RE: Competitive Spirit - A World Threat?
Dead-weight loss is an economic concept. When supply doesn't match demand there is either excess capacity or not enough. This creates dead-weight loss, it's a huge problem in a command economy and best solved by free market economics. Basically you have too much of a product and it goes to waste, such as grain rotting in a silo. Or too little such as not enough skilled workers so jobs go unfilled and production falls. I was not referring to just 'dead weight'. Everyone can find a place in society with time and supply and demand is brought into equilibrium.
Unproductive land and capital isn't just a capitalist mindset, it's a problem in all types of economies. I was referring to the fact that capital gains and dividends often get favourable taxation over labour, it's unfair and regressive to poor people who only have their labour. Corporate welfare is just as common in a socialist country were the government often grants monopolies to the capital and land owners favoring the establishment, often land isn't used to it's full potential either and pollution is rampant because the companies are owned by the state. Only in an ideal model are these problems solved but there aren't any real world examples. Humans are greedy, that's why I prefer cats.
Okay, I get what you are referring to. IMO, we have a tendency to seek the maximum benefit out of our resources. This leads to their exploitation. To make our production efficient, we strive to create an equilibrium between demand and supply. But imho, Nature intends to offer abundance. We are actually creating artificial problems by first creating demand and then trying to fulfil it efficiently.
What if, there ain't enough "skilled" workers and they choose to use whatever skills they have elsewhere? Yes, some production will fall but let it fall! What if some land is lying "unused" or some crop is in surplus? All these parameters are arbitrary and are anthropocentric. Nothing is a "waste" in Nature.
Yes, if the world were ruled by cats, it would have been a lot better, I guess.
Well said. Nature is definitely in harmony, economys are not.