[GJM] Zero sum game (Janos)

[Steve Consilvio]

Janos, I don't think I am using "zero sum game" in a way different  
from what it commonly means.

Regardless of how much "wealth" man generates, it has to be divided  
among the living.  So it is a zero sum game.  I get the lumber for a  
big house, you get the particle board for a trailer.  No matter how  
much we produce, it will always be a zero sum game.  Distribution is  
inherently part of the equation of production.

Nobody can survive alone.  We need each other in a way that animals  
do not.  We are much less self-sufficient than animals, so a zero-sum  
game is our only choice.  Animals, in contrast, don't produce  
anything. They are 100% consumers.  Man must balance his production  
and consumption.

Money is equally a zero-sum game, too.  We now have trillions of  
dollars in existence, but we cannot distribute them any better than  
the lumber.  (Money is just a barter representation.  See my post  
titled "Personal Finance and Government Regulations.")

The challenge is to get the distribution better, since it causes  
conflicts, and everything we produce evolves into pollution.  Not  
only do we lack balance with ourselves, but we also lack balance with  
nature.  Without balance we we either kill ourselves or pollute  
ourselves to death.

I believe there is a better way, but it does require everyone to let  
go of the old ways.  (There's always a catch, eh?)  Besides the  
mathematical problem, we also have a spiritual problem.  The greedy  
at the top are no different than the greedy at the bottom.  The  
misers who won't let go of their hoard are not so spiritually  
different than those who hate people because they are rich.  Both see  
material things as the most important thing in the world, and people  
are secondary.  We need things to survive, but we need each other  
even more.

Without each other we cannot survive, anyway, but this opens up the  
issue of what type of work is truly "productive."  Chiquita Banana  
employs about 13,000 people, and feeds the whole world. Marsh &  
McLennan Companies, which took a direct hit on 9/11 and lost 700+  
employees, employs 55,000 people who do nothing but push paper all  
day.  Yet, the paper pushers have the lion's share of the wealth.   
That is a huge imbalance, but before it was a physical one it was an  
intellectual one.  These people are not "evil," and did not deserve  
to die, but perhaps the system we have is wired wrong.  They were  
born as innocent children the same as everyone else, and they learned  
the lies of previous generations as truths, too.  We are all victims  
of the previous generations.

History is the real zero sum game.  And in that regard, I probably do  
have a different idea than most people, but that was not discussed.   
In general, I see the past, present, future and God as part of a zero  
sum timeline.  They are all "ever-present," and what we do, and how  
we do it, effects our understanding of everything (ie, our experience  
of zero-sum history.)  How we understand history is the determining  
factor in everything we believe.

Also, there is a dividing line in economic theory.  On both sides it  
is a zero sum interpretation.  On the one side is the marketplace  
theory (buying and selling,) on the other side is the monetary theory  
(borrowing and lending.)  It makes sense that these two theories  
evolved, since products and money are used in the exchange.   
Unfortunately, the two theories are incompatible with each other,  
even though they are both zero sum interpretations.  The former  
assumes that men are equal, the later assumes that men are unequal.   
People discuss economics using both assumptions constantly, which  
makes their theories/claims/reforms inconsistent and unworkable.

Again, our primary problem is that the distribution system doesn't  
work because our assumptions are incorrect.  While we have a zero-sum  
game, the numbers themselves are subject to a geometric progression  
(aka The Interest Mechanism.)  As time passes, reality and the  
numbers grow farther and farther apart until a collapse occurs  
(usually a civil war.  See The Great Wave by David Hackett Fischer.)   
That is why zero is such a beautiful number.  It is immune to the  
geometric progression.

Not only is everything a zero sum game, zero is also the answer to  
all our problems.

peace,
steve consilvio
www.behappyandfree.com


On WednesdayJan 9, 2008, at 2:00 PM, discussion- 
request at globaljusticemovement.net wrote:

> Steve, are yusing the expression "zero sum" with your own special  
> meaning?
>
> My understanding of the meaning of "Zero Sum" is that if I have  
> more of some economic goods someone or someones have sthat much less.
>
> As to natural resources versus economic activity, I believe that  
> our ability, at least potentially, to do "more and more with less  
> and less"--the Bucky Fuller thesis--is very significant.
>
> PS and note. You are posting two copies every time  "Discussion  
> Forum for Global Justice" is an alias for  
> discussion at globaljusticemovement.net. Please discard one of them  
> from your address book.

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