Selma Singer asked: is it possible to have an economic system in which labor is paid for the value of what that labor produces?
As someone else already noted, according to conventional economics that is exactly what already happens. However, Henry George more than a hundred years ago (and many since) have demonstrated that this is just one area where theoretical economics becomes disconnected to reality. My response to Selma's question is a little different to some others that have preceded me. And I would like to focus on the word 'value'. I have already said today in a reponse to Ray Harrell that I am reluctanct to begin talking too quickly about value while we are still getting our work concepts straight, but the two are so linked that it is hard to talk about one without the other. The notion of value in the sense Selma uses it is another relatively recent notion. Human beings have always been exchangers of things of value (archeologists have tracked minerals over many thousands of miles well before humans settled into towns). But the notion of value as created by an individual effort is much more recent. It is not exactly an industrial revolution concept, though prior to this time value wasn't necessarily 'earned' through work, it might have been 'earned' through heritage. In the twenty first century, however, it is very much an economic concept with most of us swept up in the notion that our only attachment to real value is through employment. We all know there is value elsewhere, it is just damned hard to find it and to eat it. My mission in the world is to find other ways to recognise this value, to capture it, and to exchange it in such a way that I can eat it. I know it can be done. We all do it all the time (especially those like Ray Harrell who exist in 'the margins' of economic society). What is clear, however, is that mainstream notions of economic value through employment cannot show us the way - or at least they cannot be the whole story. Charles Brass Chairman the futures foundation PO Box 122 Fairfield 3078 Australia phone 61 3 9459 0244 the mission of the futures foundation is "...to engage all Australians in creating a better future..." _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
