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Keynes described what was wrong with the economy in the 1930's as 'magneto trouble'. Then as now all of civilizations farms, factories, and houses. All oil well

Keynes described what was wrong with the economy in the 1930's as 'magneto trouble'. Then as now all of civilizations farms, factories, and houses. All oil wells and dams and coal mine were still there. There isn't any reason the world cannot be fed during the current crisis. Do I need new clothes? Not really. Do the people who make and sew clothes need to be fed? Yes.

erik_seaberg 7y ago
Harvesting food is terrible work. How do we motivate people to do it when we aren't making any stuff for them to buy?
- limomium 7y ago
  Eh? People will harvest food to not starve. You don't even have to pay them.
  - pdonis 7y ago
    To avoid starvation, people only have to harvest enough food for themselves. They don't have to harvest food for millions of other people who aren't harvesting food themselves. But there's no way for all those millions of other people to go and harvest their own food. That's just not the way food production is set up. Nor should it be, if we want to have anything more than a bare subsistence standard of living.
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  Even if we somehow completely shut down production of stuff to buy, and all existing stocks disappeared... there are plenty of people that would accept large paychecks to save for later. We need less than one percent of the population to be harvesting food.
- jmchuster 7y ago
  We can only motivate them because their alternatives are much worse.
- neilwilson 7y ago
  We use machines to do it and improve productivity. Then we employ people to make the machines.
- Gibbon1 7y ago
  It's a modern disease to think the only reason people work is because of money and the fear of being homeless. In WWII the US increased agricultural production in order to feed Britain and the Soviet Union. Despite very tight limits on non essential goods. Workers took their wages, paid off debts or them in the bank.
BurningFrog 7y ago
> There isn't any reason the world cannot be fed during the current crisis. But there is! The reason we can't consume as much in this crisis is that we don't produce as much, because a lot of people aren't working anymore.
- neilwilson 7y ago
  But the people that are working are the ones producing the needed goods and services. Which suggests that most of what we need is produced by about 10% of the workforce and the rest is largely busy work. The longer this goes on, the more that will become apparent. Then the discussion starts about what the 90% have to do so the needed 10% do a full week to look after all of us rather than just stopping on Tuesday when they have made enough for themselves.
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    I think classifying goods and services in "needed" and "unneeded" is a fool's errand. It's also none of our business what people choose to do with their life and money. If they want to waste it on frivolous things, that is their choice and privilege.

erik_seaberg 7y ago

Harvesting food is terrible work. How do we motivate people to do it when we aren't making any stuff for them to buy?

limomium 7y ago
Eh? People will harvest food to not starve. You don't even have to pay them.
- pdonis 7y ago
  To avoid starvation, people only have to harvest enough food for themselves. They don't have to harvest food for millions of other people who aren't harvesting food themselves. But there's no way for all those millions of other people to go and harvest their own food. That's just not the way food production is set up. Nor should it be, if we want to have anything more than a bare subsistence standard of living.
Dylan16807 7y ago
Even if we somehow completely shut down production of stuff to buy, and all existing stocks disappeared... there are plenty of people that would accept large paychecks to save for later. We need less than one percent of the population to be harvesting food.
jmchuster 7y ago
We can only motivate them because their alternatives are much worse.
neilwilson 7y ago
We use machines to do it and improve productivity. Then we employ people to make the machines.
Gibbon1 7y ago
It's a modern disease to think the only reason people work is because of money and the fear of being homeless. In WWII the US increased agricultural production in order to feed Britain and the Soviet Union. Despite very tight limits on non essential goods. Workers took their wages, paid off debts or them in the bank.

BurningFrog 7y ago

> There isn't any reason the world cannot be fed during the current crisis. But there is! The reason we can't consume as much in this crisis is that we don't produce as much, because a lot of people aren't working anymore.

neilwilson 7y ago
But the people that are working are the ones producing the needed goods and services. Which suggests that most of what we need is produced by about 10% of the workforce and the rest is largely busy work. The longer this goes on, the more that will become apparent. Then the discussion starts about what the 90% have to do so the needed 10% do a full week to look after all of us rather than just stopping on Tuesday when they have made enough for themselves.
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  I think classifying goods and services in "needed" and "unneeded" is a fool's errand. It's also none of our business what people choose to do with their life and money. If they want to waste it on frivolous things, that is their choice and privilege.