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Musings Report #33 8-16-14 The Hidden Value of Gardens
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For those who are new to the Musings reports: they are basically a glimpse into my notebook,the unfiltered swamp where I organize future themes, sort through the dozens of stories and links submitted by readers, refine my own research and start connecting dots which appear later in the blog or in my books. As always, I hope the Musings spark new appraisals and insights. Thank you for supporting the site and for inviting me into your circle of correspondents.
The Hidden Value of Gardens
Long-time readers know I tend to see the big issues of our era in small things. For example, I see capitalism's primary flaw--the market's inability to value whatever markets cannot price--in our society's blindness to the full value of vegetable gardens.
An example of capitalism's inability to value what cannot be priced by the market's supply-demand mechanism is the loss of the wild fisheries, for example, blue-fin tuna. The market can price the last wild blue-fin tuna caught, but it cannot price the loss to the sea's food chain and web of life, nor the eventual costs of this loss to humanity. As a result of this ontological defect, we cannot possisbly make fully informed or wise decisions based solely on the market value of things.
If we rely on the market to value a vegetable garden, we would weigh the garden's harvest and calculate the wholesale value of the vegetables, or perhaps the price that could be fetched for the veggies at a local farmer's market.
Let's say the market determines the "value" of the garden's output at $200. If we calculate the hours of labor needed to maintain the garden and harvest the output, this appears to be a very low return on the investment of labor (time) and capital (seeds, soil, water, compost, etc.)
But does this market-calculated value truly capture all the value intrinsic to a thriving garden? Even the most superficial survey of the spectrum of value created by a garden would find that the market captured almost nothing of a garden's true value.
Just off the top of my head, here is what a garden generates in non-market value:
-- A soothing green oasis that offers visitors immediate health benefits: lower bood pressure, calming the mind, re-establishing a connection to the natural world, etc.
-- A natural gathering place for those living nearby. A rooftop garden, for example, becomes a magnet for residents of the building, even if they express no interest in raising vegetables.
-- A source of meaning and pride for those caring for the garden
-- An irreplaceable "classroom" for learning about interactive, dynamic systems, biology, ecosystems, insects, pollinators, soil, micro-organisms
-- A source of inspiration for culinary education, art projects and other expressions of creativity and beauty
-- A workplace where participants can learn perseverence, a work ethic, how to nurture natural processes, etc.
-- An opportunity to learn the social skills of sharing and working with others
-- A healing place for people who have never had little experience with the natural world and with the healing powers of caring for something other than one's own narrow self-interest
-- A natural rallying point to form a community out of disparate individuals or deepen the bonds between neighbors
-- The joys of harvesting fresh, organic vegetables
These ten sources of value unrecognized by supply-demand pricing of marketable output do not capture the full value of a vegetable garden, but they reveal how much of what I call the community economy is invisible to market discovery of price/value.
Cultcha/Culture
Kendama World Cup - 1st place Bonz Atron (4:36) -- this old-time ball-and-string Japanese toy (kendama) is the latest craze globally. It's been big in Hawaii for a few years now... we have had several around the house for decades....
UNESCO World Heritage site, Hiraizumi, Japan (via George B.) An attempt to recreate an ideal Buddhist world in this world, built in the transitional period from the ancient era to the medieval period.
Canadian comedian Russell Peters (youtube)-- Indian-Canadian, plays the ethnic comedy cards well...
Two on Sex:
More bang for your buck: How new technology is shaking up the oldest business (i.e. the sex trade)
By 2025, ‘sexbots will be commonplace’ – which is just fine, as we’ll all be unemployed and bored thanks to robots stealing our jobs
Summary of the Blog This Past Week
Have We Forgotten What an Authentic Market Is? 8/16/14
Is Collapse the Only Real "Fix" to Our Healthcare and Legal Systems? 8/15/14
Are There No Hard Limits on Financial Finagling? 8/14/14
We're Relying on Phantom Wealth to Fund Our Retirement 8/13/14
It's Not Just Healthcare That's Bankrupt--It's Our Legal System, Too 8/12/14
Here's Why Wages Might Rise Despite Millions of Unemployed Being Available for Work 8/11/14
Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week
Met correspondents John H. and Michael M. for lunch (a week apart) and received handmade jewelry from Ryan S. Wow! I am blessed with generous, smart, independent-thinking readers and correspondents.
Market Musings: Chop-Fest Continues
It feels like the market is in the grip of a peculiar irony: many informed participants expect a seasonal decline in August-October, for numerous technical reasons. But the more participants try to anticipate this decline, the lower the odds that the decline actually occurs.
There are a number of reasons for this dynamic, including "what everyone knows has no value," and the mechanics of betting on a market decline, i.e. going short. The more shares that are sold short anticipating a decline, the more shares that will have to bought to cover the short bet if the market refuses to drop and actually rallies to new highs.
In other words, a decline can only occur if everyone trying to get short ahead of it gives up. This is why I anticipate a chop-fest of sharp spikes up and down as punters try get short ahead of a decline and then have to cover as the "buy the dip" response that's been so profitable for years kicks in, triggering short-covering.
Only when the "buy the dip" bulls and bears anticipating a decline are both exhausted can a decline actually occur. Thus we might experience more chop-fests like Friday, where anxious bulls get stopped out by a sharp decline and bears who jump in with bets on a deeper decline are forced to exit as markets recover.
Technically, the underpinnings are weakening, but that doesn't mean the SPX can't exceed the previous high of 1,991 and vault over 2,000. That would increase bullish complacency and reduce short bets to the point that the next decline might actually gain momentum because there won't be enough buy-the-dippers and shorts to stop the decline once it starts.
From Left Field
14 People Who Are Changing The Face Of Detroit -- interesting case study of how change occurs without Central Planning...
Don’t Let the Disruption Hype Fool You: America Is Actually Getting Less Entrepreneurial (via Maoxian)
The Social Laboratory: Singapore is testing whether mass surveillance and big data can not only protect national security, but actually engineer a more harmonious society.
Americans’ optimism is dying -- or perhaps more accurately, faith in our leadership's ability to fix what's broken....
Global Parenting Habits That Haven't Caught On In The U.S. -- we used to allow kids out alone--we all walked home from kindergarten at 5 years of age. Now the poor parent would be arrested for child neglect....
How The Ukraine Crisis Will Play Out -- the resource curse strikes again....
Capital Flight From China, One Person at a Time, Via ATM and Bitcoin -- multiply by 10 million and you get the picture....
The Starbucks coffee compost test (via John D.) -- coffee grounds are good for the soil... I compost all of mine....
Putin's Ukraine gamble hastens exodus of Russian money and talent (via Mark G.)
15 interesting things seen on Google Earth -- the giant KFC advert is my favorite....
Why Are Men Leaving The American Workforce? -- fewer jobs, maybe?....
'Paris Syndrome' Drives Chinese Tourists Away -- apparently they expected a Hollywood set....
"Never think that lack of variability is stability. Don't confuse lack of volatility with stability, ever." Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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