Lying Flatism vs FIRE vs Strikes - Which is More Effective?

There has long been conflict among business and workers. Throughout history there have been conflicts among the business class and the working class. 

One way that workers fight for their rights involves "labour strikes" or "strike action." Wikipedia defines "strike action" as follows: "Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage, caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. In most countries, strike actions were quickly made illegal, as factory owners had far more power than workers. Most Western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries."

Strikes have a major problem, which is somewhat addressed in the Wikipedia definition above, which is that many countries simply make striking illegal as businesses have a considerable amount of power. This is a problem in e.g. China.

Where striking is problematic, there are other options, one of which is the FIRE movement which emphasises hard work and frugal living initially with the aim of retiring early. Another is the "lying flat" movement, which doesn't focus on early retirement but focuses on doing the bare minimum. Both these movements seem to result in its adherents working less and consuming less, which deprives businesses of labour.

In China, the lying flat movement has been censored by the CCP who are desperately trying to suppress the movement. The elites do not seem to be as alarmed about the FIRE movement but there are many who think that it has the potential to harm the interests of the elites e.g. there was a recent post on Reddit about how FIRE can result in the end of Western civilization because people won't have enough children to become the workers of tomorrow.

One of the challenges of unionisation or protesting is knowing whether your fellow workers will support you in your endeavours. You may unionise or protest or go on strike, but you may be the only one who goes on strike while your fellow workers rush to suck up to the boss. Unionisation, striking, or protesting relies on self-sacrifice.

On the other hand, lying flat or FIRE focuses not on self-sacrifice but on personal benefits e.g. escaping the rat race. By lying flat, you live a stress free life while your colleagues slave themselves away. By retiring early via FIRE, you can retire in your 30s or 40s and relax by the beach while your colleagues slave away in the office or factory. When others see that lying flat or FIRE works, they may follow you, and once more and more people lie flat or FIRE, there will be labour shortages and businesses will then need to increase wages or offer better terms.

Could Lying Flat Reduce Property Prices in Australia?

It seems now that house prices in China are starting to decline. There are many reasons for this e.g. the Evergrande crisis, but another possibility is that it is caused by recently proposed property taxes in China. It also looks like these property taxes have been proposed due to the lying flat movement.

 In China, many young people are protesting excessive consumerism, competition and high house prices by "lying flat." The lying flat movement involves doing the minimum possible, that is, working just enough to afford to lie down all day.

It should be emphasised that lying flat doesn't mean not working at all. It means working the minimum to be able to afford to lie flat. This will reduce consumption, reduce demand, reduce asset prices, reduce corporate profits and reduce government tax revenue.

Many young people have embraced the lying flat movement in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has condemned this movement, even trying to censor social media posts about it.

However, there is considerable evidence that the CCP is concerned about the lying flat movement and has been introducing policies to appease the lying flat movement.

For example, the CCP has cracked down on tech firms including crypto miners and has shifted the focus from tech to manufacturing. 

The benefit of manufacturing over tech is that manufacturing is low skill and can employ much more compared to the tech sector. In the tech sector, a small proportion of the population with high education and skills are hired and paid a large salary. However, in a manufacturing economy, very large portions of the population can be hired and wages are spread out over many people. This should encourage those who would otherwise lie down into working.

Another piece of evidence that shows that the CCP is trying to appease the lying flat movement is the proposal of a new property tax. This property tax proposal has been strongly opposed by property interest groups but is likely to pass in order to appease the lying flat movement. It is believed that by taxing property, prices go down and those who would otherwise lie flat would be able to afford an apartment and feel like they have an incentive to work with the system rather than rebel against it. 

The reason why, in Australia, policies are continually implemented to raise house prices is because many people own houses. The government needs to be elected and so needs to give what voters want. Voters mostly own houses and so will demand the government increase house prices. However, if young people in Australia threaten to lie down and do the minimum e.g. work for one day of the week and spend the rest of the week literally lying down, then this threatens the economy. If enough young people lie down, the demand for housing falls, labour costs go up thereby reducing profitability, which reduces corporate profits, which reduces corporate tax revenue as well as income tax revenue. Government will have an incentive to implement policies that appease those who lie flat.