Food, it’s what’s for dinner…
Independence is an illusion. Our organic world dictates our dependence on things outside of us to maintain the life within. Whether air, water, food, or shelter, the maintenance of our lives depends on environmental resources.
Money, it’s how we pay for dinner…
Money represents time. We exchange our time for a unit of trade called money. We give our time to enterprise and receive money commensurate with the value attributed to the work. We use the money (our time) to buy resources that will maintain our life.
Economy, it’s why we eat dinner…
Economy comes from two greek words meaning household law. It’s what I call, the law of the pantry. In ancient times, the steward economized (dispensed) the resources of the household to its members using wisdom to ensure there would be neither unmanageable surplus nor unpleasant shortfall. The proper dispensing of resources ensure the household is maintained in good order. Poor economical choices would spell certain trouble and possible disaster.
Based on these definitions, we could state the following: our lives are carried out within the U.S. economy which is made up of all the natural resources available to us. We exchange our time by working on developing, improving, and storing those resources so we will have enough to meet our needs and secure our future.
Riches could be defined accordingly as the surplus of resources (if you have a lot of money, you could claim to have a lot of time since money represents time). This being the case, we can see why societies seek to improve their resources. In the fertile crescent some 12,000 years ago, our ancestors were manipulating DNA by way of natural selection. This process during a span of a few hundred years introduced the barley grown today. Similar methods introduced the wheat, corn, and rice we eat. Evolving from hunter/gatherer societies to herding followed a similar route of domesticating goats, sheep, horses, etc. by way of natural selection.
These methods of improving our craft (technology) enabled us to become stable and thriving societies. With more time, we could develop art and diversify culture. Travel and trading became possible because of improved resource management.
The only difference between today and 12 millennia ago is the rate at which we can manipulate environmental factors. The rate of change today occurs so quickly we don’t have time to study long term consequences. What makes matters worse, our economy must supply the demand we’ve created. The goal has become Master of the means. The goal to eat becomes the driving force behind producing anything that resembles food.
A good, organic example of the goal mastering the means is having a child. You don’t need to have $250,000.00 in the bank when you have a child (it would help of course), but that is what the average child will cost by the time they turn 18. In other words, you need to prepare for an expanding economy to meet the growing demand (children can be demanding and there are six reasons I know this).
Today our economy is being pushed and pulled from many directions. Big agri-conglomerates like Monsanto want to grow. But we shouldn’t think this is due to a few at the top. Every employee wants to secure his own future and feed and educate his children. Nobody within the Monsanto regime wants to step backwards. So in the name of “feeding the world,” the enterprise MUST seek its own growth. It is not reasonable that any enterprise would commit suicide by seeking its own demise. Politics or not, it’s the law of economics.
Now the Universities are asked to research ways to feed to world. They need to do the research to feed their enterprise made up of people like you and me. They come up with theories that are tested to produce genetically engineered seeds. Corporations compete for the new technologies in order to compete so they can feed their enterprise made of up people like you and me. People will consume the new foods because they want to live; people like you and me. And the cycle feeds itself always in the direction of increase. This is natural law and it is seen in every corner of the globe from the cells in our bodies to the McDonaldization of the world. How do we reign in this beastly cycle before it destroys itself in the insatiable quest for growth? I’ll save that question for the next post for two reasons. First, I want to evaluate the feedback and the other posts. Second, I’m not sure I know the answer just yet.
