Why is the economy so important?

[Jangalomph]

Hello,

This is another serious discussion started by.. the serious man. Any who, since my previous threads i haven't been on much. But in my time away i was thinking, Why is economy so important any ways? What does the term economy even mean? Why if the economy fails does the world have to fail? Keep the thread serious and tell me what you think about it. Because frankly i don't understand what economy is for and or has to do with the success of humans?



EDIT: We all see how "Greece is failing, and people are panicking." Why does this matter?

[Major Banter]

Economy is basically how much money a country has and what it's doing with it.

It's hideously complicated and hard to explain, but essentially without an economy you are fucked.

Look up Hyperinflation. That's an economists worst nightmare.

[Jangalomph]

Wouldn't this be everyone's worst nightmare? Not just an economists..

[Dionysos]

Basically, imagine a web-like construct. The strength of the knots and threads is determined by a vague faith of people in the economy rather as much as or more than whether the individual corporations and businesses actually do well (this is because of the stock market). The economy isn't as much defined by countries rather than corporations and stock market trends etc.

Because it's a "web", if Greece "fails", the repercussions touch everyone. Short example, if "Greece" cannot repay its debt, the debtors are left with a deficit, which forces them to increase the interest for other customers, which leaves those with less money, which destroys businesses, which leads to people not being able to repay their debt... and all this happens globally. There's a lot more to it, and you'd be better off reading some (good! there's a lot of religious-like dogma and talespinning in economy) books on economy.

Though of course in the end, the economy is important because we empower it. Something people tend to forget.

[Chopium]

"When one country defeats the international competition through war, that country experiences an immediate upward economic boom. AMERICA NEEDS MORE WAR!"

-My Old Economics Teacher

[Hypey[UG]]

"When one country defeats the international competition through war, that country experiences an immediate upward economic boom. AMERICA NEEDS MORE WAR!"

-My Old Economics Teacher

But surely thats regarding the trading industry, not a recession in greece? I'll be honest, I only follow what I hear on bbc news in the morning when I wake up, but I presume its a variety of factors such as; overpopulated towns and villages, loss of farms and local growing resources during the fires they seem to suffer from every year now and the general worldwide recession.

In theory, couldnt they cure this problem by branching off from the eu and forming a new currency?

[Terr]

Because frankly i don't understand what economy is for and or has to do with the success of humans?

Is this one of those hippy "Whoah, duuude, we don't need an economy, we just need loooove" kind of question?

An economy is a system of people creating value and trading it around. Let's take a caveman example. The tribe has an economy. Some go out and kill mammoths. This is valuable because they invest their time and resources (pointy spears) to get mammoth corpses, which are useful for other things. Perhaps another person skins the mammoth and makes furs and coverings to keep people warm. Someone else cooks the mammoth, because it's much better cooked. And perhaps some guy specializes in making sharp spears and trades them for food and clothing.

We haven't even introduced things like "money" yet, but it's still an economy. You take all those same people and make them too hungry and cold and un-armed and they'll have a shitty time getting the cycle of extracting human happiness and health from Mammoths moving again.

[Jangalomph]

Because frankly i don't understand what economy is for and or has to do with the success of humans?

Is this one of those hippy "Whoah, duuude, we don't need an economy, we just need loooove" kind of question?

No, no.. it wasn't a hippie question. It was just a general statementish thing.

[antie]

The economy doesn't really exist, it's just a silly human idea like your rights, or religion. Even most money is imaginary; just numbers flying around cyberspace. Oh, and now that most cash is legal tender, i.e. it isn't tied to gold reserves, it's value is arguably false and invented. And then there's the fact that the Federal Reserve is as federal as federal express, and all the money generated is built on debt... But don't worry, everything will get back to normal after another war.

[zombie@computer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeBi93aS5eY

and the rest of it. See it. Fall asleep. Kill everybody.

[davidc538]

i love how the first quote in there was by woodrow wilson. the president who signed in the federal reserve act. worst.....president......evur!

[Mighty Monk]

In theory, couldnt they cure this problem by branching off from the eu and forming a new currency?

Exactly.

But they can't. Why? Because their government and the rest of the bureaucrats that control Europe think the people can't decide what they need and want by themselves, so dictate to them what is in their "best" interest.

Look at Ireland; they voted a big fat NO to Europe, so they were asked again, until the evil that dwells in Europe got the answer it wanted.

If we aren't careful, Britains next in being bollocked when it comes to economy. Especially if we take on the Euro... although I digress a little.

[zombie@computer]

In theory, couldnt they cure this problem by branching off from the eu and forming a new currency?

No, the problem is their depts. With them, and the knowledge now that greece cant repay them, makes any currency they create worthless. Take a look at zimbabwe. They can change all the money, remove 000's from the bills, but their money is still worth less than paper.

[Dionysos]

Unless large-scale war is waged, every country will eventually end up like Greece. It's simple math.

[Terr]

In theory, couldnt they cure this problem by branching off from the eu and forming a new currency?

How would that fix things? People would just look at it, say "Oh, that Greek currency. Hehe. Yeah, I need some toilet paper, 'cause that's all I can count on the Greek government for if I need to shake them down later to give me something useful for it.