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So is energy, food, water and space. And yet, all cost money.
by juliusceasar 5mo ago
So is energy, food, water and space. And yet, all cost money.
- cassianoleal 5mo agoFalse dichotomy. The fact that something costs money doesn't mean it has to become a speculative asset.
- ramon156 5mo agothe argument here is that you cannot live without it. Everyone needs to have access to it
- cassianoleal 5mo agoWhat does that add in the context of the OP?
- lp4v4n 5mo agoWhat kind of speculation exists over energy, water and space? I'm really curious to know.
- lucky_cloud 5mo agoYou say that as if those things have always required money. People had all of those things for hundreds of thousands of years before money was invented.
- rogerrogerr 5mo ago“Money” is just a way to say “people’s time and resources.”
- cestith 5mo agoIn the US economy and much of the rest of the world, money is decreasingly tied to the time or resources of people. It is increasingly tied to the money, market capture, and regulatory capture of corporations that specialize in finance rather than producing goods.
- sidewndr46 5mo agoIsn't that the point of economics? If you're just going to tie money to something obvious, you don't need economics.
- cestith 5mo agoYes, you need economics even when most of the money is used to pay for something productive rather than extractive.
- sidewndr46 5mo agobut what's the difference between 'productive' and 'extractive'? Clearing huge swaths of land for agriculture is highly productive, in terms of making crops. Likewise irrigating huge swaths of arid land for agriculture is also highly productive. Are those 'extractive' or not?
- Paradigm2020 5mo ago
- Steve16384 5mo agoI'm not sure what your point is?
- toasty228 5mo agoThat's why they should be non profit and nationalised. Nobody mind paying taxes for the good stuff, everybody mind paying taxes for bottom tier private companies to mess with the bare necessities and charge a premium fo it
- bpt3 5mo agoWhen in modern history has that ever worked? Why would this time be any different?
- jrflo 5mo agoI think energy is actually a good example here of how it should work. At least in the US, it's pretty tightly regulated. Utilities are allowed to run a profitable business, but it's not a totally free market like housing is. We could certainly use some regulations to prevent private equity from buying up millions of single family homes as assets.
- bpt3 5mo agoIt's hard to think of a market that is less free than housing, including electric utilities with the advent of solar. Probably pharmaceuticals? I'm sure there are a couple others. Calling it "totally free" is naive. Because of how tightly coupled local taxation is to the real estate market, the political risk associated with angering local homeowners, and the regulatory capture performed by local government employees and supporters of the status quo, it's highly, highly regulated already in nearly every populated area of the US.