A False Economy

Most of us are familiar with term "false economy," something we've been hearing a lot more of these days, a phrase which refers to something that appears to save money in the beginning, but ends up costing more in the long run. Such an instance would be purchasing cheap products because they save money initially, but due to poor workmanship, they end up costing more in needed repairs, or more frequent replacements than a well-made, more expensive product would have. That is the traditional terminology of a false economy. However, let us for a moment ignore the generally accepted meaning and use the term "false economy" to truthfully describe the idea of an economy itself.

An economy is a farce; it is incapable of succeeding to its own ideals. As long as there is an economy, there will be inequity, unemployment, and hungry people. An economy itself prevents an economy from working. An economy is an idea of a continual flow of spending money, which means that it's always moving and as long as it's moving, everyone has money. While the general concept of an economy looks good on paper, it doesn't translate very well into the real world. This is because through an economy, there is no such thing as self-sufficiency. Everyone is entirely dependent upon someone else's money for their survival.

Take the most basic model of an economy. Person 1 gives money to person 2 for clothes, person 2 gives money to person 3 for gasoline, person 3 gives money to person 4 for financial services, person 4 gives money to person 5 for entertainment, person 5 gives money to person 1 for food. And so it is back to the beginning in a repetitive cycle of constantly flowing money. Obviously this is a very simplified example of an economy made up millions of people, but it is essentially what the economy is; an ever moving flow of money. The problem is, that flow is not always equal.

No matter how great the plan looks, sooner or later there will be a hitch in the smooth flow of money changing hands. At some point someone with either spend too little or too much, which creates a chain reaction sending the delicate balance of the economy into a downward spiral, leading to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It is not unlike the current situation with the global economy in which China exports many goods and services to the US, but purchases relatively few in return. This creates an imbalance where one country prospers while the other declines.

Returning to the basic model, suppose person 4 decides not to spend money on entertainment? That means person 5, who make his or her living providing entertainment cannot give their money to person 1, who in turn can't give it to person 2 and so on, while person 4 ends up making out quite well. This happens quite often on the small scale in towns who don't receive enough outside tourist dollars. Because an economy makes people always dependent upon other people's money, it is an illusion that can never succeed and requires that everyone be a part of the system. Even in the simplest lives, few can escape being dependent upon others.

There is almost no such thing as true off-the-grid living. No one can simply buy a piece of property and sustain themselves growing their own food on their own land, because they are part of the system right from the start. If nothing else, they have to pay property taxes, and in order to pay property taxes, they need an income, a source of money from someone else. Thus, even growing their own food and making their own clothes, they are still dependent upon another. In the current economic system, there will always be highs, and there will always be lows. Until we change the way the economy functions, until we stop the cycle of being dependent upon others, the economy can never truly work. In order to start repairing the economy, maybe we need to nip it at its source.

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