Reflecting on Labor Day – Rich Man’s Burden

image by quapan

This Labor day holiday, I am taking it easy and relaxing. And I truly appreciate the break. For in America, enjoying time off is the exception rather than the rule. And peculiarly, it is the rich who bear the burden the most. The more we earn, the more we tend to work. What is going on?

There is a fascinating article in the New York Times from a year ago, “Rich Man’s Burden” by Dalton Conley, about this very topic. I suggest you check it out – Rich Man’s Burden via NYT.

Conley points out a number of trends in America’s working patterns. Among them are:

–Americans seem to have always worked on holidays, dating back to the colonial days and the Protestant work ethic

–The difference today is that the rich, not the poor, work the most

–Women with higher incomes but the same working hours report they are more stressed. Somehow extra money increases the pressure the work harder

–Technology has allowed us to work remotely and perhaps more, but it is not the cause of the problem

So what is compelling the rich to feel worse and work more? Conley thinks it boils down to inequality, and he offers a beautiful analogy to drive home the point:

The result of this high and rising inequality is what I call an “economic red shift.” Like the shift in the light spectrum caused by the galaxies rushing away, those Americans who are in the top half of the income distribution experience a sensation that, while they may be pulling away from the bottom half, they are also being left further and further behind by those just above them.

Source: Rich Man’s Burden

In light of this trend, I think it is important to revise our notion of rich. That is one way to tackle the green-eyed monster of money envy.

Rethinking wealth and rich

In the past, material wealth has always correlated with greater happiness. But what’s happening nowadays is that people become materially wealthy at the expense of other important dimensions such as social connections and health.

I wrote on this topic about a year ago when I criticized Robert Kiyosaki’s discussion of wealth in Rich Dad, Poor Dad:

In one sense, Kiyosaki is 100% right. By today’s values, rich is defined as possessing a surplus of value. Billionaires are rich. Mansions are rich. Rolex watches are rich. Cheesecake is rich. The thousand dollar fine china, that never gets used, is rich.

But there’s a catch: perhaps rich is not measuring the right values. After all, many of us do value the items in the not rich category. Some of the happiest people I know have every characteristic of the not rich category. They don’t have money bins to swim in, but I would certainly call them rich.

In my opinion, rich shouldn’t be about accumulating goods but rather about using them. If you don’t have a lot of money, but enjoy life to the fullest, you should be considered rich.

Source: Why rich isn’t rich

On that note, here is to enjoying the small things in life, like sleep and holidays…