@Foofie,
Foofie wrote:
I believe we are emphasizing the wrong syl-la-ble. It is not the economic system in question, I believe, but the fact that society has seemed to reach a point of diminishing jobs. That is not capitalism's fault, but that western societies has an under-educated work-force for the functions that may pay a wage in the future, in my opinion. I believe western society is in a transitional stage, between a day when one person's labor was essential, and a future day when a person can be valued in a yet to be known function.
The only question, in my mind, is whether until that future day arrives, will society have to turn into a welfare state?
To me, it seems very clear that the future holds radical
changes concerning economics because it is inevitable that
computers and robots will get progressively better.
As time goes by, the services that can be rendered by computers
will more and more outclass white collar workers.
Computers are not alive; hence, thay make no demands of salary,
nor promotions, nor vacations, nor pensions, nor any demands
based on
social welfare legislation.
Not being alive, nor even conscious,
computers do not sue their bosses for any reason whatsoever.
The same applies as to robots and blue collar workers.
Economics is the science of the production and distribution
of
scarce goods. As time passes, more efficient computers
will produce goods of progressively better quality,
less expensively and in greater profusion.
As goods proliferate and become more abundant and less scarce,
their prices will plummet; by definition, thay will become less valuable.
As this manifestation becomes more ubiquitous,
the science of of the production and distribution
of
scarce goods will become ever more obsolescent.
Human jobs that
require creativity will endure the longest.
Economics, as heretofore known, will be less applicable because of diminishing scarcity.
As that becomes more and more prevalent,
we will have radically more free time,
living off of the production of non-living, non-complaining labor.
For the first time in the history of Man,
we will approach ever more closely to getting something for nothing.
David
