Forum Post: A Neo-Marxian Economic Theory

The title is only half in jest. I sincerely hope some thoughtful and well-intentioned economists benefit from this ridiculous thought experiment.

What follows is a work of fiction, not math, meant to provoke thought, not solve and resolve it.

One. There are 3+1 not= 4 elements of THE ECONOMY. These are: (1) Land, (2) Labour, (3) Goods/Services, and (4) Capital. Land. Land(0) - This is the value of the land at ground level, and the resources available without digging below the topsoil, e.g. agriculture. Land(-) - This is the value of the land below ground level, and the resources available underground, e.g. mining. Land(+) - This is the value of the land above ground level, and the resources available above the ground, e.g. the atmosphere, including our “satellite belt.”
Labour - LabourAVERAGE - Most people are not exceptional, and that’s okay. Most people couldn’t, and oughtn’t be bothered to pioneer the latest innovation driving economic growth.
LabourBELOWAVG - All people, at some time in their life, are either physically, mentally, or otherwise incapable of productivity. This category especially refers to the persistently incapable, e.g. the mentally ill, physically disabled, criminally or functionally insane, etc. LabourABOVEAVG - Some people, I call GENIUSES AND MADMEN, are the innovators in the domains of IDEAS, and the EXECUTION OF IDEAS, respectively.

Goods/Services Goods - correspond to Land Goods(0) - Items able to be made of ground-level resources, e.g. anything agriculture-based - food, fabric, timber, rubber, etc.# Goods(-) - Items requiring mined materials as inputs, e.g. most fabricated goods. Goods(+) - Items requiring only "atmosphere," especially the satellite belt, e.g. communications, media, but also software, cloud services including email, etc. Services - correspond to Labour ServicesAVERAGE - These are the “everyday” services, the things that keep society running, from trash collector to judge. ServicesBELOWAVG - These are “illegitimate” or illegal services, such as prostitution, drug trafficking, mercenaries, “black markets”, underground markets, etc. ServicesABOVEAVG - These are the “superfluous” services, including “luxury” services such as the tourism industry, investment, plastic surgery, etc. Also art. CAPITAL (K) -
KAVERAGE - This is the part of the money supply dedicated to the “operating costs” of the system, i.e. the money generally “in circulation.”
KBELOWAVG - This is the part of the money supply dedicated to the “savings” of the system, i.e. the money generally “parked” somewhere. KABOVEAVG - This is the part of the money supply dedicated to the “growth” of the system, i.e. the money generally “invested.”

Two. A brief history...

Beginning with LAND, the economic history of the world as I understand it has been a general movement from the first sub-category GROUND(0) - in which the property itself was the whole of the value of the land (from kings to feudal lords); to the second BELOWGROUND(-) - in which property elsewhere could be mined for its raw materials and input value into the system (mercantilism to 20th century); to the third ABOVEGROUND(+) - in which we are beginning to realize the value of, for example: the atmosphere and its role in moderating global temperature; the layer of geosynchronous orbit now full to capacity with satellites; and (hopefully not too slowly or too late) the role of our magnetosphere in protecting the Earth and its satellites from EM-disrupting radiation from the Sun.

Next, LABOUR, in terms of economic thought, has in my opinion been a general matter of misunderstanding the ABOVE and the BELOW AVERAGE. I am nobody of consequence, but it is my humble belief that when the philosophers of the Enlightenment, who inspired the various political revolutions including the 18th century American Revolution, wrote “we are all created equal” [obvious paraphrase], they did not mean it in economic terms. In other words, the fundamental assumption by theorists has been to group all people into one group “LABOUR” - and to exclude those incapable of working from the category altogether. The other side of that fallacy, creates the fundamental assumption that every individual in the labor force is theoretically capable of being a GENIUS or a MADMAN - i.e. an intellectual, or “executive” juggernaut. What is true, is that GENIUSES and MADMEN are often relegated to menial labour, for lack of inspiration, or motivation, or resources, or whatever reason, and therefore appear to derive from the AVERAGE workforce. However, to then deduce, since all exceptions come from the average, that every average is a potential exception, is a fallacy, and just plain wrong.

We are not all equal. We are not all “supposed” to be exceptional (in an economic sense). Therefore our economic model should not assume so. Likewise it should not assume we will all be in good health and good spirit, and should have a place to put all those incapable of work which is integrated into a model which seeks equilibrium - besides school, and jail, and nursing homes.