»Economics
is the study of how society manages its scarce resources.«
– N.
Gregory Mankiw
Principles of Economics
From the zero-sum dogma follows the fundamental
assumption that there is not enough for everyone - the fundamental
assumption of scarcity. Economics is often defined as the »study of the distribution of scarce resources«.
What is a fundamental assumption? In scientific works it is common practice to
start with fundamental assumptions. They are conditions which are assumed to be
universally valid. If the fundamental assumption is correct, we can build up
theories on them and draw important conclusions. However, if the fundamental
assumption turns out to be wrong, the whole construct of ideas collapses like a
house of cards.
A popular method of making the fundamental
assumption of scarcity appear plausible to us is to appeal to our greed. Wishes
for things that nobody needs are suggested to us. A Ferrari, a Rolex watch, a
mansion with a swimming pool… – such things are after all quite nice and of
course not everybody can own them. But are they worth building a dogma on that
is the reason for 24,000 people starving every day? Do they justify this mass
murder?
It is even worse than that: to stop the construct
of ideas in economics collapsing completely scarcity has to be maintained by
every means possible – if need be, with violence. Many goods that were
available in abundance in nature are made artificially scarce.
Drinking water
Natural streams are piped into the drainage
system. Air and soil are contaminated with chemicals so that springs are
polluted with toxins. That is the reason why fewer and fewer springs supply
drinking water. In addition, the water table is continuing to sink because of
unnatural farming methods and the soil is corroding. Public water supplies are
being sold with cross-border leasing (e.g. from Germany to the USA) and then
have to be leased back again.
Land
More
and more land is being concreted over. The rain forest is being cut down.
Remaining areas of farmland are being used for bio-fuel production and are no
longer available for growing food.
Seeds
Seeds created by nature are being destroyed by
genetic manipulation and transformed into so-called »terminator seeds«. The
seeds of the plants which germinate from them are themselves no longer capable
of germinating.
Food
The above-mentioned points all already lead to
an artificial shortage of food. It is suggested to us that feeding the world
can only be assured with chemicals and so-called »green technology« (genetic
technology). The opposite is the case. And so it goes on and on…
Bee colony collapse disorder
At present more and more bees are dying from an unknown
disease. Without bees there can be no natural pollination of flowers and hence
no natural fruits or natural reproduction of plants. We should not be surprised
if the genetic industry promises us further high-priced “green technology”
solutions.
Factory farming
Excessive consumption of animal products (meat,
milk, eggs, etc.) not only causes inconceivable suffering for the animals
concerned. Factory farming also causes far greater pollution of the environment
that all cars together. In general, the production of animal products uses many
times more resources, such as water and energy, than plant food with equal or
better nutritional value. With food of mainly plant origin we could feed over
thirty times as many people and in addition they would have a more varied,
tasty and healthy diet.
Energy
Instead of supporting research into and
development of really alternative and environmentally friendly sources of
energy, the scarcity of oil is used as a pretext for wasting valuable farming
land for growing bio-fuel and cutting down additional precious rain forest.
Air
Apropos rain forests – they are the earth’s
green lungs! What happens when an organism’s lungs are destroyed? It
suffocates, doesn’t it? By cutting down the rain forests we risk suffocating
ourselves. In addition, there are the waste gases from industry, traffic and
factory farming.
We could cite many more examples. However, it
is not a question of completeness but of making the principle clear.
Let’s make a summary again:
- The zero-sum dogma is contrary to nature. Living nature visible to us is always positive.
- The zero-sum dogma results in exploitation, both of nature and our fellowmen.
- The fundamental assumption of scarcity leads to a theory of economics opposed to nature, whose supporters do not shrink from making virtually all goods of daily life artificially scarce.
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