"Good heavens, potatoes are worth more than gold!"

"Surely not!"

"If you were shipwrecked on a desert island, what would you prefer, a bag of potatoes or a bag of gold?"

"Yes, but a desert island isn't Ankh-Morpork!"

"And that proves gold is only valuable because we agree it is, right? It's just a dream. But a potato is always worth a potato, anywhere. Add a knob of butter and a pinch of salt and you've got a meal, anywhere. Bury gold in the ground and you'll be worrying about thieves forever. Bury a potato and in due season you could be looking at a dividend of a thousand percent."

Terry Pratchett, Making Money

Anyone who has played the board game Monopoly is well versed in the dynamics of Success to the Successful: players who are lucky enough to land on expensive properties early in the game can buy them up, build hotels, and reap vast rents from their fellow players, thus accumulating a winning fortune as they bankrupt the rest. Fascinatingly, however, the game was originally called ‘The Landlord's Game’ and was designed precisely to reveal the injustice arising out of such concentrated property ownership, not to celebrate it.

The game's inventor, Elizabeth Magie, was an outspoken supporter of Henry George's ideas, and when she first created her game in 1903, she gave it two very different sets of rules to be played in turn. Under the 'Prosperity' set of rules, every player gained each time someone acquired a new property (echoing George's call for a land value tax), and the game was won (by all) when the player who had started out with the least money had doubled it. Under the second, ‘Monopolist’ set of rules, players gained by charging rent to those who were unfortunate enough to land on their properties and whoever managed to bankrupt the rest was the sole winner. The purpose of the dual sets of rules, said Magie, was for players to experience a practical demonstration of the present system of land grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences and so understand how different approaches to property ownership can lead to vastly different social outcomes. ‘It might well have been called “The Game of Life”’, remarked Magie, ‘as it contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world.’ But when the games manufacturer, Parker Brothers, bought the patent for The Landlord's Game from Magie in the 1930s, they relaunched it simply as Monopoly and provided the eager public with just one set of rules: those that celebrate the triumph of one over all.

-Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist

Dumb Money

Money spent buying things is good for an economy & even stands a chance of increasing egalitarianism. In contrast, money invested is far more chaotic— And yet? When people run out of things to buy it is said then they must invest. And when invested in by others? well then you must reshape your actions, not even to the whims of your investors but rather to serve the legally binding needs of the “bottom line.” A line which may, when best served, lead you to discover yourself enacting cruelties you could not have managed to imagine (much less perpetrate) for the pedestrian, greedy task of merely increasing your own money. No, now you commit atrocities with all the credulous honor of a high priest in the name of shareholders and “fiduciary responsibility.”

Herein, at last, we see the corporation: opening its eyes, becoming a sentient, ravenous creature of abstractly defined desires. The first AI running on a mechanical computer made of the actions and choices of thousands of people.

I’m not so naive to suggest no joint ventures or limited liability should exist. It’s true sometimes people have a good idea, but no money— a goal of great expense, raising capital to make it happen then is only right.

I wish simply there was more care for how we shape the creatures we choose to embody— a need not just to raise money, but also to earn trust of a kind of quorum of individuals ready to take responsibility for the new monster. No more illusions of magic boxes where one would place a sum of money at night to then find it increased by dawn.

What I’m saying is in essence this: those we call “investors” are often not invested in the companies they realize at all! Many of these would be horrified by the ‘work’ their money has enabled. Or disgusted with the frivolous and intrinsically fraudulent character of the corporate projects they have sponsored; this system so designed to make exploitative extraction, liquidation mines and even pure con jobs not just easy, but inevitable, ordinary, and most conveniently morally distant.

The Philosophy of Abundance

The philosophy of abundance is a perspective or worldview that emphasizes the inherent richness, generosity, and potential for growth and fulfillment in the world. It contrasts with scarcity mentality, which focuses on limitations, competition, and the belief that resources are finite and insufficient for everyone's needs. The philosophy of abundance encompasses various principles and beliefs that shape attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions towards life, prosperity, and well-being. Here are some key aspects of the philosophy of abundance:

Gratitude and Appreciation: The philosophy of abundance encourages individuals to cultivate gratitude and appreciation for the abundance already present in their lives, including relationships, experiences, opportunities, and resources. By focusing on what one has rather than what is lacking, individuals can experience greater satisfaction and fulfillment.

Positive Mindset: Adopting a positive mindset is central to the philosophy of abundance. It involves cultivating optimism, hope, and belief in one's ability to create and attract abundance in various areas of life, such as wealth, health, relationships, and personal growth. Positive thinking can lead to increased resilience, motivation, and creativity in overcoming challenges and pursuing goals.

Abundance Mentality: Abundance mentality is the belief that there is more than enough to go around for everyone, and that success and prosperity are not zero-sum games. It entails embracing a mindset of abundance in which opportunities, resources, and possibilities are plentiful and accessible to those who seek them. This mindset fosters collaboration, generosity, and a willingness to share and support others in their pursuits.

Law of Attraction: The philosophy of abundance is often associated with the law of attraction, which posits that individuals can attract positive or negative experiences into their lives based on their thoughts, beliefs, and intentions. By focusing on abundance and visualizing desired outcomes, individuals can purportedly manifest their dreams and goals more effectively.

Generosity and Sharing: Embracing abundance involves being generous and open-handed with one's time, energy, talents, and resources. Acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity contribute to the circulation of abundance in the world and create a ripple effect of positive impact on others. Giving without expecting anything in return fosters a sense of interconnectedness and abundance consciousness.

Growth Mindset: The philosophy of abundance encourages a growth mindset, characterized by a belief in the capacity for learning, development, and improvement over time. Embracing challenges, seeking opportunities for growth, and embracing failure as a stepping stone to success are key aspects of a growth-oriented approach to life.

Environmental Stewardship: Abundance philosophy extends to the natural world, emphasizing the importance of environmental stewardship, sustainability, and responsible use of resources. Recognizing the Earth's abundant natural resources and biodiversity, individuals are called to protect and preserve the planet for future generations.

Overall, the philosophy of abundance promotes a mindset of abundance, gratitude, generosity, and possibility, inviting individuals to embrace the richness and potential inherent in every aspect of life.

Being an anarchist and an economist is so weird because my professor will introduce some core concept that 40% of the entire field is built around and I'm just like, "I disagree"

Jordan Peterson

Persuasive – but mostly nutty – theories about economics, religion, class and gender drove poor and working women from the country and into the sweatshops of the early factories in the middle of the eighteenth century.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

Late Stage Theory vs Reality

Exploited workers in false class solidarity with the billionaire class, seem to always want to use hypotheticals and theories to justify the poor living conditions of a vast majority of working age human beings. Just the concept of, “earn a living” is a skewed paradigm of existence in a world with more than enough to go around for all humans to live comfortably. Being able to live comfortable…

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Consumption Ghost

Consumption ghost is an economic term and it refers to goods which are sold in a life time due to changing circumstances. An example of consumption ghost is the masks sold during the Covid time and now they have become useless.

The Circular Flow diagram depicted labour appearing—hey presto!—fresh and ready for work each day at the office or factory door. So who cooked, cleaned up, and cleared away to make that possible? When Adam Smith, extolling the power of the market, noted that it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, he forgot to mention the benevolence of his mother, Margaret Douglas, who had raised her boy alone from birth. Smith never married, so had no wife to rely upon (nor children of his own to raise). At the age of 43, as he began to write his opus, The Wealth of Nations, he moved back in with his cherished old mum, from whom he could expect his dinner every day. But her role in it all never got a mention in his economic theory, and it subsequently remained invisible for centuries.

As a result, mainstream economic theory is obsessed with the productivity of waged labour while skipping right over the unpaid work that makes it all possible, as feminist economists have made clear for decades. That work is known by many names: unpaid caring work, the reproductive economy, the love economy, the second economy. However, as economist Neva Goodwin has pointed out, far from being secondary, it is actually the ‘core economy,’ and it comes first every day, sustaining the essentials of family and social life with the universal human resources of time, knowledge, skill, care, empathy, teaching and reciprocity. And if you have never really thought of it before, then it's time you met your inner housewife (because we all have one). She lives in the daily dealings of making breakfast, washing the dishes, tidying the house, shopping for groceries, teaching the children to walk and to share, washing clothes, caring for elderly parents, emptying the rubbish bins, collecting kids from school, helping the neighbours, making the dinner, sweeping the floor and lending an ear. She carries out all those tasks—some with open arms, others through gritted teeth—that underpin personal and family well-being and sustain social life.

We all have a hand in this core economy, but some people (like Adam Smiths mum) spend far more time in it than others. Time may be a universal human resource, but it varies hugely in terms of how we each get to experience and use it, how far we control it, and how it is valued. In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, time spent in the core economy is particularly visible because, when the state fails to deliver and the market is out of reach, householders have to make provision for many more of their needs directly. Millions of women and girls spend hours walking miles each day, carrying their body weight in water, food or firewood on their heads, often with a baby strapped to their back—and all for no pay. But this gendered division of paid and unpaid work is prevalent in every society, albeit sometimes less visibly so. And since work in the core economy is unpaid, it is routinely undervalued and exploited, generating lifelong inequalities in social standing, job opportunities, income and power between women and men.

By largely ignoring the core economy, mainstream economics has also overlooked just how much the paid economy depends upon it. Without all that cooking, washing, nursing and sweeping, there would be no workers—today or in the future—who were healthy, well-fed and ready for work each morning. As the futurist Alvin Toffler liked to ask at smart gatherings of business executives, ‘How productive would your workforce be if it hadn't been toilet trained?’ The scale of the core economy's contribution is not to be dismissed lightly, either. In a 2002 study of Basle, a wealthy Swiss city, the estimated value of unpaid care being provided in the city's households exceeded the total cost of salaries paid in all of Basle's hospitals, day care centers and schools, from the directors to the janitors. Likewise, a 2014 survey of 15,000 mothers in the United States calculated that, if women were paid the going hourly rate for each of their roles—switching between housekeeper and daycare teacher to van driver and cleaner—then stay-at-home mums would earn around $120,000 each year. Even mothers who do head out to work each day would earn an extra $70,000 on top of the actual wages, given all the unpaid care they also provide at home.

Why does it matter that this core economy should be visible in economics? Because the household provision of care is essential for human well-being, and producivity in the paid economy depends directly upon it. It matters because when—in the name of austerty and public sector savings—governments cut budgets for children's daycare centres, community services, parental leave and youth clubs, the need for care-giving doesn't disappear: it just gets pushed back into the home. The pressure, particularly on women's time, can force them out of work and increase social stress and vulnerability. That undermines both well-being and women's empowerment, with multiple knock-on effects for society and the economy alike. In short, including the household economy in the new diagram of the macroeconomy is the first step in recognising its centrality, and in reducing and redistributing women's unpaid work.

-Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist

consummate growth is the the ideology of cancer. when we talk about economic growth as an indicator of economic health, what we really should be measuring is sustainability. that’s the real goal.

Theories of the Philosophy of Microeconomics

The philosophy of microeconomics encompasses various theories and approaches that seek to understand the principles, assumptions, and implications of individual decision-making within the context of markets and economic systems. Some key theories in the philosophy of microeconomics include:

Rational Choice Theory: Rational choice theory posits that individuals make decisions by maximizing utility or satisfaction given their preferences, constraints, and available information. It assumes that individuals act in their self-interest and make choices that maximize their well-being.

Marginalism: Marginalism examines how individuals make decisions at the margin, weighing the benefits and costs of small changes or incremental units of goods and services. It emphasizes the importance of marginal analysis in determining optimal decision-making and resource allocation.

Utility Theory: Utility theory explores the concept of utility as a measure of satisfaction or happiness derived from consuming goods and services. It investigates how individuals allocate their limited resources to maximize utility, subject to budget constraints and preferences.

Consumer Choice Theory: Consumer choice theory analyzes how consumers make decisions about what goods and services to purchase based on their preferences, budget constraints, and the prices of goods in the market. It explores consumer behavior, demand curves, and the determinants of consumer choice.

Production Theory: Production theory examines the behavior of firms and producers in allocating resources to produce goods and services. It analyzes the relationship between inputs (such as labor and capital) and outputs, the concept of production functions, and the factors influencing production decisions.

Market Equilibrium: Market equilibrium theory explores the interaction of supply and demand in determining prices and quantities exchanged in markets. It examines how markets reach equilibrium through the adjustment of prices and quantities to balance supply and demand.

Game Theory: Game theory studies strategic interactions between rational decision-makers, such as individuals, firms, or governments, in competitive or cooperative settings. It analyzes the outcomes of strategic interactions, including the Nash equilibrium, cooperation, and competition.

Information Economics: Information economics investigates the role of information and uncertainty in economic decision-making. It examines how individuals gather, process, and act on information in markets, the impact of asymmetric information on market outcomes, and the role of signaling and screening mechanisms.

Behavioral Economics: Behavioral economics integrates insights from psychology and economics to study how cognitive biases, heuristics, and social factors influence economic behavior. It challenges the assumptions of rationality and explores deviations from standard economic models.

Welfare Economics: Welfare economics evaluates the efficiency and equity of resource allocation in economic systems. It assesses the welfare implications of market outcomes, including market failures, externalities, income distribution, and the role of government intervention.

These theories and approaches in the philosophy of microeconomics provide frameworks for understanding individual decision-making, market dynamics, and the allocation of resources in economic systems.

Top Heavy : A New Accounting and The Volunteer Economy

Many of these aboriginal cosmologies, like that of the Amazonian Ufaina people referred to above, involve sophisticated conceptualizations of the flow of "life energy" that parallel contemporary environmental and economic theories, including Bataille's theory of General Economy.

"Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity" - Bruce Bagemihl

Arnold Schwarzenegger

"I knew I was a winner back in the late sixties. I knew I was destined for great things. People will say that kind of thinking is totally immodest. I agree. Modesty is not a word that applies to me in any way - I hope it never will."-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Capitalism

Capitalism has been the dominant economic system in the United States for centuries. While many supporters of capitalism argue that it has led to unprecedented economic growth and opportunity, critics point out that it has also left large portions of US society behind. In this blog, we will explore how capitalism has failed many people in the United States.

One of the most significant ways in which capitalism has failed large portions of US society is through the widening income gap between the rich and poor. Over the past several decades, the wealth of the top 1% of Americans has skyrocketed, while the wages of many workers have stagnated. This has led to poverty, unemployment, and a lack of access to basic necessities for a significant portion of the population.

Capitalism has also been criticized for exploiting workers. Companies that are driven solely by the profit motive often prioritize their bottom line over the well-being of their employees. This can result in low wages, poor working conditions, and a lack of benefits such as healthcare and paid time off. Many workers in the United States are forced to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and some are unable to access basic healthcare services.

Another way in which capitalism has failed large portions of US society is through environmental degradation. Capitalism is driven by the principle of growth and expansion, which can lead to overconsumption and environmental damage. This has resulted in pollution, deforestation, and other forms of environmental degradation that disproportionately affect low-income communities.

Finally, capitalism has also been criticized for creating a culture of materialism and consumerism. The constant drive to accumulate more wealth and possessions can lead to a focus on material goods rather than on more meaningful pursuits such as community involvement and personal relationships.

In conclusion, while capitalism has led to significant economic growth and innovation, it has also failed many people in the United States. The widening income gap, exploitation of workers, environmental degradation, and culture of materialism are just a few examples of how capitalism has left large portions of US society behind. In order to create a more just and equitable society, it is important to address these issues and explore alternative economic models that prioritize social welfare and environmental sustainability.