> On Feb 6, 2026, at 11:13, Barry Brooks via groups.io
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> The weakest link in a chain sets its limits. One analysis is that land,
> labor, or capital can limit economic output.
If we define economic output just as commodities sold, then there may be no
limits to what the capitalists can invent, such as whole new types of property.
Intellectual property is in the eighteenth century US Constitution, but
twenty-first century property innovations need no government support: Google,
etcetera have created a market for personal information, particularly personal
and group behavior. Google collects and aggregates our information for sale on
that market, including this very note once I send it. Beyond surveillance and
marketing, there are byproducts and secondary markets for the information as
well, such as to train AI LLMs.
>
> Way back, the limit to economic output was a shortage of labor. One early
> statement of that theory can be found in the Bible.
> Mathew 009:037 ... Then saith he unto his disciples, "The harvest truly is
> plenteous, but the laborers are few." 2000 years ago labor was the weak link,
> and the work ethic was basic to increasing prosperity. Now, better tools have
> made land and capital the weaker links, and Mathew 9:37 is totally obsolete.
Is capital limited today? I'd say that capital does not have enough profitable
outputs and has become speculative and predatory to existing businesses. It's
concentrated at the top and fuels speculative and reckless investments like
cryptocurrency and AI. The most predatory capital is in finance and
technologies. Predatory capital "thins the herd" and results in other people
losing their means of sustenance.
>
> Our age of increasing prosperity has finally allowed reaping almost all of
> the harvest, and finding many ways to grow the harvest. Now, we have reached
> a new limit. We can reap most of our plenteous harvest, but it is now
> apparent that the goose that lays golden eggs is mortal. Our finite planet
> makes infinite growth impossible. New limits must be acknowledged, but we are
> stuck with the obsolete theory that human labor is the scarce factor.
I would add that we define prosperity as more commodities produced this year
than last. This level of commodity production increases natural-resource
throughput to the point that it is destroying Earth's human habitat.
>
> The work ethic runs deep. Producing and harvesting as much as possible are
> seen as good, and necessary, People who don't work are seen as very bad.
> (unless they are rich) Today we want to create jobs, instead of creating a
> sustainable economic output. We have confused the means with the end. Work is
> a means to the end of reaping the harvest. The end is to have the grain; not
> to keep workers busy. Too much harvesting is possible.
I think people need to cooperatively develop use values instead of creating
more surplus value each year that ends up being invested and speculated by
persons at the top of the wealth hierarchy.
Mark
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