The economy is an ecosystem, not a machine

Features of economies:

(1) Workers participate in economic activity to support themselves so... economies exist to promote worker survival and well-being

(2) Economies cannot be destroyed (the collapse of nations and empires -modern examples are Somalia and the British Empire- do not eliminate commerce or trade).

(3) Economies cannot be repressed (even in the most straightened of circumstances where capital and goods are in short supply; infrastructure is nonexistent and social structure best described as absent -such as refugee camps- trade commences and economies develop). Likewise, the collapse of Wall St. financial institutions would seriously stall major economic activity but workers would still work/exchange/trade/barter goods and services to survive.

(4) Economies change over time in response to changes in technology and culture.

Economies are self-organizing, self-sustaining entities.

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Features of machines:

(1) Machines are designed (to perform a specific function).

(2) Machines need an operator (at minimum, someone flip the start switch).

(3) Machines can operate in range from full capacity to completely off.

(4) Machine operation can be restored by repairing/replacing malfunctioning part(s).

(5) Machines are static - they cannot change independent of an outside agent.

Machines are fully controlled by designers and operators.

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Features of ecosystem:

(1) Ecosystems cannot be fully destroyed. They can be decimated to the point of little economic import (desertified agricultural land) but some degree of wildlife will always be present (bacteria, fungi, insects, plants…).

(2) Ecosystems are self-organizing. After any large scale environmental disruption, ecological communities undergoes ecological succession, the progressive migration of new colonizing species to an established community of stable species of a climax community (provided climatic and other major disruptors are in check). They evolve over time through changes in species composition and number.

(3) Ecosystems are self-sustaining through self-organized food webs.

Ecosystems are self-organizing, self-sustaining living communities.

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Lessons from Great Recession (and Great Depression):

-No single legislative action has returned economy to ‘full’ operation (repairing/replacing broken ‘part’ hasn’t fixed the problem).

-Commerce did not suddenly stop and disappear.

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So which makes for a better metaphor for economies, machines or ecosystems?

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Apply to Tim Geitner at the U.S. Treasury Department

Wanted: Stress testers for financial firms bearing greatest responsibility for Great Recession in the United States. The ability of financial institutions to withstand such outside pressure without sustaining damage will prove beyond doubt the stability of their foundations.

Specific skills sought: Championship level professional and amateur ping pong players with ability to precisely hit financial institutions at selected targets with minimum force. A committee of building architects and engineers will identify the load bearing (thus strongest) elements of  financial institutions as targets for single hit stress test. Accuracy is essential as a single hit is sufficient without risking any damage in the process of stress testing.

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Apply to Republican and Democratic law makers of the U.S.A. Congress

Wanted: Stress testers for the United States Postal Service (USPS) to ensure that the pension demands of all present and future USPS employees will not be a financial liability on federal tax dollars.

Specific skills sought: Anyone with experience at point and shoot video games who can be legally employed in their state of residence. Seek ability to target any USPS facility with a hand-held or vehicle mounted ground-to-ground missile with minimal damage to adjacent structures. While any damage to any USPS  is proof of failure, there will be sufficient missiles to destroy all structures in question.

[links to image sources: here and here]

A better mousetrap... er... toothbrush

NPR did a story several months ago about a new toothbrush. And it seems they have brought it to market... at $16 a piece. So far as I understand, the innovation is in designing a grip that results in a 45 degree angle tilt of the brush while brushing teeth... just out of curiosity, wouldn't cutting the brush bristles into a 45 degree angle be cheaper and achieve a similar outcome?

Informing consumers

It is fair to say that informed consumers are a positive force in free markets because a market where “prices for goods and services are set freely by consent between sellers and consumers… free from any intervention by… authority” needs market competition to set prices. And competition is hinged on consumer choice. This is where information comes in - informed consumers have the tools to differentiate products and services and make buying decisions accordingly; uninformed consumers are dupes, malleable and subject to the persuasive antics of marketing campaigns. So only informed consumers are truly capable of participating in market competition necessary to a free market. This means a real free market demands producer transparency.

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Examples of product labeling…

GMO content (in food)
list of ingredients (food)
Nutrition label (food)
Fiber content (clothing)
Washing instructions (clothing)
Made in…
Assembled in…

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But separately mandating transparency for each class of consumer products through legislation counters the “free from any intervention by… authority” of free markets. So what would be the least intrusive legislative means to inform consumers about market products? A single law would encompass many of these issues: demand that all claims on product labels be truthful. This allows producers to be as transparent or opaque as they wish and consumers are assured that the available information is true, even when incomplete.

For example, any of the following lists of ingredients would be consistent with a truth in labeling law:
-flour, sugar, salt…
-pesticide free: pesticide free (flour, sugar, salt… )
-95% GMO free: non-GMO flour, non-GMO sugar, salt…
-organic: organic (flour, sugar, salt…)
-95% organic: organic flour, organic sugar, salt…
-flour, HFCS from glyphosphate treated corn, salt...

An interested consumer would reasonably infer the first three contains ingredients derived from conventional and/or GMO crops and the last contains GMO corn. A disinterested consumer would not bother to read the list and make purchases based on other criteria. And fanatical consumers will choose to cook at home from quality ingredients.

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Food labeling rules have been among the most contentious in recent years. Anti-labeling forces have often made paternalistic arguments: studies have shown [GMOs] are not dangerous to humans; labeling [GMO] foods would promote fear of ‘frankenfood’; BSE testing/reporting would generate confusion amongst consumers. These are baseless arguments because added information will clear up the confusion of interested consumers and disinterested consumers will be unaffected one way or another.

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Producers would not be able to claim unfairness because they are free to respond to market forces by changing their product… labeling, marketing, production, formula, etc... at will. A truth in labelling law does not compell transparency or disclosure. Untenable truths can be avoided by evasion, in which case, the only information available to consumers is through the process of comparison.

This also has the benefit of extending transparency to all consumer products, including manufactured goods and pharmaceuticals. Minimum regulation for maximum benefit for all concerned.

First extinction event?

A claim frequently made by climate change skeptics is that humans cannot create a sufficient imbalance in nature to cause climate change. They deny that the current mass extinction is related in any way to human activity. Is it not curious that an early, perhaps first, extinction event was precipitated by the anaerobic metabolism of microscopic life which released sufficient free oxygen into the atmosphere to allow aerobic life, like mammals, to evolve (see here and here)? It would appear that living creatures can unwittingly change their environment. The question for humans is can/will we do so wittingly.

Time in an infinite universe

Does time exist in an infinite universe (greater universe than the one we occupy)? If all possibilities are always present, can past be differentiated from present?

Trickle down is working too well…

The problem isn’t that trickle down economics isn’t working. The problem is it is working all too well…

Capital, therefore wealth, is produced by the labor of workers. Instead of a more equitable distribution of this wealth where workers retain a sizable proportion of the capital they create…

…The capital made by workers/managers flows down through legal and illegal corporate practices backed by government policy to concentrate with the 0.1%.