Depressions and Greed

It has just occurred to me that the only cause of depressions is greed. It would be possible to have the lack of natural resources cause a depression, but that hasn't happened yet.

To fully understand this, one has to see money for what it truly is, a human creation, an abstraction. That is, money is a human creation used to make the distribution of goods and services easier.

Well, not easier, actually, since the easiest way to distribute goods and services is for everyone to just give everything away. That is, if I need or want something, I just asked the person who owns it, or provides it, to give it too me. If people would always do that, the distribution of goods and services would be be easy.

The problem is that some people are lazy. Therefore, people need to barter for goods and services. That is, those people, given a choice, would selfishly sit home and watch TV, enjoying all the benefits of other peoples labors. If the number of people needed to create the goods and services required would be less than the number of people who were lazy, then no money, or any other economy, would be needed.

That is not the case, however, or at least not the case now on a global scale.

There is one place where that is of usually the case. That is in the home. The parents, and children, recognizing their mutual dependence, give the goods and services needed to run the home with no money changing hands at all. Not always in a totally giving fashion, but that is the case.

For example, it would be possible for a wife in the traditional home to require the husband to pay her every time she cleaned the house. Say, $100 per cleaning. Similarly, the husband could charge for every time something is fixed, say, $1000 for every time the sink needed unclogged. Such a home could exist, and maybe someone lives like that, but certainly it is rare.

The reason is that to create a home, a man loves a woman, and the man loves the woman. They both do their duty, and supply the goods and services, not because they are forced to do it, but because they want to do it. Every transaction becomes an expression of their love for each other. If this is not the case, the family is said to be dysfunctional, and usually the marriage ends in divorce.

The entire world could work like that, if every person loved everyone else. I suppose this is the essence of what is meant by the word "Zion" as used in the church.

Thinking of this, consider what happens when there is a depression. First, there has not been a lack of goods and services yet. That is, "there is enough and to spare," as the someone has said in years past.

The problem is that, while there is enough, people cannot afford to buy it. That is, people don't have the money. If no one were selfish (something that has not occurred yet) then the people in need would just ask for the goods or services normally provided, and the world could function without the money. There would be no change between an economy that is in depression, and one that is vibrant and alive.

The real kicker is that the few who choose to be selfish suffer right alone with everyone else. That is, money can only buy goods and services when they are available. That is, when they are "in season." Since a depression results in many people being unemployed, these people (who suffer directly because they have no money) are not providing the goods and services desired by the wealthy. Therefore, even though a good is wanted, they are not available.

And the driving force behind it all is greed. "I want mine, and I'm not willing to share what I have with you."

It has occurred to me that it would be possible to overcome this by simply creating a new type of money every now and again. This is, in reality, what is meant by the concept of "The Year of the jubilee." That is, once every few years the results of the inequities of the economy are reset so the economy can start over again. That is, the current money is replaced by new money from after the Jubilee.

I think you will see this happening at time due to war, or economy calamity.

The main point, though, is that depressions are caused by greed, the few who want to try to keep all the goods and service for themselves, only to discover that their greed has prevented the goods and services from being created in the first place, so even the cannot get them. (People who live like this are also known as misers, it is not entirely unknown.)