Quotes about Scarcity

We are pinched by what she calls a "culture of scarcity," the idea - made real by government and corporate policies favoring the rich and stockholders over everyone else - that there is no money for health care or pensions, no time for leisure, no affordable living space, no room to think about the possibilities beyond private bourgeois comfort.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change things, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

Paul Ehrlich's bet with Julian Simon concerning his belief that natural resources were becoming scarce -- which he famously lost -- has not completely undermined Ehrlich's reputation. But what if, instead of one controversial academic betting against another, there were thousands of ordinary people working to make a buck off of the foolishness of academics? Insofar as ordinary people often have much greater insight into social and economic systems than do many academics, the most egregious foolishnesses of academia would rapidly be exposed.