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On Fri, 26 Oct 2007, Toby DiPasquale wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 26, 2007 at 05:22:36PM -0400, Matthew Rosewarne wrote:
> > On Friday 26 October 2007, zuzu wrote:
> > > selling "units" of a mass-produced item is a relic of a manufacturing
> > > economy. in a knowledge economy, it's selling the _creativity_ of
> > > _people_ that's the scarce/valuable commodity. instead of buying
> > > "things" we need to focus on buying "people" in the form of creative
> > > labor (vis-a-vis opportunity cost) to invent _new_ features and
> > > functionality. last I checked, your brain is the only one of its
> > > kind.
> >
> > Most of what we buy, particularly what we _need_ to buy, is the product of the
> > manufacturing economy. Creative labour isn't really that important if you
> > can't build whatever it is that you're dreaming up. A major problem for the
> > US is that we have bought into the idea that we no longer need to make
> > anything, and so we are actively dissolving our economic future. The reason
> > the US rose to be an economic powerhouse in the late 19th century, other than
> > its agricultural prowess, was its immense manufacturing base. Only in recent
> > history did we essentially abandon manufacturing to become a consumer
> > and "knowledge" economy, which is an entirely unsustainable model. It's not
> > that we don't need creativity or knowledge, but unless we can actually
> > manufacture things, our chances of continued success are quite slim.
>
> I would caution you, Matt, to perhaps read up on this subject a bit more.
> Your statements indicate a clear lack of understanding of basic economics
> and the US and world economies.
>
Practicioners of the dismal science tend to engage in wishful thinking
ranging from the communist blatherings of the economists of the old
Soviet Union to the Chicago University's use of Chile as a laboratory
for its theories after the coup against Allende.
Based upon what happened in other countries when they were in the state
we are now, the prognosis is not good but that doesn't mean that we must
simply accept our fate and drop into the ashcan of history. We should
rail against the night as the poet said.
By the way, the Europeans are encouraging American guest workers. We
have a resevior of under employed but educated workers much as Ireland
used to have.
bs
> --
> Toby DiPasquale
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>
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