Over on the Global Swadeshi network there’s a discussion going on about the generation of artificial scarcity by the state or the market to keep the price high on produce - an act which I find appalling and disgusting.
I don’t know how to start fixing this. I know the cause is greed, and that scarcity hasn’t existed for many things such as agricultural produce for a long time now. I know that the end result will be severely rethought models about how the economy functions… but how do we start that trickle effect?
Elías | 18-May-08 at 1:33 pm | Permalink
Read The Grapes of Wrath for a description of this happening during the Great Depression.
Vinay Gupta | 18-May-08 at 1:57 pm | Permalink
Here’s a question: if nobody can say “no” to you at gunpoint for violating property rights, how is scarcity to be created?
smari | 18-May-08 at 5:34 pm | Permalink
Depends on what comes with the property rights. Governments don’t so much hold us at gunpoint as suggest that what they’re doing is for our best. Why use guns when you can lie, cheat and steal?
The Grapes of Wrath duly added to me to-read list.
Patrick Anderson | 22-May-08 at 4:09 pm | Permalink
It is common to claim there would be no incentive for investment and production if price can’t be held above cost, but what about the lone islander?
If you are stranded on an island isn’t there incentive for you to invest some of your labor and capital (planting some of your wheat seeds instead of grinding them)?
Would that incentive be lost if I were to arrive on the island with you?
When or where do our goals switch from product to profit?