We’ve spent a lot of time in recent years hearing about the dire state of unemployment and its various ups and downs. I’m wondering as to whether continuing high unemployment could lead to a further danger to the economy: people might just realize they want to work less.

Let’s consider a few things. Unemployment numbers reflect not just people not working at all, but people working less than they used to. So, people who might’ve been working 70 hour work weeks are now working 40, people who might’ve been working 40 are now working 30 etc. The “danger” as I see it is these people might say, “You know, because I’m working less, I can’t eat out at fancy restaurants as often, and I can’t buy every DVD I want, but I do find myself hanging out with friends and family, petting my dog, going for swims, and pursuing hobbies much more than I used to.”

Obviously the corporate oligarchs should do everything they can to crush this way of thinking lest it reduce the US economy to a sputter.

But let’s say people decide they want to alter their ratio of work to free time. Can a society be made to function in this manner? Could we take a job that requires a 60 hour work week and split it amongst two people doing a 30 hour work week? Obviously, there are problems with that model: you have to train two people instead of one, and both people need to be up to speed on the same set of issues. On the other hand, if one person quits, the employer isn’t totally screwed — they have a “backup” of sorts.

Obviously, certain European nations could be models for a more “laid-back” lifestyle. But I’m dubious how sustainable those models are (their big problem is that the ratio between workers and the elderly (who are sustained by workers tax dollars) are falling out of whack.) And what works for one country has no guarantee of working for another — there are so many variables like climate, natural resources, immigration etc. that make predicting success difficult.

I would propose the following approach: workers choose to work less or not at all, thereby generating more free time. How would they sustain themselves? By consuming the elderly in a cannibalistic fashion, and making handy products out of old people’s bone matter; these products could be sold at farmers markets.

I’m a fan of these “kill two birds with one stone” solutions.