3 ms·

Dollars are just a mechanism for transferring wealth. Wealth is stuff, both in the here and now - land and assets - and in the future - wealth-generating machin

Dollars are just a mechanism for transferring wealth. Wealth is stuff, both in the here and now - land and assets - and in the future - wealth-generating machines like people and corporations. There is no lack of food in the world; there might be a lack of beef, but not everyone needs to get to eat beef. There is no lack of land; there is more than enough land for everyone; it's just scarce in places that have high demand. The problem is distribution.

MiroF 7y ago
> There is no lack of food in the world; there might be a lack of beef, but not everyone needs to get to eat beef. There is no lack of land; there is more than enough land for everyone; it's just scarce in places that have high demand. The problem is distribution. Legitimately baffled to see so many people in this thread asserting that this is not the case.
- seibelj 7y ago
  Also there will never be a lack of beef. This is economics 101 that people have a problem grasping. As the price of beef (or anything) goes up, this is a signal to entrepreneurs to make more of it, until the price goes down again. This is why prices are so important - higher prices lead to more supply, bringing prices down. Thus as demand for beef worldwide increases, producers will supply more of it to meet demand.
  - skybrian 7y ago
    Production doesn't always increase as quickly or easily as economics 101 would have you believe. When there is a severe drought, there can be talk about towing icebergs but somehow it doesn't happen. Instead, people cut back on water usage. You need to look into how production is actually done in each market to understand how quickly producers can respond to changes in demand. (I'm not going to worry about beef, though, since there are good substitutes.)
harimau777 7y ago
I think that food is less of an issue since there is plenty of food other than beef that most people like. However, although land itself may not be limited in the near term, land that people want is limited. Even if you have the same number of acres of land as the previous generation, if that land is less valuable, then your wealth and quality of life have gone down.

MiroF 7y ago

> There is no lack of food in the world; there might be a lack of beef, but not everyone needs to get to eat beef. There is no lack of land; there is more than enough land for everyone; it's just scarce in places that have high demand. The problem is distribution. Legitimately baffled to see so many people in this thread asserting that this is not the case.

seibelj 7y ago
Also there will never be a lack of beef. This is economics 101 that people have a problem grasping. As the price of beef (or anything) goes up, this is a signal to entrepreneurs to make more of it, until the price goes down again. This is why prices are so important - higher prices lead to more supply, bringing prices down. Thus as demand for beef worldwide increases, producers will supply more of it to meet demand.
- skybrian 7y ago
  Production doesn't always increase as quickly or easily as economics 101 would have you believe. When there is a severe drought, there can be talk about towing icebergs but somehow it doesn't happen. Instead, people cut back on water usage. You need to look into how production is actually done in each market to understand how quickly producers can respond to changes in demand. (I'm not going to worry about beef, though, since there are good substitutes.)

harimau777 7y ago

I think that food is less of an issue since there is plenty of food other than beef that most people like. However, although land itself may not be limited in the near term, land that people want is limited. Even if you have the same number of acres of land as the previous generation, if that land is less valuable, then your wealth and quality of life have gone down.