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Economy - Blog Posts
Dad Talks. EP. 1 | Ethical Economics AKA Humanity vs. Capitalism
The Context - Discussion with friend over text
Friend : We still put money before people.
Me : But as humanity grows we’re more knowledgeable now, and we’ll catch people and hold them accountable for it.
Friend : Literally the opposite has happened.
Me : I refuse to give up on the good of humanity.
Friend : Oh, Humanity is good. Capitalism is evil.
The Discussion with Dad - Also over text, and prompted by me presenting the above discussion and my thoughts on it.
Me : Greed is evil, economy is a neutral entity that is wielded. It is one man’s greed that sours it.
Well this poses an interesting question.
Can a concept, which due to the nature of human history, is created by man be neutral? If it is created by humans, who are intrinsically biased and lean forwards either positive or negative questions, then can it truly be neutral?
Can I claim that something man made is neutral when I proclaim man is good but inherently fallible?
Dad : Sounds like you are doing fine. You pose the more interesting question. Capitalism, and even the idea of economics, are man-made creations. But not necessarily in the way a building or an invention is, or.a book or painting.
Economics comes from the idea that humans require, or desire, certain things to survive, and take action to acquire those things. As the types and numbers of things fluctuate, as well as how many humans and there are and how those things are produced, certain patterns of behavior emerge that seem to be driven by the numerous variable. Hence we study economics as a sort of science - it seems to operate under certain principles that can be deduced by observation and testing. It’s sort of like anthropology or sociology, we are trying to understand how humans have developed or how they will respond.
Me : So in considering it’s study being a science, can we presume we should be neutral in judging its patterns and more so directing moral judgements on those who use the properties of economics to act?
Dad : Capitalism is at, its heart, a theory of economics. One might even say it is the most basic and fundamental theory of how economics works. But it makes assumptions about how people respond to their economic stimuli and their motives. The primary assumption is that people will act to maximize their things. (Keep in mind that I am not an economist and that there is a great deal of literature on this topic - it has been studied a lot.)
There are other theories that predict that people and societies react differently. Capitalism tends to be more individualistic. Socialism and communism more focused on the wellness of the group.
Me : So does capitalism assume greed or does capitalism encourage greed?
Dad : I think you can approach any of those theories with a certain neutrality; the theories themselves are neither good nor evil. How people apply those theories can be approached from an ethical standpoint.
Me : Fair.
Dad : Does capitalism assume greed or encourage greed? Interesting question. Probably both, but even greed might not be the right word.
Then the question is what is the word that capitalism works off of.
Well, the question overall is interesting because in economics it is difficult to separate economic theory from an economic system. That is precisely because humans are involved. It is a bit like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle or Schrodinger’s Cat - you can’t know the outcome or state of the system unless you act to measure it, but your act of measuring it determines the state of the system.
In economics, how one believes the system works depends partly on how one believes humans act or should act, and humans can work in different ways.
Me : Damn.
This leaves me and my friend very much at odds because I believe we think inherently differently on the way humans work. I think we both find humans to be naturally good, but I more easily overlook the times human do bad to embrace the times human do good while they are the reverse.
I will lean towards capitalism because I like the individualistic approach while still having great faith that more times than not humans will do good.
Dad : You will find there are several different version of capitalism as an economic and political ideology.
Me : But my friend leans towards socialism because they have seen too many times that humanity can be bad and the system abused, so an economic plan for the welfare of all appeals more to them because they believe the opportunity for bad is inherently tempting.
It worries me that I may only find capitalism appealing because I think I myself will work well in it, or perhaps that is my privilege that leads me to favor capitalism.
Dad : Humans are involved in all of these systems. There are no robots or divine forces that will be kind to everyone if only we let them.
Socialism relies on good governance to work. It can be as poorly applied as capitalism.
Me : True.
Dad : Capitalism often maximizes freedom of the individual, which allows individuals to flourish more than other systems, but also allows individuals fail more than other systems. It can also lead to unhealthy balances of power or wealth that can twist the system into actually being intrinsically unfair. This is likely because capitalism is a near perfect theory in an ‘unbounded’ system (resources and people and space are limitless), but when applied more practically to the bounded systems we actually live in it needs some regulation and constraint. (My own personal theory - might be complete B.S.)
Me : Don’t sell yourself too short, it’s the observation of peers that make a theory sound.
---
Quote of the Day : From the Classic Doctor Who Series, in the final episode of the Castrovalva.
The Master, to the people he has created - “You do not have the will to do it.”
The People he made, responds with - “You may have made us, Man of Evil, but we are free.”
*Proceeds to swing on a chandelier and break both the Masters machine and plan.*
---
Food and more reading for thought : https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/economics/
Sean bienvenidos japonítasarqueológicos a una nueva entrega en esta ocasión nos desviamos un poco del contenido que suelo hacer, dicho ésto comencemos. - ¿Cómo afectará esto a la arqueológia e historia? ¿Y a la economía? Antes que nada ¿Por qué la situación está así? Esto viene desde el siglo XIX, cuando China sede Taiwán tras perder la Guerra sino-japonesa estará bajo dominio 1895-1945, desde el momento en ese momento se creó la República independiente de China. - Razones por las que China quiere Taiwan: 1°Incorporarla de nuevo a su territorio. 2° Taiwán es la gran exportadora de microchip a nivel mundial. 3° Esto amenazaría el territorio de Japón, ya que las islas de Okinawa está Cerca. Además, china dirá que le están amenazando sus fronteras. - ¿Cómo creéis que afectará a la economía mundial? - Os deseo un cordial saludo y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones de Arqueología e historia japonesa. - 考古学的ジャポナイトは、新しい記事へようこそ。 - これは考古学と歴史にどのように影響しますか? そして経済へ？ まず、なぜこのような状況になったのでしょうか。 これは、19 世紀に中国が日中戦争に敗れた後、台湾を占領したときのことであり、独立した中華民国が誕生した瞬間から、1895 年から 1945 年まで台湾は支配下に置かれることになります。 - 中国が台湾を欲しがる理由： 1°テリトリーに戻す。 第 2 位 台湾はマイクロチップの世界最大の輸出国です。 3° 沖縄の島々が近くにあるので、これは日本の領土を脅かすだろう. さらに、中国は国境が脅かされていると言うでしょう。 - 世界経済にどのような影響を与えると思いますか。 - 今後の考古学と日本史の出版物でお会いしましょう。 - Archaeological Japonites are welcome to a new installment, this time we deviate a bit from the content that I usually do, with that said, let's begin. - How will this affect archeology and history? And to the economy? First of all, why is the situation like this? This comes from the 19th century, when China seized Taiwan after losing the Sino-Japanese War, it will be under rule from 1895-1945, from the moment at which the independent Republic of China was created. - Reasons why China wants Taiwan: 1° Incorporate her back into her territory. 2nd Taiwan is the world's largest exporter of microchips. 3° This would threaten the territory of Japan, since the islands of Okinawa are nearby. In addition, China will say that its borders are being threatened. - How do you think it will affect the world economy? - I wish you a cordial greeting and see you in future publications of Archeology and Japanese history.
Sean bienvenidos japonsitasarqueologicos a una nueva entrega, en esta ocasión os presento los nuevos billetes que han salido en el país del sol naciente hace no mucho, los que conmemoran a personas importantes en la historia nipona del periodo Meiji espero que os guste os deseo una feliz semana. - Welcome Japanese archaeologists to a new installment, on this occasion I present to you the new banknotes that have been released in the country of the rising sun not long ago, those that commemorate important people in Japanese history from the Meiji period I hope you like it I wish you a happy week. - 日本の考古学者の皆さん、新しい記事へようこそ。この機会に、つい最近日出ずる国で発売された明治時代の日本史の重要人物を記念した新しい紙幣を紹介します。気に入っていただければ幸いです幸せな一週間をお祈りします。
Sean bienvenidos, japonistasarqueológicos a una nueva entrega en esta ocasión os presento a otro arqueólogo que excavó en el yacimiento del Toro en la arqueología de posguerra. - En la publicación anterior comentamos, que era la arqueología de posguerra, mencionamos el milagro japonés y de cómo tras la guerra japón supo reponer sus heridas con cierta rapidez y el yacimiento del Toro es un testimonio de ello. En esta publicación, el personaje en esta ocasión se trata de,Takeji Kikukawa Nacido en 1932, que corresponde a la era Showa. - Fue estudiante de la escuela secundaria Fujieda Higashi localizada en la prefectura de Shizuoka, se dedicó a los periodo yayoi y Jamón estudiando su cultura material, sobre todo la cerámica del periodo yayoi y las pesas de piedra del periodo Jomon. - Espero que os haya gustado y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones que pasen una buena semana. 日本の考古学者たちよ、戦後の考古学で登呂遺跡を発掘したもう一人の考古学者を歓迎しよう。 - 前回は戦後考古学について、日本の奇跡と戦後日本がいかに早く立ち直ったか、そしてエル・トロ遺跡がその証であることをお話ししました。今回の登場人物は、1932年生まれの菊川武治である。 - 静岡県立藤枝東高等学校に在籍し、弥生・縄文時代の物質文化、特に弥生時代の陶磁器や縄文時代の石錘の研究に没頭した。 - それでは、また次回もお楽しみください。
Welcome, Japanese archaeologists, to another post-war archaeologist who excavated at the Toro site in post-war archaeology. - In the previous publication we talked about post-war archaeology, we mentioned the Japanese miracle and how after the war Japan was able to recover its wounds quite quickly and the site of El Toro is a testimony of that. In this publication, the character on this occasion is Takeji Kikukawa, born in 1932, which corresponds to the Showa era. - He was a student at Fujieda Higashi High School in Shizuoka Prefecture. He was devoted to the Yayoi and Jomon periods, studying their material culture, especially the ceramics of the Yayoi period and the stone weights of the Jomon period. - I hope you enjoyed it and see you in future posts have a nice week.
Sean bienvenidos, japonistasarqueológicos a una nueva entrega en esta ocasión os presento a uno de los arqueólogos que excavan en el yacimiento del Toro en la arqueología de posguerra. - ¿Qué es la arqueología de posguerra? Disciplina, que abarca la década de 1947-1999 tras la 2 guerra mundial, Japón se dedicó a realizar excavaciones en masa, además de salir de la situación de posguerra, mejorando el país e invirtiendo en el patrimonio cultural, para que la población estuviera entretenida con otros quehaceres por ejemplo en la década de los 50 surge el famoso milagro Japonés. - Nuestro personaje en esta ocasión se trata de, kenichi Miura nacido en 1932, después de la guerra en japón surge un movimiento llamado Bunka federación y todas las escuelas querían hacer algo por la cultura. Fue una gran labor por parte del país del sol naciente a pesar de la situación en la que se encontraba digno de administración. - Espero que os haya gustado y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones que pasen una buena semana. 日本の考古学者たちよ、戦後の登呂遺跡考古学の新連載へようこそ。 - 戦後考古学とは何か？第二次世界大戦後の1947年から1999年の10年間をカバーする学問分野であり、日本は戦後の状況を離れ、国を改善し、文化遺産に投資することに加えて、国民が他の仕事で楽しまれるように、大規模な発掘に専念していた、例えば、50年代の10年間で有名な日本の奇跡が生じた。 - 今回の登場人物は、1932年生まれの三浦健一です。 戦後、日本では文化連盟という運動が起こり、各学校が文化のために何かをしようとしました。日出づる國の行政にふさわしい状況にもかかわらず、これは偉大な仕事であった。 - それでは、また次号でお会いしましょう。 良い一週間を。 Welcome, Japanese archaeologists, to a new installment of the post-war archaeology of the Toro archaeological site. - What is post-war archaeology? Discipline, which covers the decade of 1947-1999 after World War II, Japan was dedicated to mass excavations, in addition to leaving the post-war situation, improving the country and investing in cultural heritage, so that the population was entertained with other tasks, for example in the decade of the 50's the famous Japanese miracle arose. - Our character on this occasion is Kenichi Miura, born in 1932. After the war in Japan, a movement called Bunka Federation arose and all the schools wanted to do something for culture. It was a great work on the part of the country of the rising sun in spite of the situation in which it found itself worthy of administration. - I hope you liked it and see you in the next publications. Have a nice week.
for more information/詳細については:https://www.shizuoka-toromuseum.jp/toro-site/people/people-intervew01/
rant!!
the american economy is single handily killing everyone middle/lower class. i turned 18 literally a month ago but im considering opening a credit card because i simply can’t afford to pay for things. i still live at home too, imagine if i didn’t. i wouldn’t be able to provide housing for myself or basic medical care (all the things my mom currently pays for.) that’s the sad reality of living here and homelessness is extremely normalized to where most people don’t even pay attention anymore. prices for anything even in low cost of living states are outrageous. i live in a small southern town and a pack of tictacs is $5!! mcdonald’s is $10 for one meal and that’s the CHEAPEST fast food here. ever since this country was built companies have just been taking more and more from their employees and continue to add on to the CEO’s salary. the media tells us it’s inflation but the reality is it’s just price gouging and greed. people here can’t afford necessities while our “leader” sends money overseas to fund genocide. we also can’t forget the TRILLIONS of dollars our government just “can’t find.” our government keeps us reliant on them and keeps it impossible for every citizen to be cared for. the united states COULD have free healthcare/university, lower prices, have a higher minimum wage, fix the teacher shortage, but they won’t. they keep us afraid and want us to feel trapped by our lives in this country. people are noticing now and their support will eventually run out to where we all go french revolution style and i DO NOT want to be here when that happens. thanks for reading, this whole situation scares me and i’d love to hear what y’all think because it’s all just so frustrating:(
This small shop is closing down and the employees are not the only ones left out in the cold.
low and easy when inflation is around and not to forget keeping it howmuch ever healthy we can .
it still can be ok
economy can be what we hear or see . but there is another side to it . the recent inflation makes a person do calculations on buying . the calculations get longer and deeper and reaches a discovery that its fine buying without calculating each time but just by knowing the spending limits in the mind
by adding taxation during inflation it sortof balances the economy saving it from a fall.
then the strength is good and the future really buildsup from on there
doesnt look like wer going to have a economic collapse from here .
the continuously ongoing pattern of jobs and services shows the stability of a kind is reached
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This story sounds familiar hmmMMmM🤔
i go to the shop and I ask if they have any raspberries. they say no, they used to sell raspberries, but they haven't had any in stock in the last 15 years. I ask if there's somewhere else I can go to buy raspberries. They say no, with confidence and pride, they're the only shop around who has ever sold or will ever sell raspberries. Other shops might sell other fruit, sure, but they have a monopoly on all raspberries forever. I ask if they're possibly planning on them selling them again in future? they say they can't tell me that.
on the way home, I encounter someone eating raspberries. I ask and they tell me that they grow their own, they got some seeds from the shop back in The Raspberry Days and kept them. They take me to a field of many beautiful raspberry plants and invite me to pick my own, they're free for all the town to pick whenever they'd like.
someone comes up behind us. It's the shop manager, President of Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa. he hatefully throws a bob-omb that blows up and kills both of us instantly for stealing 200 trillion dollars worth of potential Raspberry Shop That Doesn't Do Raspberries Anymore profits that they weren't making and then he turns around to the camera with a big thumbs up and says don't do piracy or something ok please
N☆U-RCHIVE! - (09.2022)
i made this poster with the same friend who made the Voltaire poster with me. she's a good friend of mine, so we often do school projects together hahah
i really like the color palette in this poster, and the angry people in it is also suitable to the theme. i'm not satisfied with the layouting though, because it's not sequential and looks all over the place.
Fun fact: in the 80′s the Dutch Unemployed Union held ‘fridge raids’ to protest against poverty.
They’d find out when a politician of big boss who upheld poverty and starvation wages was speaking at some public even, then they’d carefully break into his house with a LOT of people and they would eat EVERY piece of food in his house and leave the empty dished behind without taking anything else.
wait, Derin how did your leaving make the hospital shut down?
I used to work as a live-in nanny for a pediatrician.
Now, the thing about hospitals in my country is that they are massively understaffed and massively underfunded. This is especially true outside the major cities. The staff are worked to the bone and receive little to no help in things like finding accommodation or childcare, making working in rural areas a very uninviting prospect; staff come out here, get lumped with the work of three people (because there's nobody else to do it), burn out under the workload and leave, meaning that those remaining have even more work because that person is gone. It's unsustainable and the medical staff are doing their best to sustain it, because people die if they don't, so to the higher-ups it looks like everything's getting done and therefore everything is fine.
My friend (and boss) worked one week on, one week off, swapping out with another pediatrician. This was necessary because it would not be physically possible for one person to handle the workload for longer periods of time. The one single pediatrician had to hold up the entire pediatrics ward, which was not only the only public hospital pediatrics ward in our town, but also the one that served all the towns around us for a few hours' drive in all directions. I regularly saw her go to work sick, aching, tired, or with a debilitating 'I can barely make words or see' level migraine, because if she took a day off, twenty children didn't get healthcare that day, and some of these kids' appointments were scheduled weeks in advance. She'd work long hours in the day and then be called in a couple of times overnight for an hour or two at a time (she was on-call at night too, because somebody had to be), and then go in the next day. Sometimes she would be forced to take a day off because she physically could not stay awake for longer than a few minutes at a time, meaning she couldn't drive to work.
Cue my niece's second birthday coming up in Melbourne. I'd been working for her for about 3 years, and she (and the hospital) had plenty of advance warning that I (and therefore she) needed one (1) Friday off. That's fine, we'll find someone to work that Friday, the hospital said. Right up until the last week where they're like "oh, we can't find a replacement; you can come in, can't you?"
No, she tells them; I don't have anyone to watch my kid that day.
Oh, surely you can hire a babysitter for this one day, they say. Think of the children! We really really need you to work that day. I know we said it'd be fine but we need you now, there's no one else to do it.
There are no other babysitters, she told them. Unless you can find one?
That's not our responsibility, they said.
But I'm not changing my plans, she's got plans by now as well, the hospital knew about this one day weeks in advance, and with absolutely no reserve staff they're forced to reschedule all pediatrics appointments for that Friday. Not a huge deal, it happens on the 'physically too overworked to get out of bed' days too. I go to Melbourne, she goes back to her home in Adelaide for her recovery week, all should be on track.
My niece gives me Covid.
This was way back in the first wave of the pandemic, and there were no Covid vaccines yet. The rules were isolate, mask up, hope. I had Covid in the house, and it would've been madness for my friend and her toddler to come back into the Covid house instead of staying in Adelaide. There was absolutely no way that a pediatrician could live with someone in quarantine due to Covid and go to work in the hospital with sick children every day. And no support existed for finding another babysitter, or temporary accommodation, so the hospital was down a pediatrician.
The other pediatrician wasn't available to do a three-week stint. They were also trapped in Adelaide on their well-earned week off.
Meaning that the only major pediatrics ward within a several-hour radius had no pediatricians. They had to shut down and send all urgent cases to Adelaide for the week. To the complete absence of surprise of any of the doctors or nurses; of course this would happen, this was bound to happen, it presumably keeps happening. But probably to the surprise of the higher-ups. After all, the hospital was doing fine, right? Of course all the staff were complaining of overwork and a lack of resources in every meeting, but they could always be fobbed off with the promise of more help sometime in the future; the work was mostly getting done, so the issue couldn't be too urgent.
It's not like some nanny who doesn't even work for the hospital could go out of town for a weekend for the first time in three years, and get the only public pediatrics ward in the area shut down for a week.
Just found out one community association near me has a community toy library. Basically a community toy store where you sign out toys like you would library books.
And it really woke up how badly I want a library economy.
Makeup/dress up libraries in place of salons and make up stores- borrow this makeup for a few months bc you like purple highlighter right now, sign out hair accessories or jewlery, sign up for a haircut/makeup day with a vollunteer that you mesh with, etc..
Toy libraries to replace toy stores, holidays and birthdays now bring you down to borrow bikes and stuffed animals that have been loved by others, to borrow dolls and dollhouses and their endless closests and accessories.
Craft libraries filled with sewing machines and looms and supplies to make things, classes to learn how to do it, making clothes for friends never been so easy because the endless amount of patterns available. The craft clubs that would bloom from it. The ceramics and painting and welding art that could come out of it if we just all had time and access.
Engineering and woodworking libraries. We could be living in a real animal crossing Era of furniture! The weird and cool lighting and other oddities that would come from it!
Clothing libraries that are busy during the season change but also regular shopping. I dont use this dress I love anymore so I'll return it to the library and get something in this new color pallet for myself.
Kids libraries that yes, filled with toys but also cribs, highchairs, walkers, jumpers, pumps, bottles, cups, etc.. things that kids use less then a year at a time and never really get fully used before passing it onwards. Oh to be able to borrow a well loved crib or rocking chair for your newborn
I asked Gemini how normal citizens can help the economy amid the horrible Trump tariff policy's.
