Much person-power is wasted because many jobs exist only to support the economic system and thereby make other jobs possible. Our society is like an engine running at high speed and still accelerating so that it will be ready when we find a use for it. The crankshaft turns so that the fuel pump can supply gas, the valves control it and the ignition system explode it - in order to turn the crankshaft! Is there an independent purpose in all this or is that all there is to life?
As long as our jobs seem to be important to our individual survival, we have trouble seeing any other goal as being more important. Because we feel pressured into thinking of our individual welfare as being more important than that of society, not many people are left to make a cooperative effort to improve society as a whole. We think about how many jobs will be created by a new industry before we consider whether the product is something we really want. We get many messages that tell us a product is validated by the amount of work that went into it rather than by its usefulness. Note that the "consumer" is an important part of our economic system.
"Gross National Product is a misnomer since a "product" must be used outside the system that produced it. The concept was started during WWII and concerned defense production. Today it's a measure of how much effort of all kinds is put out within the system (in terms of money paid). But the effort is not the product. The arms race, auto accidents and general inefficiency increase our GNP because they increase the effort we put out. What is the real product of a nation or a world and what's our score on that scale?
We are taught that it's morally right to help others, but we have a strong monetary incentive to see to it that others continue to need our services. Everybody in business for money, including paid social engineers, have the incentive to work on symptoms rather than causes. Most, lawyers for instance, have at least partial incentive to create more problems and complexities to make themselves more necessary.
We need both income or sustenance, and an activity which can give a sense of accomplishment, worth and contribution to society. Few of today's jobs provide much of both. To some extent, we simply feel a need to keep occupied. There are many more socially productive ways for this than most of what's available today.
It's been said that the only thing a small cog in a big machine has to look forward to is spinning in place and wearing out. But this applies to any cog in any machine. If you want to stay just part of a machine, fine. We can use you. But if you have any self-motivation, at least be sure you're part of the right machine.