The four principles of life time economics are:
1. Judge value by useful lifetime and build to last.
The first principle of life time economics is to judge a good or service by how long it will serve its purpose. Other things being equal, we should make our goods durable and our services of lifelong benefit.
2. Set prices by work time and work to reduce them.
The second principle of life time economics is to set prices by the work time required to produce a good or to provide a service. It says that we should work to reduce work time, become more efficient. The gold standard of good economics is efficiency.
Notice that we separate judging value from setting price. The value of things belongs to the buyer. The seller has the right to be repaid for their effort and any other costs such as costs for tools and materials, the actual prices.
As a nation we can systematically reduce work time by periodically reducing the normal work period by the rate of unemployment.
3. Make our hour money.
The third principle of lifetime economics is that society as a whole should own the money supply. This means that the Government, as the people's agent and representative, should be the original source of the money supply of the nation. Furthermore, the money should be denominated in work time.
4. Free time and live to enjoy life.
The fourth and final principle of lifetime economics is that we need to increase our free time. We work to live; we do not live to work. The real profit of economic progress is more free time. The aim of lifetime economics is to help everyone to enjoy life more. Free time does not mean less activity; it means that we have more choice about what we do with our life time.