Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Scarcity isn't going away no matter which political/economic system you have. Prioritizing necessities as justified basics for every citizen is a valid stance, but it's going to come at the cost of other things.
An economic topic, but I'll see how this does here first.
I can no longer defend the theories of "capitalism." (Not that the U.S. subscribes to capitalism; it is a selectively socialist oligarchy)
The "free market" requires the economic principle of scarcity. The problem is that our most important resources (food, energy, and water) are not limited unless we artificially choose to limit their availability to populations.
Food: The organisms we consume are self-replicating. We have the farming technology to cultivate stable populations of our food. The energy needed to cultivate food is also renewable, as mentioned below.
Energy: We have 5 billion years of energy coming from that yellow ball in the sky. We also have renewable wind and hydroelectric power.
Water: Water simply changes state. There can be no water shortage, as we have the technology to purify it.
The scarcity LIES are brought to us by our governments, which have the unlimited ability to create their own fiat currencies. So.... why does this riddle even exist?
Don't get me wrong, I think it's pretty inhumane that basic needs like food and water are traded as a commodity. But at the same time, the system requires it in order for it to be fair. While food should be free in theory, it's unfair to the person who has to work to produce that food. Everyone else gets paid, but not them.
This is a similar issue for energy. Energy production is not a cheap enterprise. While really, you could spend a few dollars on seeds and grow your own veggies in your backyard and grow the supply from their; energy doesn't work like that. You can't just drop 5$ on the supplies needed for a solar panel and become self sufficient. The technology needed for energy production costs money. And while solar power sounds better in theory, it's not the cheapest or most efficient system we have anymore; and if it's not the cheapest, we won't embrace it (unfortunately).
The common problem is money. Unless the monetary system is done away with entirely, this is always how it will work. Someone will always have more than you, unless you can afford to buy a congressman, in which case someone will always have less. And doing away with the money system, while completely possible, would be tricky. A shift like that would not go well given our government is controlled by men who buy their power.
The system is broken. If we ever want to fix it, we need to completely remove money from politics and corporations are to be treated as businesses, not people. Ever. Trying to buy out politicians should be a criminal offense. It should be considered an act of treason actually. It's putting your own interests way above the interests of the US.
An economic topic, but I'll see how this does here first.
I can no longer defend the theories of "capitalism." (Not that the U.S. subscribes to capitalism; it is a selectively socialist oligarchy)
The "free market" requires the economic principle of scarcity. The problem is that our most important resources (food, energy, and water) are not limited unless we artificially choose to limit their availability to populations.
Food: The organisms we consume are self-replicating. We have the farming technology to cultivate stable populations of our food. The energy needed to cultivate food is also renewable, as mentioned below.
Energy: We have 5 billion years of energy coming from that yellow ball in the sky. We also have renewable wind and hydroelectric power.
Water: Water simply changes state. There can be no water shortage, as we have the technology to purify it.
The scarcity LIES are brought to us by our governments, which have the unlimited ability to create their own fiat currencies. So.... why does this riddle even exist?
Grow your own food, purify your own water, and generate your own energy from the sun. Nothing stopping you.
Just going to address the fact that you clearly do not understand where food, power and water come from, or have much familiarity with the laws of thermodynamics, namely the one where there is no perpetual motion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Opin_Yunated
Food: The organisms we consume are self-replicating. We have the farming technology to cultivate stable populations of our food. The energy needed to cultivate food is also renewable, as mentioned below.
Energy: We have 5 billion years of energy coming from that yellow ball in the sky. We also have renewable wind and hydroelectric power.
Water: Water simply changes state. There can be no water shortage, as we have the technology to purify it.
Food must grown, harvested, and processed to a certain point before it becomes edible to just the farmer. To make it available to you, it must be stored, packaged and transported. None of these things happens naturally, and all require human effort, capital and technology to pull off. Please read "I, Pencil" to understand just what goes into even the simplest of objects.
Energy does not harness itself. Dams do not build themselves, windmills and solar panels do not create themselves, and copper wire that carries electricity to substations and the points beyond does not spin, wind, insulate and run itself. A massive infrastructure is required just to move electricity, with an even larger infrastructure behind its creation.
Water does not change state, it gets made potable. It remains the liquid state of H2O, just with varying levels of impurities. Sea water requires distillation and removal of brine. Lake/river/resevoir water typically requires some form of distillation plus halide additives (fluorine/chlorine compounds), all of which requires again a massive infrastructure to collect, purify and store, and then another for movement, distribution, maintenance, etc.
There is always loss in any extraction, refining, harvesting, etc processes. Farmland becomes less fallow. Water purification and brine/bacteria/impurity removal creates shifts in ecosystems, and energy always always undergoes loss during harnessing, conversion and propagation. There is no perpetual motion.
And of course, all of these things you think "just happen" require all sorts of countless people doing input and output labor, just to make what processes we do have possible.
That's not a failure of capitalism, it's a simple reality that food does not grow and harvest itself, water does not purify and transport itself, and rivers do not dam themselves to provide spinning power to turbines that did not build themselves. People, money, and materials are required for any of that stuff to happen.
An economic topic, but I'll see how this does here first.
I can no longer defend the theories of "capitalism." (Not that the U.S. subscribes to capitalism; it is a selectively socialist oligarchy)
The "free market" requires the economic principle of scarcity. The problem is that our most important resources (food, energy, and water) are not limited unless we artificially choose to limit their availability to populations.
Food: The organisms we consume are self-replicating. We have the farming technology to cultivate stable populations of our food. The energy needed to cultivate food is also renewable, as mentioned below.
Energy: We have 5 billion years of energy coming from that yellow ball in the sky. We also have renewable wind and hydroelectric power.
Water: Water simply changes state. There can be no water shortage, as we have the technology to purify it.
The scarcity LIES are brought to us by our governments, which have the unlimited ability to create their own fiat currencies. So.... why does this riddle even exist?
if oe wants to make capitalism work in the USA, then do away with all corporate taxes on companies in the USA and apply those corporate taxes only upon companies that have their main factories outside of the USA and restrict/tariff/tax goods coming in from other countries.
That is not a valid argument. The rest of the world has been subjected to the United States military and policy of imperialism for the last 50 years.
How did you arrive that this dubious claim? Last 50 years would take us back to 1965. That is roughly when we became engaged in Viet Nam. How do you arrive at your assertion of US imperialism when the only countries affected by the US military would be:
Viet Nam (Much to plunder in a country whos main exports are rubber and rice)
Lebanon
Siani (Observation mission)
Grenada (Loads of oil and treasure there...)
Iran (Failed hostage rescue mission)
Libya (Gulf of Sidra I and II)
Gulf War (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq)
Somalia
Yemen (Cole incident)
Balkans (Bosnia, Kosovo)
OEF (Afghanistan)
OIF (Iraq)
Everything else was humanitarian relief, joint training or evacuation/peace keeping missions.
Hardly seems like the US imposing imperialist aspirations on the "rest of the world."
I don't think imperialism means what you think it means...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
