Economic Rhetoric
Episode Name: Economic Rhetoric Written By: Solok & Christobal Cast: Solok & Christobal. Produced By: Starfleet Directed By: Starfleet Aired On: Sat Dec 21 06:18:00 2002 Stardate: 52867.4
Time: Dec 21 06:18:00 2002
Stardate: 52867.4
Solok looks out at the Anomaly, nodding, "Interesting, isn't it? But as far as I can tell, utterly unprofitable. And in the end, anyone who isn't a fish is a fisher. Everything competes with everything else. There are only so many suckers in the world."
Cristobal tears himself away from the spectacle outside the station and says, "I might be inclined to agree if I weren't familiar with a planet where all competition is voluntary, and where there's no penalty for losing
"No penalty for losing?" Solok laughs outright at this, saying, "Unless there is no prize for winning, there cannot be no penalty for losing. It's that simple."
"It isn't, though. Currency does not exist in the natural world. Objective worth is a construct of sentient beings used for economic simplification when they have not evolved beyond such concept," Cristobal says.
Cristobal adds, "Life is not a zero-sum equation."
Solok lifts an eyebrow, saying, "Frankly, I find your opinions both ill-informed and quite insulting. Currency may not exist, but trade exists everywhere. Currency just simplifies it. Even on your Earth, there are winners, and there are losers. True, no one loses quite as badly as they should. But because of that, no one really wins as much as they should, either."
Cristobal says, "Trade exists for the very reason that there is no such thing is natural currency. I have a chicken, you have a nice woven basket. The basket has more worth for me than the chicken does, but the chicken has more value to you. We trade. No one has lost, with the possible exception of the chicken, if he's dinner."
Solok smiles broadly, chuckling under his breath. "Humans. Ever the romantics. You think there are no losers in that situation? You think there are no winners? I take that chicken, and I trade it to another who thinks it is worth two baskets. But he can't find anyone willing to give him two baskets back for the chicken. And I then trade my baskets for two chickens. Is he a winner? Can he be said to be a winner in any sense of the word?"
Cristobal says, "He would have won if he had valued the chicken. He did not. He valued the chicken in terms of baskets. By searching for relative worth, he has placed himself at the mercy of others' values. If what he wanted was a third basket, then he should have traded for a basket, rather than giving away the two baskets he already had."
Cristobal says, "If, on the other hand, he values the chicken more than the two baskets he gave away, he has won."
Solok points out, "Under your system, the first man to get hungry loses. Because to him, one chicken becomes worth much more than it is to everyone else. And he can expect thus to pay dearly for it. And by your estimation, he wins, despite the fact he will quickly have nothing."
Cristobal says, "If people become hungry, and there is only one chicken, then yes. Another reason why free-marketeerism is a dead end. It's in the chicken farmer's interest to ensure that there are not enough chickens to go around. The obvious answer is to ensure that there are more chickens. If, rather than competing, the society is oriented towards creating enough resources for all, no one need go hungry."
"You have a quite deluded view, I am afraid, human. There will always be one too few chickens to go around, because not everything continues forever." Solok laughs, adding, "No one may go hungry, but not everyone wins. Merely eating becomes losing. There will always be the last something. And it will be to the winners that they go. And if, in your system, there should ever be one chicken too few... watch as everything comes crumbling down to the foundations. Greed."
Cristobal says, "The larger the society gets, and the more beings that support it, and are in turn supported by it, the more difficult it gets for such crumbling to occur. When Earth was hundreds of nations, poor weather could decimate the food supply of a "loser" nation. And if the "winner" nations set too high a price on their chickens, people starved. Since Earth united, there've been almost three hundred years of peace and prosperity. Now, with the existence of the Federation, if Earth's chickens somehow died out, they could be replaced by those on colonies, or with Polarian Veeza-birds."
"Any ship or station. Cover it in a dampening field to kill all the replicators. See what happens." Solok laughs outright, saying, "By the end of those two days, your precious socialist system would be ash. Yes, you could rebuild it, with enough chickens. But the point would be made. And still, human, try to get ahold of a piece of property directly next to Starfleet Academy, on Earth. Tell me you don't have winners and losers then. There will always be shortage."
Cristobal says, "Though I would note that we have more emergency rations aboard the station than that, it wouldn't take all that long for a shipment of more supplies to arrive, even now, in wartime, so once again, the social structure holds. I would also note that properly directly adjoining Starfleet Academy is not in particularly high demand, as the only residents who would be directly benefitted, students, live on-campus. Whether faculty would benefit is another question, though it may be telling that only a minority actually live on the same peninsula as the campus. Most live in or around the major city on the other peninsula. The benefits of living in that particular area, the truly valuable commodities, such as mild climate, diverse culture, can be found elsewhere in the area, or elsewhere on Earth. A shortage of something not valued is by definition, not a shortage."
"Are you telling me there are not more prestigious locations than others? A better view, perhaps. A place away from noise. That sort of thing. The last bottle of a rare vintage. There are shortages all the time. Denying my example doesn't invalidate the point, it is just a game." Solok tilts his head, looking you over, adding, "And neither does your point about emergency rations. Your system is, in fact, dependant on there being more chickens at each and every moment than there are mouths, in each and every way. This happens on Ferenginar as well. And the price drops to nothing, and they are essentially free. But on both Earth, and on Ferenginar, if something is rare, it must be paid for."
As the station rotates, the anomaly passes out of view.
Cristobal says, "The concept of a possession being "prestigious", i.e. having value simply because others would like to have them, but cannot, also must be done away with for a society to evolve. Again, when you value items only on their worth to you, and the rest of society does the same, there is no shortfall. If someone wishes a quiet dwelling, with an excellent view, there are more than enough domiciles to accomodate them. If they wish a centralized location, or one near their family, or ancestral territory, that is also quite attainable. It is when you start thinking in terms of superlatives that you run into trouble. What is the "best" view on Earth? The Terran population alone probably has billions of different responses to that question, let alone what those not from Terra itself think. When you are looking for the "best" wine, you are not looking for something you will enjoy drinking, you are looking for something that has status attached to it. Again, you are placing yourself at the mercy of someone else's values."
Solok tsks under his breath, "And you seem to think that humans are above this. Or is this an example for some mythical society that will spring into being, fully-formed, from the loins of your Federation? Or perhaps, from some other society?"
Cristobal says, "Above? They can be. Humans, and every other being in the Federation, are free to value things however they choose. Humanity, however, has shown it can rise above itself. The Federation is the result of the efforts of all member races to think and act beyond themselves."
"And you, Starfleet, have never run a shop, I can tell." Solok gives a slight bow, noting, "I see the side of the Federation you don't. And probably never will, with your badge, and your sparkling clean uniform. But I'll leave you to your delusions, there is no profit in trying to reform you. Good day."
Cristobal smiles, "I would note that aboard a Federation space station, you are free, within certain limitations, most of them having to do with impinging on others' freedoms, to value what you will, without penalty, without losing. Could I do the same on Ferenginar? I really should be going on-shift soon. Good day, Ferengi."
