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

[The Avantguardian]

--- Brian Atkins <brian at posthuman.com> wrote:

> Jeff Davis wrote:
> > 
> > Our culture does NOT make a focused effort to
> train
> > people to be economically savvy, 
> 
> I completely agree with that.
> 
> I was thinking about it yesterday after I posted...
> was reminded of my high 
> school experience, wherein I was forced as part of
> the curriculum to take some 
> vocational classes. The choices were things like:
> typing, computer word 
> processing, "home economics", drafting, wood shop.
> 
> How many kids would choose a "business 101 +
> investing" choice if they had 
> offered it? Why isn't something like this a standard
> offering in schools?

This is for several reasons. The biggest reason is
that one of the economic theories on which the market
is founded is the "bigger fool" theory. That is that
whatever you happen to pay for a stock, there is
presumably a bigger fool out there to willing to buy
it from you at a higher price than you did. If
everyone is educated in smart investment strategy,
then there wouldn't be a large enough supply of fools
to be left holding the bag when the bubble bursts.

For all the talk about quality education by
politicians in this country, much of public education
system is dedicated to simply ensuring a steady supply
of "consumers". The focus is not on building wealth
but on "getting a job" that will allow the populace to
make the minimum payments on the credit cards that
they max out in response to slick Madison Ave.
advertisements. After years of this, what do you have?
A service economy or put another way, a nation of
servants indentured to their Master Cards and having
nothing worth selling except for their most valuable
commodity of all, their all too finite time. And even
that at the lowest possible rate else they will lose
out to the hungry masses of the foreign labor markets.

One of the early warning signs of the decline of the
Roman Empire was that the common citizen was
disenfranchised by the importation of slaves to do his
job. The decline of America is instead presaged by
disenfranchisement through the exportation of jobs to
foreign labor markets.

So any ideas on how this magical shift to a economy of
plenty will happen with an economic theory based on
the value of scarcity? SHOULD the water that flows in
your veins and sustains your life be nearly valueless
while a mint condition Action Comics #1 be worth a
fortune?        

The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"If you fear death, you are not living right; if you don't want to live forever, you are not living well." - a sparrow outside my window.


		
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