Grace Notes

One of the main principles is conservation. Conservation of mass,  of energy, of charge, of lots of things. In games like bridge, cards in one place can’t be somewhere else. Generally, start with some stuff, process it, total up the result and the waste, you have what you began with, or maybe just a little less.

Only very rarely do we see genuine creation. Start with some stuff, process it, and end up with more than you began with. Sometimes a lot more. For example, paint and canvas are relatively cheap, but with the right painter, the value of the painting far exceeds the value of the input materials and the painters time valued by ordinary standards. New businesses come along and create value.

Yet unless we pay close attention, it is easier to think of value as being conserved. One man’s gain must be offset by loses to others. It’s not true, at least not always, because wealth is not fixed. Some things increase it, others decrease it. It’s the same with policy. Some policies serve to increase wealth and well being, others to reduce both.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.