Economics is Utilizing Potential

[Tradewinds 12]

All it takes is an idea in the forefront of people's lives to create real change. Economics is nothing more than people cooperating with each other to utilize potential. It's that simple. You don't need a master's degree in economics to understand this. Utilizing potential. That's the foundation. The potential is there. Okay? We have the people, we have the resources, we have the infrastructure. So what's missing? COOPERATION. Please copy this. Send it to everyone. An idea can initiate positive change.

[zdo 20]

A crowd is simply a community, any group of people with a shared interest. It can be narrow (unicycling, Greek archaeology) or broad (science, world peace), small (my village) or large (humanity). The community needs to contain at least a few people capable of innovation. But not everyone in the community need be. There are plenty of other necessary roles:

>The trend-spotter, who finds a promising innovation early

>The evangelist, who passionately makes the case for idea X or person Y.

>The superspreader, who broadcasts innovations to a larger group.

>The skeptic, who keeps the conversation honest.

>General participants, who show up, comment honestly, and learn.

 

Different people may occupy these various [and other – brackets mine, zdo] roles at different time, including that of the innovator. Innovation is a response to particular set of challenges or inspirations. Presented with the right fine-tuned pattern of incoming stimulation, I suspect, most people have a shot at coming up with something wonderfully new and fresh. But even if not, they can still play any of the other key roles.

 

Chris Anderson, curator of TED

 

TW (and readers) I hope this doesn't dilute the original msg... it just seemed related somehow...

[MissMelissRoths03 10]

Great take on the current economic situation in the US. I think the idea of community in a crowd is spot on. However, I wish we saw each of these people present in the White House, Senate, and House working together to help our country. The economy is bound to turn around yet, we haven't seen that happen yet. The invisible hand will not fail and, economics are certainly about utilizing potential yet, why do the policy makers not do this?

[Tradewinds 12]

A common issue in all problems is human nature. Human beings tend to be less focused on the greater good, and more focused on immediate self interests. I'm not saying that people aren't concerned about the greater good, or are totally selfish, but there is a balance and there is a 'tipping point'.

 

The founders of the United States knew some of the flaws in human nature, and they tried to create a government that would avoid these problems. For example, to much concentration of power, and the duration that someone is in power. Concentrated power and long periods of a person being in power tends to corrupt the person in power. So the United States has the 3 branches of government, and term limits.

 

Sometimes life is as much about avoiding bad things as trying to do good things.

 

Utilizing potential is being proactive and initiating something constructive. So it's more than avoidance of bad things.

 

In a bad economy, people find ways to creatively survive. (Some of it illegal and destructive.) When you have no job and no money, you start looking for ways to make money. So you look at potential. For example, "Do I have gold that I don't need that I can sell?", or "Can I do work that is in demand that no one else is willing to do?". People switch jobs and move to areas where the economy is better. The 'Invisible Hand' guides people to match Supply to Demand. It happens out of necessity or desperation.

 

It's unfortunate that things must degrade to desperation and hard times for supply and demand to be matched up, but that's the way people behave.

 

The government should be working to help the economy utilize potential and match up supply with demand, but political self interest can hinder that. But the general public should not be relying on government to solve their problems. As soon as the majority of people start looking to government to solve their problems, the tipping point has gone to the side of apathy and the surrender of your will.

 

If you surrender your will, then you are really no longer a real person, but just a shell with an emptiness inside.

 

Entrepreneurs recognize potential and try to coordinate production, sales and distribution to realize that potential and make a profit.

 

All the people who are unemployed represent underutilized potential. They could work, they have skills, but their skills are not being utilized to produce anything. Then the situation is one of a person consuming more than they produce. On the bigger scale, the United States consumes a lot, but I'm not sure the U.S. produces more than it consumes. The deficit would seem to indicate that consumption is outweighing production. So consumption seems to be outweighing production, and potential is being underutilized. The cause is the basic flaw in human beings to be more concerned with self interest than the greater good. For example, ship jobs to China, to make a bigger profit for a few people. Of course, it's not that simple; most people won't buy the more expensive U.S. goods. There is the self interest of the business to make more money, and the self interest of the consumer to get something for less money. Both are working in their immediate self interest. The end result may be that eventually everyone will be worse off. But that prospect is not the main concern for people. People do not generally think in terms of cooperating for the greater good.

 

So what's the solution? Individuals need to look for ways to adapt and survive, which means looking for potential ways to make income and/or a profit. But unless that happens on a big enough scale, then the real problem will never get fixed.

 

The world has prospered from the exploration of things like natural resources, but natural resources are finite. For example, all the oil will eventually run out. If there are 14 billion people in the world instead of 7 billion, then the old runs out, what's going to happen then? Unless there are other energy sources, it could be the biggest human catastrophe the world has ever seen.

 

That's what your children and grandchildren will need to deal with.

 

The general consciousness of the world needs to tip enough in the direction of the greater good for the catastrophe to be avoided or minimized. That means you and I need to be looking for ways to cooperate with each other and create a 'win/win' situation.

[MissMelissRoths03 10]

The world has prospered from the exploration of things like natural resources, but natural resources are finite. For example, all the oil will eventually run out. If there are 14 billion people in the world instead of 7 billion, then the old runs out, what's going to happen then? Unless there are other energy sources, it could be the biggest human catastrophe the world has ever seen.

 

That's what your children and grandchildren will need to deal with.

 

The general consciousness of the world needs to tip enough in the direction of the greater good for the catastrophe to be avoided or minimized. That means you and I need to be looking for ways to cooperate with each other and create a 'win/win' situation.

 

Great point. There are so many problems that we can foresee yet, no one is working together to create alternatives and solutions. It is important that we band together to solve these problems for the sake of our children and grandchildren. If not, we will be worse off than we are now.