What you describe could be a great first step towards restoring the feelings of agency and initiative to many of the working people of America. The rise of Big Retail, Big Tech, Big Pharma, National Chains for clothes, restaurants, hardware, and so many other things have chased so many new ideas off Main Street, Some have surfaced on-line, where they have to fight for attention against the likes of Amazon and other Big Tech retailers. Yes, Amazon can help their business, but they certainly take their cut.
Your model offers a new way to restore an older model of the economy, one that resembles village life. People should go to their local farm stand, local restaurant, local butcher, local purveyors of wine, clothes, shoes, books, music, hats, and even medicines. Everything should be in walking distance so we can lower our carbon footprint.
That is happening these days, at least to some extent, in cities. Younger people have been flocking to smaller cities for years now and building neighborhoods that function like that. But that becomes more difficult once people start having children, wanting more space, and needing more money. Then, if they can, they get bigger jobs that require more services, such as the ones that Amazon provides. Convenience usually tops everything.
What we really need is a brand new model for the 21st Century economy. For the first time in human history we will have to design a model based upon abundance instead of scarcity. We already have the technology and know-how to provide shelter, food, clothing, healthcare, and energy to everyone of the planet. To do that we would create thousands of more jobs, but soon we would eliminate millions of jobs. Already, about half of the jobs people will do once the economy “opens” again are mind-numbing, dangerous and/or unnecessary.
We are going to need a model that rewards different products, actions and services. We will need human service jobs: care-givers for the old and young, teachers, ethicist and philosophers who can sort out the huge questions about how to organize the new society in ways that can offer everyone a healthy, meaningful, satisfying life. It is ether that, or the wealthy few will continue to exploit the many who are poor, which has been the way of the world since humans started agrarian societies.
As William Gibson so aptly put it way back in 2003: “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.” We all have to work on that.
