You may not post much to the list but I got 8 copies of it... did anyone else get multiple copies or is it my mail service playing silly b's?
On Sat, 2009-03-28 at 12:37 -0400, tim rourke wrote: > Hello all; > > I do not post much to this list, but it is time to say some things. > > > > 1. There is no such thing as a free market. All markets are > regulated, all economies must be administered. > > 2. Depressions happen when economies are so misadministered that > people lose confidence in them. > > 3. The basic problem with any capitalist economy is that it requires > constant growth or it collapses. Since the world is finite, > inevitably the money system collapses. > > 4. There are people who might want to work 25 hours a day to satisfy > some sort of drives, but there is nothing to be done to keep them > busy 25 hours a day. > > 5. To repeat again, the world is finite. There is only so much of > anything to go around. Any economic theorizing that does not start > from there is bogus. > > 6. The deeper cause of the present economic malaise is that the > economic systems of the world have overshot the carrying capacity > of the world by a factor of about 1.4 or 1.5 . Total throughput > must be rationalized globally according to the sustainable capacity > of the land base, and realistic human needs. > > 7. Some way must be found of running an economy on a steady state > basis, without interest charges. > > tr > > > > > > > > > On 27-Mar-09, at 3:28 PM, Harry Pollard wrote: > > > Ed, > > > > Well put together article, but it suffers from the usual problems. It > > is written as if land does not exist. Yet, there can be no production > > without access to land. And if land prices become too high, production > > stops. > > > > Sen wrote: > > > > “Certainly, the cumulative downturn we are observing right now, > > which is edging us closer to a depression, has clear Keynesian > > features; the reduced incomes of one group of persons has led to > > reduced purchases by them, in turn causing a further reduction in the > > income of others.” > > > > Georgists would immediately ask "Why are there 'reduced incomes of one > > group'?" > > > > George argued that depressions are not caused by overproduction, nor > > are they caused by under consumption (everyone's favorite). Rather, > > said George, they are caused by under production. People cannot find > > jobs, which means they can't buy -- underconsumption. This means the > > shelves aren't cleared -- obvious evidence of overproduction > > > > So, why can't they find jobs? > > > > You may recall the first assumption of Classical Political Economy > > period. It is: "Man's desires are unlimited." > > > > If we worked 25 hours a day, we could never satisfy unlimited desires. > > > > So, why it's so hard to find a job? > > > > In a free market economy, businesses succeed and fail all the time. > > People fall out of work and get new jobs continually. But what happens > > if new jobs dry up because increasing land costs dampen the supply of > > new businesses? "Underproduction" is with us -- a condition, which > > leads to apparent underconsumption and overproduction. > > > > The free market requires fresh supplies to come to market in response > > to price increases. These return prices to equilibrium. New land > > cannot come to market in response to increasing price. Under pressure > > of increasing demand, prices keep rising, as they try to draw more > > land to market. > > > > As Will Rogers said: "They ain't making no more dirt." Further, you > > can't move land to market to bring prices. So, in a normal economy, > > land prices are always pushing the envelope. As I've said, at that > > point, any "trigger" can set off a depression. > > > > This should be separated from the land bubble (for heaven's sake, not > > a housing bubble). It is probable that 'bubbles' don't do much > > economic harm. When the 'exuberance' has abated, some will have won, > > others will have lost. > > > > While the producer of a Beanie Babies walks away with $1 billion, > > others may have garages packed tight with unsellable Babies. > > > > Of course, in the present case it didn't help much that the Bush > > administration was deliberately forcing lower interest rates, even as > > the Democratic Congress was encouraging Fanny and Freddie to lend > > billions to people who were poor risks. Nor did it help that Wall > > Street was effectively hiding this suspect paper in packages that they > > sold around the world. > > > > Needless to say, all this nonsense is supposed to be evidence that the > > free market has failed. > > > > Bah! > > > > Harry > > > > ****************************** > > Henry George School of Los Angeles > > Box 655 Tujunga CA 91043 > > Tel: 818 352-4141 > > ****************************** > > > > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of one Weick > > Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 6:00 AM > > To: [email protected]; futurework > > Subject: [Futurework] Sen on Keynes and Pigou > > > > Good discussion of the current implications of Keynesian and Pigovian > > economics by Amartya Sen in the current New York Review of Books. > > Took me way back to when the world was green (or purple or whatever). > > > > It's at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22490 . > > > > Ed > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Futurework mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
