From: prout-gems-subscribe@pi.org.au   
      
   What's Wrong with Economics and how can it be Fixed   
      
   Traditionally economics is the study of how scarce resources are or should   
   be allocated. In particular, it has involved themes such as choices,   
   trade-offs, markets, prices, information, needs, behaviour, satisfaction,   
   business, government, growth and poverty, and more recently the environment   
   and sustainability. Conventional economics focuses mostly on the following   
   themes:   
      
   · Choices and opportunity costs   
      
   · Power of the market   
      
   · Making decisions at the margin   
      
   · Distribution of income and wealth   
      
   · Private choices vs public choices   
      
   · Risk and uncertainty   
      
   This demonstrates that most economists today only understand something of   
   the principles of general economy and something of commercial economy. The   
   inequitable distribution of wealth and resources seen in the world today   
   must demonstrate that even these parts are still in an undeveloped state.   
   The study of people's economy and psycho-economy are totally unknown to   
   modern economists, and as such find no place in the present mode of economic   
   thinking.   
      
   A brief outline of what conventional economists focus on is given below. The   
   potential scope of what could be considered under these heading is also   
   discussed, should economists seek to broaden their worldview. Immediately   
   one can see that the scope of what is presently considered in economics is   
   very limited, although it certainly is fundamental to economics. However,   
   the application of a narrow outlook has had diabolical impacts on many   
   cultures and people of the world. To remedy this shortcoming economics needs   
   to find a set of foundation principles that are universal in character and   
   allow economics to be applied for the happiness and all-round welfare of all   
   of society's members.   
      
   · Choices and opportunity costs   
      
   In conventional economics, choices and trade-offs are thrust to the centre   
   of analysis. Associated with all choices are trade-offs. It is true that   
   trade-offs involve considering and choosing between alternatives in   
   producing goods and services, in marketing, in investment and savings, in   
   economic management and in the consumption of goods and services.   
      
   However, it is not the case that people have a real option to consider   
   between alternatives. Where there is no economic democracy, the potential   
   opportunities (or opportunity cost of what is forgone by a limited choice)   
   cannot bear fruition and cannot be known or ascertained. Generally, in   
   economics, the opportunity cost of any option is the amount of other goods   
   and services which could have been obtained instead of any particular good   
   or service. Practically, it is the benefits foregone from an alternative.   
      
   Capitalism, being materialistically oriented, prevents and creates   
   hindrances for people understanding subtle aspects of life. As capitalism   
   focuses only on material increases in living as determined by how much   
   individuals can accumulate (given that capitalism is concerned with private   
   property and private enterprise), society will miss out on, or forego,   
   maximum utilization of metaphysical and spiritual potentialities or these   
   will take on a degraded meaning for further material accumulation and   
   exploitation. In this regard there will also be loss of physical   
   potentialities. Many choices are being made unavailable to the people as a   
   result.   
      
   · Power of the market   
      
   A market is supposed to help coordinate decisions and act to allocate goods   
   and services amongst buyers. Efficient markets are supposed to convey   
   information and send signals to producers, traders and consumers. Today,   
   markets pervade every person's life on this planet. Historically, many   
   markets were established through colonial exploitation in which exploiters   
   first captured a new market area and then gained control of all the raw   
   materials available in that area through monopoly rights. They then exported   
   raw materials and produced finished goods out of the raw materials in their   
   own factories at home within their own region, only to sell the finished   
   goods back to the people in the occupied market. Accordingly, this   
   exploitation results in getting double opportunities to misappropriate   
   wealth - the exploiters deceive the local population while procuring their   
   raw materials at cheap rates, and then they sell their finished products in   
   the same markets at exorbitant prices.   
      
   The affects of such colonialism has never been properly or fully addressed   
   for indigenous cultures around the world and in those countries where   
   attempts at recompense, rectification or reconciliation have been made, it   
   has largely resulted in thrusting the indigenous cultures into the   
   capitalist market place in which limited social and cultural choices are   
   available. By capturing the local market, colonial exploiters succeeded in   
   totally destroying the local industrial system. This legacy persists today   
   and as a consequence many local economies have not been able to develop   
   wholistically or self-sufficiently. The only development open to them is to   
   export their raw materials and, in any case, this is all controlled, managed   
   and owned by multinational corporations who, in essence, adopt the same   
   approach as the colonial exploiters. Often, these raw materials will be   
   exported to other countries in which indigenous cultures have also suffered   
   and as a result of which there are cheap and easily exploited labour forces.   
      
   Essentially, today the players in market places are powerful corporations.   
   Such markets lack proper equipoise and equilibrium with the social and   
   cultural needs of the people, let alone people's needs in many areas of the   
   world for basic minimum necessities (eg, food, clothing, medical treatment,   
   housing and education). To obtain equipoise and equilibrium at the physical   
   level requires that markets be incorporated as part of local or block level   
   or regional planning in a decentralized economic democracy.   
      
   Demand and supply are important factors in the functioning of markets.   
   Proper planning requires that the physical demand of the day and physical   
   demands of the foreseeable future are to be assessed and organised. As well,   
   the physical supply of the day and the physical supply of the foreseeable   
   future are to be organised and ensured. The demand function relates to   
   people's purchasing power (or consumer income), price level and prices of   
   other goods, family circumstances and natural conditions such as weather   
   conditions. The supply function or factors which determine level of supply   
   relates to price of goods, cost of labour, prices of other services and   
   intermediate products required for production of goods, the number of firms   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)