| Economics is an engineering challenge | | | | refine/recycle, and put into use ever rising |
| The Wall Street vs Main Street dichotomy has | | | | quantity of natural resources for mass |
| been so overused in the news that it is sickening. | | | | construction of high tech farms throughout the |
| It is time to replace this loaded married couple | | | | world. With enough energy and materials enclosed |
| terminology with another. The first reason for this | | | | farming with artificial sunshine/weather control is |
| is that WS vs MS split has now become a political | | | | more than possible from the Sahara desert to |
| slogan and a heuristic and thus does not promote | | | | the frozen tundras. Keep increasing numbers and |
| thoughtfulness. The second more important | | | | quality of these farms until vast majority of |
| reason is that it obscures the reality of what the | | | | people spend almost no caloric energy and |
| real economy is. | | | | productive time working to feed themselves. |
| "Wall Street" has come to symbolize just | | | | Keep in mind that organic chemical free food in |
| meaningless paper shuffling gambling that is the | | | | these farms is only a question of cheap energy |
| financial sector. "Main Street" apparently includes | | | | and materials. There is absolutely no need to send |
| everything else such as telemarketing, McDonalds | | | | food thousands of miles across the planet and |
| service, prostitution, web design, and of course | | | | stuff it full of preservatives so this mummified |
| industrial production. Politicians tend to lump service | | | | food survives the journey. |
| industry like catering (and other demeaning | | | | 4) Utilize same rising level of energy and labor |
| unpleasant tasks that poor people are forced into | | | | freed from farming to build ever rising number of |
| to not die of starvation or exposure) and actual | | | | high tech places of learning throughout the world. |
| industry like engine part manufacture together. | | | | Keep improving the efficiency of these places of |
| Since financial sector is a service sector (smart | | | | learning as one does the farms. One assumes a |
| people overworking in mind numbing meaningless | | | | type of modular construction so parts of the |
| tasks to make the rich richer) we see how WS | | | | places of learning and the high tech farms can be |
| vs MS is not a real dichotomy at all due to the | | | | recycled every few years and replaced with |
| enormous overlap in classification. | | | | newer systems. |
| | | | 5) Utilize the mind power of billions of newly |
| Will the real economy please stand up? | | | | educated people to build better systems of |
| I have written how the field of economics the | | | | power plant part production to keep churning out |
| way we know it today is so wasteful and | | | | more energy generating sources and to |
| separated from real empirical investigation as to | | | | reorganize socioeconomics to that end. |
| require the term stupid. Any Western Economics | | | | Rinse repeat. Rinse repeat. Rinse repeat. Rinse |
| 101 course will still dutifully inform that it is a study | | | | repeat. Rinse repeat until the solar system is |
| on how to deal with allocation of finite resources. | | | | colonized and humanity is in a post-scarcity |
| In that, economists not only failed but have made | | | | transhuman world. Keep constructing better |
| the global situation much worse. Western | | | | energy sources beyond this point as well naturally. |
| economists are not only as ideological as Soviet | | | | All human politics should be directed towards |
| economists were but have now devolved to the | | | | power generation. This means more engineers |
| level of historians who study past moves made | | | | and scientists in government instead of lawyer |
| by powerful/wealthy people. When they are not | | | | playboys. Chinese leadership is full of engineers |
| busy defending themselves as real scientists | | | | and this is reflected in China's growth rate. |
| through utilization of advanced statistics (to study | | | | Current batch of economists should be driven out |
| decisions made by oligarchs as if they were orbits | | | | of government policy decision making as one |
| of planets) they are cheerleaders and cautious | | | | would drive out the clergy giving advise to the |
| financial planners for rich people who don't like to | | | | government. Every government should have an |
| think. An analogy can be made with French | | | | engineering ministry and we should hear of |
| generals confident that the Maginot line will hold | | | | "president's engineering advisers" instead of |
| against the tried and true offensive methods. It is | | | | economic advisers. This is the only way to |
| no surprise that in the latest crisis of capitalism, | | | | prevent large scale starvation for a large part of |
| most people regardless of their class have lost | | | | humanity in the relatively near future (not even |
| money. Economics today is not only failing the | | | | mentioning maintaining living standards). |
| poor but a large portion of the very rich as well | | | | The side effects of such energy driven policy |
| (who then find themselves one day with only the | | | | would of course be the possibility of other |
| grand stories of their parents). | | | | engineering marvels in the aid of construction of |
| The term economics has been tainted to such a | | | | the power plants and places of learning. Some |
| degree that it may be too late to reclaim it. Lets | | | | examples are frictionless magnetic levitation |
| look at the definition of another word and see if it | | | | transport methods. Even today, high speed trains |
| has any application to dealing in a world of finite | | | | are already cutting into airline profits as seen by |
| material and human resources. | | | | 80% drop in airfares in parts of China. To make |
| "Engineering - The creative application of scientific | | | | full circle, the goal of economics should always |
| principles to design or develop structures, | | | | have been to allow humans to spend next to |
| machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, | | | | zero caloric energy on travel, food, education, |
| or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or | | | | safe/pleasant shelter, etc. Instead humanity saw |
| to construct or operate the same with full | | | | a worsening of their situation where even people |
| cognizance of their design; or to forecast their | | | | in the Western oligarchies spend a lot of their |
| behavior under specific operating conditions; all as | | | | caloric energy to get paper to exchange for |
| respects an intended function, economics of | | | | traveling from point A to point B. If this continues |
| operation and safety to life and property." | | | | only the rich will be able to have relatively |
| Now we're getting somewhere.It appears that | | | | pleasant transcontinental travel (with the poor |
| economists have wanted to be engineers all along | | | | being crammed into large slow moving ships like in |
| but at some point wandered off into the land of | | | | the 19th century if they scrape enough for a |
| the stupid in an effort to create some ideological | | | | ticket). |
| justification for the Cold War (follow the money | | | | The goal of all governments historically is to |
| trail of rich people or their puppet government | | | | constantly raise the minimum level of material |
| organs funding the research of these brave | | | | comfort for their citizenry. This means an energy |
| "scientists"). Of course after a couple of | | | | driven policy. Governments that fail in this goal are |
| generations (of economics being a creative | | | | always replaced sooner or later. The transition |
| attempt to demonstrate to the world why | | | | period from today to tomorrow will require all |
| Western oligarchy should continue) this mutated | | | | efforts towards nuclear power. Even the |
| pseudo-science has become entrenched. | | | | American oligarchs understand the precariousness |
| Youngsters on the scene either would not be | | | | of their position as shown by president Obama's |
| hired to teach if they disagreed with the | | | | adoption of McCain's nuclear energy policy in his |
| pseudo-science faculty or wanted to demonstrate | | | | state of the union speech. Yes, solar has to be |
| how much of the nonsense they understand and | | | | pursued but only as a bell and whistle to the |
| thus left their brain at the door to please the | | | | nuclear power plant production. If one looks at |
| older generations of these so called academics. | | | | how much land area is needed for wind/solar (and |
| Most people assume that the point of economic | | | | power needed to extract resources to then |
| advice would be to make everybody better off | | | | make parts for the wind/solar machines) to make |
| materially in the end. This means make | | | | as much energy one modern power plant, there |
| everybody in either one nation, region, or the | | | | is no contest. Green tech today is but another |
| whole world have more access and control over | | | | bubble for Wall Street and is a dead end |
| resources which in turn would make the average | | | | economically and environmentally (solar for |
| human being on the planet healthier, more | | | | instance requires enormous amount of water that |
| educated, happier, and better able to make use | | | | could be used to produce nutrient rich food). |
| of his or her physiological talents for | | | | Nuclear energy power plants provide the most |
| self-actualization or profit. | | | | energy bang for the energy buck. Building them is |
| Only engineering can do that. Humanity's only way | | | | better/cleaner for the planet and the only chance |
| of dealing with finite resources is to better utilize | | | | humanity has to live until fusion reactors and |
| these resources. This requires ever rising level of | | | | space based power supplies are constructed and |
| energy available to humanity to operate machines. | | | | are operational. It is no wonder that British |
| The process is very simple: | | | | oligarchy are completely against them as they |
| 1) Always develop new ways to make | | | | want to promote "conservation" rather than |
| construction of power plants faster and cheaper. | | | | expansion and thus preservation of the current |
| One assumes mass scale production of parts to | | | | nasty neo-feudal world order. Americans in the |
| make power plants. The goal is to pop them out | | | | 1950s understood the possibilities of nuclear |
| like one does a supercomputer with periodic | | | | power and that is why they thought we'd be in a |
| retooling as better machines to make parts are | | | | drastically different place today as a species. If |
| invented (Japanese lead the way currently in | | | | we stop listening to economists and expose them |
| replacing even the cheapest of human assembly | | | | as the charlatans that they are, it is still |
| line workers so factories can run almost full time). | | | | possible.The only main street is material industrial |
| 2) Keep increasing production of ever more | | | | production with energy generation as primary |
| efficient and powerful power plants. | | | | focus. |
| 3) Utilize ever rising levels of energy to extract, | | | | |