[p2p-research] Scientific American: Does Economics Violate the Laws of Physics?

[Patrick Anderson]

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 1:04 PM, Tere Vadén <tere.vaden at uta.fi> wrote:
> Here's a great table on EROEI:

Hmm... "Estimated Return On Investment" is talking about Profit.

But is Profit the only reason for production?

What about the product itself?  Doesn't anybody care about that?

What if the investors could be satisfied with receiving "at cost"
product?  Is that possible?

What if the investors were paid in product instead of needing to keep
price above cost?

What if the investors were the very same humans intending to use the product?

Why are we so sure we must have a group of predatory investors that
take value from production?


Clearly there is something wrong with our thinking about the economy.

But if we are confused about how the machine works, why are we so
reluctant to reconsider some of our base assumptions?

Most would agree that Profit appears to be a problem once it is
'large' enough; but then why can we not reconsider the idea that there
is no other reason for production than to keep price above cost?

We must protect the workers in the oil fields and refineries and the
truckers, etc. by helping them to also become investors and owners in
the physical sources of the products that *they* use as well.

If the consumers were the investors and therefore owners, there would
also be no trouble with automating the work away, as it would only
reduce costs.

We must each have ownership in the material means of production for
the purpose of "at cost" product so we can receive the outputs we each
need without the 'need' to be employed.

We will each need to trade our skills with others that have skills we
do not have, but in those cases we will only be working toward the
elimination of work instead of seeing it as a requirement for
survival.

The owners of physical sources are also the owners of the *objects* of
those sources, so work is simply a hurdle to be overcome, not a need
in and of itself when the owners and consumers are one and the same.

If we can overcome our psychological conditioning that leads us down
strange (scarcity is good) roads based on the faulty assumption that
Profit is more important that Product, then we can solve nearly every
issue that has been discussed lately here about the 'trouble' caused
by automation and finally view it as an increase in leisure instead of
being muddled in the illogic that causes us to believe destruction is
good.


Patrick Anderson
Personal Sovereignty Foundation
http://SourceFreedom.BlogSpot.com