Post capitalist world still has a long way to go

I was listening to a debate on Andrew Marr's Start the week programme on Radio 4 this morning.

It drifted into the sort of capitalist society that will come out on the other side of the global recession.

The argument said that it will become a more caring capitalism where the needs of wealth creation will be balanced against the needs of the society.For example it was quoted that parents will have more time for their children,people will become more localised etc etc.

Getting there may prove a trifle problematic if this article in the Washington Post is anything to go by.

It reflects that

With the recession forcing businesses to cut back on workers, employees are increasingly doing all they can to hang onto their jobs and are forgoing many of the benefits that once allowed them to balance the demands of work and family life.

adding that

In good times, workers frequently seized the opportunity to use "flex time" and family leave, to telecommute and to take paid sick days. But, according to workplace consultants, human resources specialists and employees themselves, those days are slipping away. More workers are giving up those arrangements, or resisting asking about them in the first place, out of fears that doing so will make them appear less committed to their work and therefore more expendable.

So a huge barrier to overcome,not least that people have to realise that we have to forgo some of the consumer society that we have craved for so long.Break that link and the importance of work is diminished.