Economic Evolution

Economic Evolution: Natural Selection in the Marketplace

When the world changes, nature reacts in a very simple manner that allows for the better survival of the entire community of Life. Traits or characteristics that aid survival in the new environment are passed along and those that are detrimental to survival in the new environment are weeded out. Sometimes weak species become dominant due to these changes and dominant species become weak. Over time what survives are the strongest and smartest species in a given environment. Sometimes two weak species will team together in symbiotic relationships in order to strengthen themselves mutually and survive the new environment.

When the world changes, businesses should react in a very simple manner that allows for the better survival of the entire community of Life. Businesses and business plans that no longer work should fail and die out or be modified to survive in the new environment. Businesses that work best in the new environment should thrive. Over time what survives are the strongest and smartest businesses in a given environment. Sometimes two weaker businesses will merge together in symbiotic relationships in order to strengthen themselves mutually and survive the new environment.

In nature this is called natural selection, which is a key component of evolution. The strongest survive. In economics this is called the free market, which is a key component of capitalism. Unfortunately, it is no longer a key component of American capitalism.

American capitalism has its brush strokes of socialism (not put there by Obama, it has been around for a long, long time). These wonderful ideals have generally been put in place in times of economic crisis. I can best describe them with a metaphor:

Imagine the American economy as a wooden barrel filled with water. This wooden barrel was created in the wake of the Great Depression. It was created because the old barrel broke and America's water spilled out. This was not the first American barrel. It was the first barrel to break completely though. Many barrels had come and gone, but were always replaced by a new, stronger barrel before the old one broke.

So our current barrel has slowly filled water over time. Over that time it has sprung a number of leaks. Instead of doing what we had always done -- build a newer better barrel as a replacement -- we decided to continuously repair our barrel. Now we have a barrel that doesn't work very well together, has some really outdated parts, and is currently in the process of getting another weird repair job so we can keep our barrel from breaking.

We need a new barrel. The weird repair job -- bailout -- will not stop our barrel from breaking. It is merely delaying the new barrel from being made.

Why are we bailing out broken systems? Let them die. Yes it will suck, but in the long run we will be better off. Something new will come along that works better. It is the natural way. Adaptation and innovation will once again rule instead of staying the course and waiting for a handout.

Ideally, America would operate on a free system with no government regulation in the economy. Unfortunately, that would probably come at a pretty high cost to the American labor force. Short term, many would be out of jobs as former industries that were basically wards of the state -- a lot of mortgage firms now and the car industry for example -- would no longer be able to compete as they are in a free market. Long-term the lack of regulation could lead to no minimum wage, labor unions losing power to protect their workers, and a much harder ability to get a job since you must now compete on a global market for employment.

So what should America do? My opinion, and everyone knows I am not an econ major, is to turn us back into a free market system. Measures may need to be made to ease us into it to prevent a total collapse, but it needs to happen. All that money we have that we are wasting on a bailout goes to one thing and one thing only: services to protect the youth of America.

You dump most of those billions into making our schools safer and modern and our teachers paid better to entice a stronger teacher talent pool to form. Better, happier teachers, better learning environments, and better classroom tools will equal a better educated and higher skilled citizenship. All of a sudden competing for a job on a global market would not be such a bad thing for Americans.

You dump the a lot of the billions into public health projects. You make sure every child has wonderful insurance. Coupled with better education, that should lead to a healthier population who's health bills are actually lower than they are in the current system. Prevention is always cheaper than treatment.

The last of the money goes into science. New technologies developed = new industries = new jobs = a stronger, healthier economy.

It can be done, but America has to lose its obsession with quick fixes. A pill won't make you skinny or smart or skilled. You have to put time and effort into those things. Our economy won't be solved by a quick fix. It will be solved slowly and overtime. It will take sacrifice across the board and a lot of hard work, but you know what? We are a product of two things: nature and America. At one point, as far as nature was concerned, our genes were the best possible. At one point, our ancestors came to America and busted their humps to create a good life for their progeny. We can do this if we are willing to do it with hard work and sacrifice and not with quick, temporary fixes.



To those of you who read this and are confused since I am a hippy liberal: I am a hippy liberal, but that doesn't mean I support hand outs to failures. I believe everyone should have the opportunity to better their lives in their own lifetime through a skill, hardwork, or innovation. In America, there are way too many people who never get that opportunity based simply on where they were born and to whom they were born.

I fully support the leveling of the playing field for everyone as much as possible. You don't do that by bringing the field down to the lowest, you bring the lowest up to the higher field. You do this by increasing resources, not by handouts. Handouts = learnt helplessness. Long term, that is nothing but a disservice to the groups we are trying to help and a drain on society. If we increase the resources and opportunities then it is mutually beneficial for the same cost. Teach a man to fish and all that...

I startled rambling somwhere ... I hope it all still makes sense on paper