Scarcities II

Excerpts from a semantic discourse with Kramer about what we term as "scarcity".  I maintain there is no such thing and that we are in a world awash in over capacity. Kramer maintains that "distributional technologies" are at fault.  In the end, we come to find that we are on common ground.

And the semantics spilled over, until we begin to find in one sense, we might be on common ground...


We Nattered: "excess of productive capacity" exists, therefore we have overcapacity.


"scarcity of distributional capacity" no longer exists, how far a horse travels in a day, no longer dictates the size and potential growth of an empire.


i.e.... 
Kramer: "we can purify it, (water) but not where it needs to be purified." 

We Nattered: a matter of bad choices stemming from resource allocation, or misallocation.


Kramer: "Let's put our brains to figuring out how to increase distribution, not reduce the capacity."


We Nattered: Agreed, we should distribute our "capacity", (over or not), in the sense that "distribution" refers to proper allocation, reallocation and not misallocation of inputs and the resulting outputs, or resources involved.


Kramer: "It's all about how people suffer because bad people stand between them and relief. "


We Nattered: True and already common ground.


Kramer: "It's all about how people suffer because bad people stand between them and relief. These are modern problems, arising from the fact that we never before had to figure out how to cope with abundance on a global scale. The closest thing we have to a user's manual for abundance is the Book of Exodus, re distribution of manna. Look, though, at how Kuwait has dealt with abundance, or how Alaska has dealt with it. A whole lot of "unearned" sharing going on. On a global scale, the challenge is greater. But the challenge is to get stuff into people's hands and bellies, what I call a scarcity of distributional capacity, not to figure out how to make more stuff. I am saying only that the capacity to produce exists, but the ability to consume does not, and the reason can be seen as a "scarcity" in whatever competencies lie between....Once, there wasn't enough stuff to go around. Now there is enough stuff, but it is not getting around. That's a failure of what I call distributional technology, an inability to solve the problem of people starving because they have no access to available capacity."


We Nattered: Your definition(s) require actual money or "the goods" or "the capacity" (over or not) to be distributed, the competencies exist. Something is missing? With the competencies, if one has the will, the means will come and the rest will follow. Its a matter of choices, reallocation and effort, and there you have it.


More to come


Scarcities 1

Scarcities 2
Scarcities 3

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