[email protected]
[email/finger/index]
|
|
|
History of the Free Market Democracy
I. Initial conditions: Everyone has fairly equal amounts of currency. Everyone is involved in one of the "menial" professions - shelter construction, food and energy production. Everyone in these professions can produce slightly more than he needs. [Why? The fact that other societies have artists, politicians, scientists, salesmen, etc... none of which are involved in the "menial" professions... shows that this is possible.] Let's say each person is able to produce enough for the survival of 1.7 people. II. An inventor creates something everyone wants and is rewarded with more currency that he can ever use (if he lives like everyone else). He stops working. His real production value is now 0. A slight inflation, but hardly noticeable. III. The rich man can now afford to pay for the livelihoods of other people. So he hires people away from the "menial" professions. Real production drops, inflation goes up. But the rich man and his employees both have more than they did before. The employees become lawyers, philosophers, politicians, soldiers. Other "menial" workers stop their work and become salesmen, to convince the rich man that there are other things he wants, and thus get rich off the rich... just like stockbrokers. IV. Laws are passed by the rich man's lawyers, enforced by the rich man's soldiers. Eventually the "menial" workers become the poorest in the land. Some sell out to the rich man. Others work the rich man's land as hirelings. Others go into debt to try to keep production up. V. How has civilization survived so long? What is the balancing mechanism? Revolution. After the revolution, the cycle starts over at step I. If the rich have hired enough soldiers, revolution fails to happen on a large scale. Instead, there is petty crime. VI. When democracy was invented, revolution became part of the system. No ruler could rule for more than 8 years. However, because rulers are either rich themselves or are funded by the rich to run their campaigns, very little is done. And so the voters tell themselves, "Well, better luck next election." VII. When the corporation was invented, a new kind of rich being came into existance. This rich being has even more currency than rich individuals (though loans, stock, earnings, etc). It hires more people away from the "menial" professions to be patent lawyers, to make office equipment and office furniture, to build skyscrapers, to try to create greed through advertising, to print company newsletters. Short-term gain for the employees followed by long-term inflation of the goods produced by the "menial" professions. VIII. Maynard, Karl, Ayn, and Alan each have 100 g.p. (that's gold pieces for you non-dungeons&dragons economists). Maynard and Karl put their gold in First Bank, while Ayn and Alan put their gold in National Bank. First Bank has 200 g.p. and can now give a 50 g.p. loan to Alan. Alan now has 150 g.p. in his bank account. When Maynard and Karl check their bank accounts, they still say 100 g.p. each. National Bank now has 250 g.p. and makes a 100 g.p. loan to Maynard, who (according to his bank) now has 200 g.p. in his bank account. Back and forth it goes. Money magically appears without a single paper bill being printed. It can't be helped. The question isn't whether money should be created out of thin air, the question is what those people are being paid to do. Producing skyscrapers? Producing palaces? And then Malthusians wonder why there are so many people but not enough food or basic shelter to go around.
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. For I have prisons to fill and corrections officers who need jobs."
The Currency Strike |