[mrweasel]

There's a point to that. It sort of depends on the country, the US is pretty good about having people live like it pleases them, but others are not. In Scandinavia I don't really see any good way of avoid some kind of job. There a some expenses that aren't necessarily tied to any particular living standard.

What really surprises me is that politicians (Danish in my cases), refuse to discus the idea of reducing the length of the average work week (only one party suggested it, and was laughed of a being unrealistic). You could do a lot of good moving from a 37 hour work week to 30, but no, it's dismissed with no further debate. I really think that should be the discussion: How much do we need to work. Having it being black and white, job/no-job debate isn't particularly helpful.

I know that some would argue that people can just "choose" to work less, but that's rarely an option. Very few industries allow you to choose how much you work. In terms of compensation I could be happy, financially, working only 75% of my current hours, while receiving an similar reduction in pay, but that's not something most companies find attractive.

[mapcars]

Yes, surely it depends a lot on how developed the country is and how much social care is there. Eg in a country there is little to no social help living without any job means your life will end rather soon.

I think everyone should see where their bar is in needs vs free time and manage that. I'd love to drop 30% of my working hours and income accordingly as you said as well :) Hope this will be an option in our future.