On one hand, we are fooling ourselves thinking our time is so precious we have to shave off every second we can possibly save... because that's how we're built, that's the basic instinct that keeps us going.
But that's where we run into the Great Disconnect--all grinding games are
made to waste your time...
Like, remember how bad we wanted vehicles?
Because, c'mon, other games have vehicles! Because vehicles're cool and because why not!
See!? Three good reasons right there.
Once we got vehicles we realized... Wait a minute, where did all the TP runs go?
We never bothered to think it through. To get from point A to point B as fast as possible isn't always a good thing... quite often it's the exact opposite.
OK, there's a difference between cutting off the boring repetitive things and cool interesting things. Yes, fair enough. Problem is, it's sometimes different things for different people... and sometimes it's simply because some people can see further into future than others.
Anyway, the OP's original vision is too simplistic. Auction can use some improvement but that's not how you do it. But if you read the topic you know that already. So, to finish it off on a positive note and to maintain the overall political balance in the thread, I would add my criticism--please, guys, don't misuse great slogans to promote stupid ideas, OK?