生活雜談:幸福生活來自於知足(下)

This partly explains the huge rise in debt, as people aim to compensate for stagnating incomes by borrowing.

這在一定程度上解釋了債務大幅增長的原因：人們尋求通過舉債來彌補增長日趨停滯的收入。

So what is to be done? First, we must convince ourselves that there is something called the good life, and that money is simply a means to it. To say that my purpose in life is to make more and more money is as insane as saying my purpose in eating is to get fatter and fatter. But second, there are measures we can take collectively to nudge us off the consumption treadmill.

那麼，我們該做些什麼？首先，我們必須讓自己相信，所謂的幸福生活是存在的，金錢只是過上幸福生活的一種手段。有人說生活的目的就是要變得越來越有錢，這與聲稱吃飯的目的是要變得越來越胖一樣荒謬。其次，我們可以共同採取一些措施，使自己免於陷入無休止的消費。

One is to improve job security. Government should restore the full employment guarantee. This does not mean guaranteeing everyone a 40-hour a week job. Government should gradually reduce the maximum allowable hours of work for most occupations, guaranteeing a job for everyone who wants to work that amount of time.

一是提高就業保障。政府應該恢復充分的就業保障。這並不意味着要確保所有人都有一份每週40小時的工作。政府應該逐步降低大多數工作崗位的工作時間上限，確保每一位想在此上限內工作的公民都有一份工作。

At the same time it should institute an unconditional basic income for all citizens. This would aim to improve the choice between work and leisure. Critics say this would be a disincentive to work. That is precisely its merit in a society which should be working less and enjoying life more.

與此同時，政府還應爲所有公民制定一個無條件的基本收入下限。此舉的目的是改善工作與休閒之間的選擇。批評人士稱，這將降低人們的工作積極性。但在一個工作時間應當更少、享受生活時間應當更長的社會裏，這一效果恰恰是此舉的價值所在。

Third, government should reduce the pressure to consume by curbs on advertising. We already have curbs to guard against specific harms: it would not be a big jump to recognise that excessive consumption is itself harmful – to the environment, to contentment, to any mature conception of the good life.

第三，政府應該通過限制廣告來減弱消費的動機。我們已經出臺了一些限制措施來防範具體的危害，因此，讓人們認識到過度消費本質上有損於環境、滿足感和成熟的幸福生活觀，並不會是多難的事情。

Underpinning these measures would be a steeply progressive consumption tax, with a top bracket of, say, 75 per cent. This would be a tax on what is spent, not on earnings. It would reduce the pressure to consume, finance basic income, and encourage private saving for old age and infirmity.

對這些措施形成支撐的將是累進幅度很大、最高一檔稅率達（比方說）75%的消費稅。這將是一種對支出、而非收入徵收的稅。它將減弱消費動機，爲基本收入提供資金，並鼓勵個人爲應對年老體衰而儲蓄。

All these proposals are open to criticism. However, unless we take a collective decision to get off the consumption treadmill we will never get to the point of saying "enough is enough". And if we don't do that, we will go on wondering what all that extra money was for.

上述這些提議可能會招致批評。但是，如果我們不能共同決定擺脫無休止的消費，我們就永遠說不出"適可而止"這個詞。而如果我們做不到這一點，我們就仍會納悶多掙那麼多錢意義何在。