On the list of hackneyed hypothetical questions, this one must be near the top: What would you do if you never had to worry about money again? We all like to imagine the capricious and indulgent things we could do with an endless supply of cash at our disposal. We’d quit our jobs, throw a lavish party for our friends, and buy a one-way plane ticket around the world—or something like that.

When the Internet started making potential lottery winners of us all, the proposition of eternal wealth began to seem slightly less hypothetical. By the mid-nineties, average people—even below-average people—who worked at Internet companies like Yahoo were reaping vast fortunes. Even when stock prices fell from their peaks, the initial wealth creation could not be erased. $50 million would slide to $20 million—still more than enough to never work another day. And, if invested wisely, enough for one’s children to never have an economic concern—and even their children, and so on.

While April’s stock market gyration slowed the growth of newly-minted millionaires, recent economic data indicate that the dip may have been inconsequential. American productivity grew at an annual rate of 5.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, its fastest increase in 17 years. “Despite rising wages, unit-labour costs declined, giving some credence to proponents of the new economy,” observed The Economist.

So even with a slightly bruised stock market, we see evidence which suggests that America’s boom continues. Certainly, here in San Francisco, the Range Rovers continue to clog the roads and lines of smoothie-enthusiasts still snake their way out of the local Jamba Juice.

As the prosperity continues, we’ve been pondering a broader and more elusive question. In this stage of late capitalism, what will happen to us as individuals when money becomes less and less of a problem for more and more people? Is it possible that the moneyed classes of America (and other wealthy nations)—once preoccupied by the distraction of having a job—might encounter some kind of collective spiritual crisis? If a new leisure class emerges, what will its members do with all their free time? Will they actually possess the creativity to be productive members of society?

Admittedly, these are big questions based on several important assumptions, the most important being: we might actually reach a point where money is no longer a concern for increasingly large groups of individuals within industrialized nations. This might seem far-fetched, but we’re not making this stuff up. In fact, as alarm:clock digital contributor Mark Pontin notes, over 70 years ago the famous economist John Maynard Keynes suggested that just such a day may come— “when the accumulation of science and compound interest,” writes Pontin, “will mean that for practical purposes ‘the economic problem’ will cease to be humanity’s main problem.”

And according to Keynes, that day may come as soon as 30 years from now. Of course, much can happen between now and then, but the idea and its implications are worthy of consideration. This week on alarm:clock digital, in the first of a two part series, Mark Pontin explains Keynes theory and shows us that there may already be evidence of it on the ground.

Check out the full story here.

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