Imagine in the 1st days of any society.....there is no money....just people....wilderness....what few provisions that they have from their former lives, that they have brought with them.
Certain things need to be accomplished....there is much work to be done....houses need to be built....stables for horses....barns for livestock...grain storage....etc.
Crops need to be planted, harvested....meals cooked...hunting...gathering.
In the earliest days of a pioneer society, everyone chips in and does their part and things get done....personal production is paramount....but then what happens?
Not everyone does their part....some work harder than others...a need arises for some way to keep track of personal production.
Currency comes along...why? Because it is the best way to keep track of personal production.
Jobs that require more of a person that others can do, have always paid more....those that have required personal sacrifice to acquire pay more.....supply....demand...and so goes the economy.
There have been those in our history that have used their abilities and minds to achieve great things.....they have provided for generations of their family. What parent wouldn't want to provide that kind of life for their children and grandchildren?
The problem today is that too many want what others have, but are not willing to provide the personal production that is required to achieve it.....so the Robin Hood attitude prevails...take from the rich and give to the poor....politicians take advantage of that mentality.....they pander to it.....they know that people with above average minds and desire are far out numbered by those below....they play the numbers.
D6fer posted on Jan 21, 2008
| views: 175
Comments
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pickersplock said on Jan 21, 2008....
Hello, D6!Yes, I agree. I would like to add that when we expect someone else to take care of us, we give up much of our freedom. That being said, there are those amoung us that will never be able to care for themselves. Their families bear the greatest responsibility, but we as a society cannot turn our backs on those who are helpless. -
D6fer said on Jan 21, 2008....
Of course....goes without saying in my book! -
pickersplock said on Jan 21, 2008....
How are you, my friend? -
D6fer said on Jan 21, 2008....
pretty good....a night alone for me....haven't had one in years I think...kinda nice! -
pickersplock said on Jan 21, 2008....
Everyone's asleep here, so it's kind of like being alone. And it's only 10:30! -
D6fer said on Jan 21, 2008....
I am about ready to nod off myself and it's only 7:30! -
pickersplock said on Jan 21, 2008....
Sorry, I got side tracked working on a post!I think I'll make my way to sleep too! -
TinSoldier said on Jan 21, 2008....
So are you advocating for communism here or what? We lived in a collectivist utopia until the advent of currency?
You are partially right about the idea that money is a measure of personal productivity (although the path you took to get there is wrong) but mainly it's a medium of exchange. Let's say I grow lima beans and you build barns. The problem is that I need a barn but you don't like lima beans and refuse to take them in trade.
So without a medium of exchange, I would have to find someone who both values lima beans and who has something that you would value in return for building me a barn. Having money just cuts down on the amount of multiple barters that you have to do, thereby increasing efficiency in an economic system.
Edit: 10:30? That's usually the time that I've been in bed and have watched a half hour of news and I start to nod off.
Then again, I get up around 5:00am in order to be at work by 6:00am or 6:30am. Some of my coworkers start even earlier.
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D6fer said on Jan 21, 2008....
actually...no....just the opposite....thi illustrates precisely why communism does not work....there is a need for credit for productivity....and no one should be forced to give that to someone else that produces less or nothing at all. -
D6fer said on Jan 21, 2008....
I left out many of the details in my path to my point on purpose....I didn't want a post to go on and on.......I figured some one would fill in the blanks sooner or later! -
TinSoldier said on Jan 21, 2008....
Right, but that's not why money was invented.
and no one should be forced to give that to someone else that produces less or nothing at all.
The question of "force" aside, should society help out those who are unable to produce much or anything? The disabled? The elderly? The orphaned? The person who has produced all of his life but through misfortune has lost it all?
Heh. I know I'm treading into liberal territory here, but our current president did call himself a "compassionate conservative". Even if I believe that he is neither, I would like to think that I am both.
The hardest part, though, is finding balance and ensuring that the truly needy are being helped but that the shiftless are not being coddled.
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silverwhisper said on Jan 22, 2008....
there have been those in our history that have used their abilities and minds to achieve great things.
there have also been those who did not. indeed, historically i would think that there have been more of them than the do-gooders. our literature is filled w/ stories about the selfish miser: the benevolent rich man however is seen considerably less often, wouldn't you say?
ed -
D6fer said on Jan 22, 2008....
tin....I addressed that after pickers brought it up.
ed....in print yes....the selfish miser makes more of a story to the Robin Hood lovers out there.....just as we hear of all the wrong doings of people like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton rather than those that are behaving as they should.
Comment on "Pioneer economics 101"
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