5 ms·

uh, money?

• logfromblammo 12y ago
  Currency is the intermediate trade good. Currency is only worth what you can buy with it. If nobody makes anything, no amount of money can buy anything. If the only people making things are the rich folks who own production capital, they can only trade with each other. If they are not producing the things that rich people want, they can't trade. Imagine a degenerate world where there are two rich factory owners and 7 billion unemployed people. One rich owner produces food with robots, enough to feed the whole world at $0.01 per meal. The other produces potable water with robots, enough to supply the whole world at $0.01 per cubic meter. Every day, one richie trades a day's worth of meals to the other, who trades a day's worth of water back. The 7 billion povs can produce food and water, but they cannot compete on price. Even the cheapest pov-made food or drink trades much more expensively than the factory goods. Their problem is that very little that the povs make is worth anything to the factory owners. They, too, would prefer to get their goods from the factories. Every last pov is relegated to subsistence production, for personal use. The only way out is to produce a trade good or service that a richie would prefer to richie-made goods and services. In this degenerate world, the most commonly sold service is likely going to be "not murdering you in your sleep and taking control of your factory the next day". And that is why it is important to care about what people can trade.
  • TeMPOraL 12y ago
    > In this degenerate world, the most commonly sold service is likely going to be "not murdering you in your sleep and taking control of your factory the next day". Which will be solved by the third richie who has a military drone production and maintenance facility.