Quote:
Originally Posted by mugaliens
I'm not so sure, Ara, as there's a difference between parasitic "income" and real income. When John grows the corn that feeds Bill's cattle which supplies Frank's steakhouse which feeds John's family... All that money circulating around does little good for the economy as a whole, other than allow for multiple resources to be shared, and paid for, by multiple people. The same economy, in stagnation, would require no additional work. Indeed, they'd be out of work, but instead working for themselves, probably on a farm.
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I'm not sure I understand the point of the disagreement. What you describe as "multiple resources being shared and paid for by multiple people" would seem to be the goal in or evidence of a good economy. Ya know, specialization and economies of scale and efficiency savings. If we all worked as jacks-of-all-trades for a subsistence level, then we wouldn't be very advanced.
Or maybe I'm not following your point about parasitism. A space infrastructure project can be more than make-work. It could have real goals that would generate a profit structure for private business that rides along that infrastructure.