I am long time lurker around here decided to finally join up. I had the pleasure of studying under Walter Block at Loyola University New Orleans for four years. The econ department there is of heavy Austrian influence which I found to be a breath of fresh air in my overall education.
Anyway,
What the hell are these guys talking about? Leveer is essentially arguing that innovation is responsible for the lowering of our standard of living? Common sense tells me that capitialism (although not in its purest free market form we advocate) has been responsible for the massive growth in global population we have seen in the last 100 years. This is becuase innovation frees up labour to be allocated for somewhere else, if this were not the case then wouldn’t history show a dwindling unsustainable population, or woulndn’t the incentive for innovation be zero?
The more I think about it the less I feel like its worth arguing with them. The arguments he is giving above seem to be of someone whos in it for all the wrong reasons… Since when does michigan have inhuman working conditions?
Also, if I am your employer and paying you the highest possible wage (i.e wages = MRP), and you are their voluntary, then am I not your benefactor?
This guy seems in it for all the wrong selfish reasons…
Daniel, what’s worse is the fool doesn’t know jack about the Cyclical Consumption either. It’s not all hoodoo. It simply explains the obvious: some things will keep circulating in an economy like sports memorabilia or antique furniture. And that some things like non-collector DVDs, worn tires, sneakers, and so on will be dispensed with more so over time than the former. I’m not sure this guy and his pals realize that this isn’t an issue of “money” rather it’s an issue of personal preferences. The way these folks on the Venus Project keep talking the more I’m thinking they’re much like the communists of old; claiming they can shape humanity into a socialist/communist vision. They’re more or less after their “new socialist man” in similar sort. Sadly, they’ll find that such attempts to engineer the “perfect human” have failed time and time again. And even with genetics being a potential vector, it too will fail as if Man wasn’t meant to be as such, then Nature would have extinguished its current form long ago.
But there’s always some fool trying to tell Nature what to do, eh? :3
They’re (the Venus project) using a non-conventional definition. Basically it has to do with this boogyman known as planned obsolescence. For some basic information about that look here (brb, propaganda).
From what I gather, they see the market economy built on a perpetual cycle of consuming the same things over and over just to survive because they are built “flimsily” or whatever, and that technology somehow creates “scarcity” (they’ve bastardized the term) because it pushes workers out of the job market and forces them to accept lower wages to compete with machines. These lower wages make it so they have to consume at sub standard rates. (This part is quite Keynesian.) Eventually they won’t be able to consume at liveable rates at all and the market system will crash.The guy in the video (who I gather is also Leever13) claims to have been a “Libertarian” lobbiest who knows a lot about free market theory. I’m pretty skeptical about that given that he would support such bogus theories.
More interesting then the HowTheWorldWorks’ critique was the background infomation he gave about the movie prior to his critique. Apparantly many school systems have been showing this video to children as young as 9 years old.
Children are now learning about how capitalism is destroying our planet before they are being taught what capitalism is.
I only linked to it because I had to watch this a few weeks ago as part of my college level english course, and then I had to write an essay based on its premise and it was fresh in my memory. The first part of HowTheWorldWork’s critique came out around the time I was finishing it. He did a good job, though I don’t see how it’s worth the time to debate such a repugnant piece of fiction.
I plan this game where I slash the entire budget…for some reason the game assumes there will still be a government after that which incurs debt…curious.
The essay was about “unperceived” frames in the stages of production of some product based off the model in the video. I wrote it on the dollar, but I skimped a lot because I procrastinated, so it’s pretty much garbage and a lot of stuff I simply asserted because I didn’t have time to gather sources and I was just trying to get a good grade. I’ll edit it when I’m done with my classes and post it up.
It might have seemed ridiculous to you upon watching it because you went into it with a background in free-market economics. For most people this is probably not the case, especially since it is was made in a way to appeal to even the youngest of audiences. HowTheWorldWorks’ critique doesn’t have the same appeal to small children but at least it’s a rebuttal and will hopefully inspire a more children friendly version.
If any good comes from the story of stuff a children’s introduction to capitalism could be it. Whether in the form of a video game, flash video, movie, or just a children orinted website. Anything is better then the nothing. These lies shouldn’t go unchallenged.
It’s funny how this guy critisizes capitalism without reading “Economics in One Lesson”, which is obvious by his points ie the machinery killing jobs analogy shows that he doesn’t know what he’s talkin about.
Its simply contrary to common sense. If machinery killed jobs and our standard of living then the last 150 years of history with heavy machine driven industry must be a frabrication?
One thing I have always been curious about is the loss of peoples specialization in Jobs made obsolete or atleast obscure by innovation/automation. Maybe its all the post-apocolyptic fiction I’ve been reading lately (World Made By Hand, and The Road) but the one scary thought I get is the idea that some very basic skills and knowledge can be lost all together by the innovation driven by a free market system.
Don’t get me wrong I’m all for advancement in technologey and machinery etc, but do you think less and less people in the word have a bloody clue how the technologey in their every day lives works? I just get worried when I stare at my Iphone and think to myself, “I have no clue what the hell that thing is…”
For 3 year olds. Basically the Nickelodeon Kids site with capitalist and free market oriented games songs and skits. Let kids produce, trade, consume and save but dress it up with primary colours and talking animals.