"Time is money" ≠ "money is time"

"Time is money," to me, ranks right up there as a hypercapitalistic statement along with the neoliberal "work hard, play hard." Or the neoliberal phrase for families of "quality time." Frank Bruni reminds us well to reject the myth of "quality time."

But, if you'll think about it, you'll never hear the hypercapitalists say "money is time."

There are rare exceptions. Dan Price (Twitter) of Gravity Payments, re my blogging about my skepticism about his payroll generosity at Gravity, eventually responded that he has what he called as "unlimited" paid time off, but probably hasn't pushed employees to use it enough.

Update, Dec. 17: A Dec. 1 story by Bloomberg makes him out to be hypocritical, not just "interesting." The big pay raise came only after a lawsuit against the company. He was, and arguably still is, overpaid as CEO for a company his size, even within the US's generous allowance of CEO pay. And his ex-wife, in a pending book, alleges spousal abuse.

With that said, I won't even try Tweeting Price about this. He refused to comment to Bloomberg, in various ways, about the lawsuit. He denied his ex-wife's allegations straight up.

This is all part of the alleged "Protestant work ethic." Show you've "earned" money, even if such things as justice, and therefore just desserts, don't really exist. Work hard to prove your Social-Darwinism toughness. Work hard to work on-the-job competitors, whether at another company or your own, into the dirt.

Work hard believing that "play hard" actually works. "Play hard" while refusing to note that income inequality means that many Americans don't have the wherewithal to play hard.

And, if you're a libertarian, paint yourself in a shiny neoliberal dross.