[quote=FlyerInHi]I would like Pope Francis to address the paradox of thrift.
CAr, if we all saved (consume less), we’d all be the poorer because the size of the economy would shrink at least 30%, as you put it.
I was having this conversation with a friend. He believes that if everyone worked harder and saved, we’ll be all the better. Not true, I pointed out. If everyone had perfectly good work ethics, we’d lose a lot jobs.
For example, around the house… If you cook your own food, cut your own hair, do you own repairs, clean your own house, etc… you can dispense of many services. That’s good for you, but bad for the economy.
Nobody wants to deal with it, but there’s a conflict between economic growth (human well-being as defined in economic terms) and conservation.
About granite countertops. These days, china produces so much of it that prices are the same as Formica now. The giant diamond saws can slice through granite rock like butter. Just think how granite countertop prices have dropped in the last couple decades, despite increasing demand. The material is taken for granted now.[/quote]
This is precisely why we have to look at alternative ways to manage our economy and our global resources. The way it’s going is not sustainable.
As for those granite countertops, it’s not the price that was/is the problem. The problem is that many Americans will throw away perfectly good cabinets and countertops just because their existing ones are “outdated” (lordy, how I hate that word). Do you think it’s ecologically sound to mine for granite and ship this heavy material overseas, or even around the country, when it’s completely unnecessary? Not to mention that waste that’s created when old stuff is torn out and discarded because it’s “old.”
Yes, labor specialization is more efficient and it adds to the GDP and tax base because we create transactions out of thin air. It’s like my arguments about “women’s work.” Why is childcare valuable when you’re doing it for someone else’s child, but not when you’re doing it for your own child? Why is fixing your car valuable when you’re doing it for someone else, but not when you’re doing it for yourself? It’s not that people are doing more work, it’s just that the work has been commoditized.
By forcing people to trade everything instead of doing things for themselves, we DO make things more efficient, but we lose the ability to do things for oneself (back in the day, people knew how to fix cars, build houses, make and fix basic machines, etc.) and taxes us for doing the same work as we were doing before, without being taxed. It enables a central power to control the economy and the labor force in ways that they never could if everyone worked independently and in a self-sustaining manner.
Not advocating a return to a craftsman/agrarian lifestyle, but just stating that much of the “growth” in our economy isn’t really growth, but the movement of labor from the individual to the corporate model.
