RE: [GBlist] re. Piece of the "pie" and other guilt trips

[Gilbert Midonnet <gilbert.midonnet@btec.com>]

Title: RE: [GBlist] re. Piece of the "pie" and other guilt trips

I think this thread will go nowhere. But I disagree sharply. Some people, with the aid of mechanical and other devices, produce many times more wealth / hour than others. I would not be surprised, that if this could be quantified, that it would reach 1000 or more. This does not mean they're happier or better people. One has nothing to do with the other.

-- glm

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul [mailto:webmaster@globalcircle.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 9:57 PM
To: greenbuilding@crest.org
Subject: RE: [GBlist] re. Piece of the "pie" and other guilt trips

        But of course nobody produces thousands times more wealth than others,
which is my point exactly. And increased productivity, by whatever measure,
does not equal increased wealth by any stretch. 
        Backhoes beat shovels, sure. But a backhoe is not a person. It's a
combination of resources gotten at some price, with labor inputs at some
price. And whether a backhoe is really more economical when all costs are
considered, depends on the resource and labor inputs. Those who can control
resources and labor can supply products and tools at artificially low
prices, which is what goes on all over the world, and Western nations are
the chief beneficiaries as they have been for hundreds of years. Oil is a
prime example.
        There is no free market anywhere in any major product, and though capital
is free to move anywhere, labor is generally trapped wherever people live.
The actual value of a person's work is not some absolute in dollars and
cents, obviously. It all depends, doesn't it. What's fair or not fair is
totally subjective. It comes down to what you can get, which depends on how
much control and power  you have, much more than how hard you work. So much
money is piled up today by speculation and criminal corruption and
government collusion that there is no way of saying people who have the
money have it because they deserve it or God liked them so much he made
them rich.

--paul, webmaster http://globalcircle.net
peace and liberty, sustainability and justice
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/22/02 at 4:53 PM Gilbert Midonnet wrote:

>> nobody can really believe the wealthy now work a
>> thousand or ten thousand times harder to get that much richer than the
>> poor.
>
>
>I certainly do. Or, at least, I would if it were phrased that the people
>some people produce 10,000 times more wealth than others.
>
>Compare what a back-hoe can do versus a shovel, a crane versus a man and a
>rope. Oh yeah, combine mechanical power with the increased speed of
>information and decision making (blueprint correction made by realtime
>cameras, faxes, computers versus waiting 2 days for the engineer to arrive
>at the site). Oh yes, I can easily see increased productivity by factors
of
>1000.
>
>
>-- glm
>
>
>
>
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