> As for the much of the cheap stuff – those Target mittens, say – they aren’t merely inexpensive, they’re valueless. In fact, they’re of negative value when one considers the waste or materials involved, and the wasted energy of driving to buy them, then driving to return them later – a second trip that in this case, and many others, wasn’t worth making. Instead, we took the loss. And the world took the loss. A small one, but they add up.
"Value subtraction" was a key criticism of the Soviet system: outputs were worth less than inputs. Zoom out to our Big Picture (let's call it "life cycle analysis") and yeah, value is being drained away at every step. Some as dividends, some as environmental damage, some as political bribery, some as pure friction.
So if this kind of price signal no longer works in the American economy, then maybe the American economy is fundamentally broken and needs replacing. Not to mention the political system propping it up.
"Value subtraction" was a key criticism of the Soviet system: outputs were worth less than inputs. Zoom out to our Big Picture (let's call it "life cycle analysis") and yeah, value is being drained away at every step. Some as dividends, some as environmental damage, some as political bribery, some as pure friction.
So if this kind of price signal no longer works in the American economy, then maybe the American economy is fundamentally broken and needs replacing. Not to mention the political system propping it up.
Rant concludes.