Post by JaredPost by David DeLaneyPost by JaredPost by ***@bid.nesPrison State, Leisure State. I'd happily wield a grease gun
occasionally to support the latter. Those who can't do that can
massage the code that runs the machines or whatever.
There isn't enough wealth in the world to support a leisure state.
... Money is imaginary, you know. It's numbers that keep score, and it's
worth what people BELIEVE it's worth. It's not like "wealth" appears in nodes
that you can mine and turn into wealth bars and weave into wealth cloth, and
they have a fixed value on the World Auction House...
Dave
Miles and gallons are imaginary too; a mile could be any length, and a
gallon could be any quantity and they could be redefined tomorrow. Yet
if one distance is more miles than another distance, it _means_
something. If one car gets more miles per gallon, that _means_ something
which doesn't depend on your imagination and it won't be false when
we redefine a mile to be longer.
Money is not more imaginary than other numbers that measure things. And
wealth is not money, but resources.
Unlike miles or gallons, money is an intermediate representation of
value. We tend to have problems that show up as historic events
when we try to make the value of one unit of currency be an absolute.
A mile refers to a physical thing that doesn't change. A dollar
does *not* - you even say why this is in your post. Being
slightly silly, affixing too much meaning to "the value of a dollar"
can be considered the error of reifying the symbol.
Post by JaredThe amount of dollars in the world, or euros or whatever, is completely
arbitrary, but the important data we have is ratios of dollars. Profits
with low risk are 3 dollars for every 100 in capital (or less; you may
have noticed savings accounts don't pay much these days). And comparing
profits per person with GDP or wage income is another ratio, so it is
not something you can just believe is whatever you want it to be.
Actually... yes, it can.
Post by JaredAll the financial assets in the world represent the factories and other
capital that produces stuff. The dividends and interest represent the
value derived from the assets that you can use without tearing down the
factories and stuff.
This is like looking at the edge of a piece of paper. There's a lot
more to it than that.
Post by JaredIf wages were distributed equally to everybody in the world, everybody
would get about $10,000 per year.
But if profits were distributed equally, it would only be about
$1000 per person, which is why work is necessary.
See, I consider the question "what is profit" and "what is labor" to be
much more arbitrary than "what is a dollar"?
Post by JaredWe can't get to a point where everybody can live in a first world
style without working, until there is about 30 times more total wealth
in the world.
There is now about 50 times more total wealth in the world than
there was roughly 90 or 100 years ago. that is a staggering increase
in a short amount of time - I can't even remember how long it took
for agriculture to pay the same dividend - certainly many centuries.
Post by JaredI found a chart of world real growth rate (after inflation) that seemed
to be around 3.5% during the last decade.
Right. trend is about 4%-plus-error-bar (since 1820). We're doing it
wrong. And the main "wrong" is - and this is the best guess I've been
able to find, so caveat caveat - not putting enough "money" into
"circulation." Growth seems now constrained *mainly* by the money
supply... "Where the ghost of Williams Jennings Bryant preaches every
night" - James McMurtry.
If the people who "had too much house" in 2007 had had a paycheck,
they would not have been foreclosed on. Since that's been identified as
a "system risk" now, doesn't that mean there must be a public solution,
once we understand the problem? See how apples and oranges that all is?
See Scott Sumner for details... I hope he's right...
The way I look at this - we all know hyperinflation stories
without understanding them. The 20th Century was a time in which
people had Certainty taken away ( in the service of Accuracy ) so
people cling to any absolute they can find, and "the value
of a dollar" is one of these.
but nobody knows any deflation stories, really. Did they ever use
the word "deflation" on The Waltons? The Simpsons?
No.
Post by JaredAt that rate, it will take
100 years of reinvested profits to build up enough capital so nobody
has to work in order to enjoy the lifestyle of an American or European
today.
but each of us pretty much *have* the lifestyle - or better - of a
comfortable American or European from 100 or less years ago without
producing measurably-much at all - for that one person. It's harder *to*
produce measurably-much, because needs are more taken care of.
--
Les Cargill
