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So you actively and intentionally promote inefficient production strategies, or want to be sold a fake image of pre-industrial cottage production that doesn't m

by Evbn 14y ago

So you actively and intentionally promote inefficient production strategies, or want to be sold a fake image of pre-industrial cottage production that doesn't much exist, especially as prices you'd want to pay. That is not the way to lift people out of poverty. Better to buy cheap cheese and then pay someone to make bread for his neighbors.

gbog 14y ago
Sorry, but in France and in China, the two countries I have lived in, it is easy to buy relatively cheap food that is not produced "efficiently" from food industries. Example: - bread, cheese and wine in France. I mean the cheese, not the plastic yellow industrial thing that hijacked the name. You could visit a cheese-making farm, I bet you won't say it is "efficient". - in Beijing, I buy my breakfast mantous (steamed buns) in a mantou place 30 meters away. I have seen the bags of wheat coming in the truck in the morning. They serve a block with very good mantous, but they are probably not as "efficient" as a couple of factories doing it for a 10M city. But obviously, these way to produce food is in long term much more efficient than factories. Why? Because good food is good for health, and food cannot be good and at the same time produced "efficiently" by robots in factories.
soneca 14y ago
"For every complex problem there is a simple and wrong solution." Sorry, I don't know who I am quoting. But I don't think we should be that skeptical. I guess that some markets may support this model with strong economic basis, not creating an artificial (and not sustainable) production and distribution system. Imagine markets where you don't pay for the production costs or even design, but for the brand. Maybe personalized clothes? My mother create skirts for my girlfriend and sisters that they prefer instead of brand skirts that cost $50. Poor people with a good marketplace could sell these personalized clothes. Also, improving local economy is a very strong strategy. Social currencies (I don't know what is called in english, but I mean a currency that is only valid and accepted inside a particular community) may improve a lot local communities.
eli_gottlieb 14y ago
I dunno, the bakeries here in Haifa that bake their own bread, cakes, burekas, and other things seem pretty successful, actually. The product is certainly good enough that I prefer it over the supermarket bakery, and the prices are competitive.

by Evbn 14y ago

gbog 14y ago

Sorry, but in France and in China, the two countries I have lived in, it is easy to buy relatively cheap food that is not produced "efficiently" from food industries. Example: - bread, cheese and wine in France. I mean the cheese, not the plastic yellow industrial thing that hijacked the name. You could visit a cheese-making farm, I bet you won't say it is "efficient". - in Beijing, I buy my breakfast mantous (steamed buns) in a mantou place 30 meters away. I have seen the bags of wheat coming in the truck in the morning. They serve a block with very good mantous, but they are probably not as "efficient" as a couple of factories doing it for a 10M city. But obviously, these way to produce food is in long term much more efficient than factories. Why? Because good food is good for health, and food cannot be good and at the same time produced "efficiently" by robots in factories.

soneca 14y ago

"For every complex problem there is a simple and wrong solution." Sorry, I don't know who I am quoting. But I don't think we should be that skeptical. I guess that some markets may support this model with strong economic basis, not creating an artificial (and not sustainable) production and distribution system. Imagine markets where you don't pay for the production costs or even design, but for the brand. Maybe personalized clothes? My mother create skirts for my girlfriend and sisters that they prefer instead of brand skirts that cost $50. Poor people with a good marketplace could sell these personalized clothes. Also, improving local economy is a very strong strategy. Social currencies (I don't know what is called in english, but I mean a currency that is only valid and accepted inside a particular community) may improve a lot local communities.

eli_gottlieb 14y ago

I dunno, the bakeries here in Haifa that bake their own bread, cakes, burekas, and other things seem pretty successful, actually. The product is certainly good enough that I prefer it over the supermarket bakery, and the prices are competitive.