Speaking of democracy, let us remember ...

"Aristotle once said that 'democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.' We as a country are moving further and further away from that ideal."

-Charles M. Blow, "The Bin Laden Bounce"

The New York Times, OpEd
Saturday, May 7, 2011

What is work?

What is work?

Work is mental and physical effort that produces something of value ... to myself or to others.

While work is not the only way something of value is produced ... apples grow on trees, fish spawn in the sea ... work is the only thing that produces what we call wealth. Apples must be picked, fish must be caught. Improvements in picking and catching must be invented. This mental and physical effort is what produces real wealth.

False wealth resides in the relative exchange value of the components of real wealth, a value represented by the "paper" instruments ... money ... of finance. If there were no items of real wealth then there would certainly be no relative exchange value between those items, no false wealth, and money would be worthless.

So if we keep printing money without also increasing our production of items of real wealth ... well, you can see the outcome.

And if work is what produces real wealth ... and we have large numbers of unemployed, unproductive workers ... well, you can see the outcome even more clearly now.

In fact, there is only one way to produce the real wealth that gives money its value, and that is to put people back to work producing items of value.

And when there aren't any more apples to pick or fish to catch, then you put people to work building the infrastructure that reduces the time and effort it takes to get the apples and fish to market ... the railroads, highways, high-speed communication ... because we know that the speed of transactions—a product of work—is a component of real wealth.

Note: Thoughts after reading Paul Krugman's column, "Fears and Failure," in today's New York Times.

There is no such thing as a "free market" ... unless ...

The slogan "free market" must be a tribal symbol for those of a certain persuasion to identify each other in the crowded corridors of humanity, like sports team colors.

A free market certainly has no basis in reality, at least not without considering the surreal real because the mind can think of it and attach a name to it.

Without a regulated market the powerful get away with not paying for the costs of making a profit. I was reminded of this simple fact once again with the New York Times editorial, "Washing Away the Fields of Iowa," published in today's paper.

The powerful dump these costs on the rest of us, to be paid out of our future earnings from other efforts ... by us, our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, ...

It's the cancer and heart disease from cigarettes, the loss of fishery habitat from the strip mining of mountain tops ...

Are you old enough to remember "Unsafe at Any Speed" and the changes that have been forced upon the automobile industry since? We would still be paying the costs of their profiting from dangerous vehicles if it weren't for regulation.

On the other hand, if you accept the surreal notion that a free market allows others to pay the costs of your profits ... then I will grant you that free markets do exist.

The best thing we can do for humanity ...

As I read Nicholas Kistof's column, "Beyond Flowers for Mom" in today's New York Times, I had what is now a frequently recurring thought: the best thing we can do for humanity is empower women.

Kristof tells about "an extraordinary Somali woman, Edna Adan" who runs a maternity hospital in Somaliland, "a breakaway republic carved from Somalia but recognized by no outside country."

You can connect with Edna at a tax-deductible charity founded by Americans, the Friends of Edna Maternity Hospital (www.EdnaHospital.org).

We don't need women who emulate men to lead our tribes and assign rules and rewards. We need women who understand that nurturing the powerless newborn through the lengthy journey to adulthood is the root of our humanity. I would venture to add that it is the compassion of this venture and its outcomes that imbues our spirit with love and hope and contributes most to our success as a species, not the selfish savage lust of Ayan Rand's alpha male.