage of young. The normal pyramid will be reversed.
The balance sheet and the people are not going to be there! There is no return to "Shop to you drop".
So can we also see a pattern for recovery or at least a direction for the future from the crisis of the middle ages?
I think so...
Prior to this period people could just bumble along. You paid your dues and you carried on. But in this new reality, you had better have some real skills.
A more healthy relationship was restored in the countryside as serfs who were able shifted their relationship from service to rent or pay.
Towns that had been insignificant in the land-based world of before, became centres of value where people with skills clustered.
Knights with real skills, joined "Companies" and hired themselves out to Princes and Kings who replaced their feudal low skill armies with high skill armies full of skilled people who expected to get paid.
As all this turmoil was going on, the printing press appeared.
The Church had been the big media of the time. The News was heard only in the churches who had this very expensive media empire that could not be replicated by the people. Look familiar? Books were only available from the church using a very expensive process - copying. They were written in Greek or Latin and could only therefore be understood by a tiny fraction of the elite.
Those who understood these new communications skills became powerful.
So what do I take from this as pointers for our future?
You had better have some real skills than can be applied in a non institutional context. Being a great bureaucrat, knowing how to market in the old way, managing without knowing anything, are all loser skills. Being in any way dependent on an institution to keep you going is to be a loser.
The system has relied not on real skill but on credentials. In Feudal times - you were appointed a Priest or a Knight. This credential was your ticket. It did not make you a good one. In the trades, you had to be accepted by the Guild. It did not make you a good armorer or tanner. So it is today. A degree does not make you a skilled person. Nor does a plumber's certificate.
In the times that are coming there is only room for the people who can really do the work - and we all know who they are. It matters not a whit to you or I who has a plumber's ticket - we want a good plumber. Proof of being excellent is the real criteria.
Knowing how to do basics well is also going to be very helpful. Growing and cooking food - fixing things - raising kids. Step back for a minute. Most people today can't even do these basic things.
Being expert in the use of social media will be the same as learning how to read in the middle ages - the gateway to learning, to advancement and so to more freedom.
"Companies" of truly skilled people are going to replace feudal institutions of time servers and place holders. I see these as networks of talented people versus traditional feudal companies with all their Jobs, HR departments, office space etc. In the White Company your ability and your reputation as a knight earned you a place. There was no need for all this bureaucratic structure.
Communities are going to be the post medieval Towns. Communities were outside the old money based system. Now they will grow to offer people the structure to take back their power and the ability to do big things such as to take back the control of local food, energy etc.
Over time the really big idea of the Reformation will re-assert itself.
That we don't need an institution to stand between ourselves and what we value the most.
We don't need a school system to get educated. We don't need a health care system to get us well. We don't need a Godlike National Leader to ensure the well being of our communities.
When may all of this unfold?
It took only 20 years to make the shift in the economy. 100 years to overthrow the total power of the church and 200 years to kill a king. My bet is that life is far faster today.
5 years for the economy. Simply the costs and the friction of the old model, will lead to the death on any business based on artificial scarcity. And so with them maybe 10 to overthrow most bureaucracies who are so sclerotic and so burdened with costs.
Networks of truly skilled people versus institutions of people with credentials will take over key areas of society. More and more kids will learn at home or via networks. More and more of us will help each other cope with illness or to stay well.
The rise of the local community linked into networks of other communities in the context of seeking local resilience will challenge the National Government for the control of most of their tax dollars - seeking to reverse the tax polarity where in the future the community gets the most, the state the next layer and the nation the least.
This will be the great social struggle of our time - made more poignant by the realization that all our hopes in national salvation - the bailouts etc had come to naught. That we were all like New Orleans after Katrina.
There is a great pattern to human history. That is one that leads to greater real personal say in what happens. Each advance is preceded by a time when personal freedoms get crushed. Like earthquakes, as the tension builds so does the power of the quake when it comes.
The last really big quake was in the middle ages. It feels like deja vu all over gain to me
