[extropy-chat] economics of scarcity to economics of plenty

[Samantha Atkins]

On Oct 31, 2005, at 10:15 PM, Jeff Davis wrote:

>
>> He's absolutely right you know.
>>
>
> "Absolutely'?  Strong wording that.  True believer
> stuff.  Tread carefully.
>
> While the world is awash in opportunity, there are
> problems.  I'll list three.
>
> Our culture does NOT make a focused effort to train
> people to be economically savvy, to recognize the
> abundance of opportunity and to make it work for them.
>   In the old days a son or daughter would be at their
> father or mother's side and learn the necessary life
> skills.  Our culture has no plan -- our education
> system is an unfocused corrupted pile of crap -- for
> preparing people to be economically competent.  When
> people succeed, they do so IN SPITE OF the culture's
> failure to do its duty and prepare them.  Almost
> without exception the preparation for success comes
> from the family, from the individual realizing what
> he/she needs to do, or from blind luck.  And the
> family influence is so crucial a factor, that economic
> incompetence (from which comes poverty) is virtually
> an inherited familial legacy.
>
> I wonder whether people see this, because to me it
> seems that successful people who know "how to get
> there from here" do it naturally, like breathing,
> without thinking and without realizing that it's
> something you need to know how to do.  And
> unsuccessful people, the chronically indigent, are
> paralyzed by the absolute certainty that there IS NO
> WAY OUT,
>

Few people, even ones making it just fine, really develop any  
financial sense at all much less develop and entrepreneurial  
mindset.   I sure agree with you there.  But how do we fix it from here?

Telling ourselves that people can just pick a living off the Net  
assumes way toq much about what resources and skills most people  
have.  It is easy to think about what we here who are self selected  
for more than average intelligence and imagination would/could do and  
think that of course the same thing is true of everyone else.   
Unfortunately that is not remotely the case.

There are scenarios where there is NO WAY OUT without rewriting some  
rules or removing some obstacles.

If the government requires you to get a license you can't afford to  
sell what you can do to those willing to pay then you are in fact a  
bit trapped.  If you are young and just starting out with no real  
skills and the government forbids anyone to hire you for what your  
utterly untrained and never tested in a job labor is thought to be  
worth then you are a bit trapped.  If you are homeless and you are  
required to have a fixed address to even get on many types of relief,  
much less to hold a job, then you are a bit trapped if you are homeless.

If technology has moved along and your skills are obsolete and/or  
available much cheaper than you can stay afloat on and re-training is  
not available, not affordable or you just can't seem to hack the new  
stuff you could be a bit blocked.

- samantha

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