So many things have become automated since the Industrial Revolution, and it seems like we've been reading headlines that are variations on "The machines will take our jobs!" for at least a hundred years. But it also seems that around the same percentage of people are employed as have always been (or at least in living memory, as Graeber explains... Q. What was the unemployment rate in Ancient China/Rome/etc? A. Zero). So then, what are all these people doing all day if machines have taken over so many functions? Graeber's answer: complete BS. And according to surveys carried out in a variety of developed countries, about 35% of employed people agree with him.

Though the government is often accused of being bureaucratic and bloated, middle management "paper pushers" have expanded in all private industries and particularly in finance, healthcare, insurance, and academia. Graeber explains the sociology and politics behind why this is and why the lean, mean capitalist machine doesn't clean up this problem on its own.

Besides being absolutely fascinating, it is refreshing to read a voice that so crisply cuts through the BS put out by spin doctors, politicians, and your average twitter pundit (wink, nudge: Graeber was himself a very active twitter user, and public outpourings of grief after his death last year completely took over my timeline—our western generation truly lost a voice of sanity.) I highly recommend this book.