: : Suppose we live under a system such as you described. How would this system handle the following:
: : 1) A talented musician comes to town. The theater has 100 seats. 200 people want to go. How should this scarce good be allocate?: Two performances? A.bigger theatre? Use amplifiers so people can hear te concert from outside?
*** If we had unlimited resources we could do these things. Alas, the Earth is limited. Who will build this bigger theater, and from where will the materials come?
: : 2) We need somebody to weld steel beams on a high suspension bridge. This job requires great skill and is very hazardous. Taking this job pays the same wages as a soft job in a public library. Who will take the job? Assume that you have to work with limited resources.
: Someone who would enjoy the challenge?
*** It would be nice if such a person always existed. But assume for the moment that this is a job that nobody likes. (There are many such jobs in real-life).
: : 3) A skilled sculptor has a yearning for Beethoven concertos. He lives next door to an experienced violinist. He trades one of his beautiful sculptures for a month of free dinner music. Would you arrest him? If not, hasn't he increased his "wages" by getting a good (music) that nobody else can have?
: Hasn't he just fairly traded something of his own in exchange?
*** I myself think it's okay to trade things. But how would you feel about the following trade?
***"The "worker's council" of the local diamon mine is having production problems. A skilled engineer can solve them, in fact, he can double the mine's output. He offers to work extra nights on a solution in return for 10% of the production increase...nearly $1 million in diamonds.
Would you allow this "fairly traded" exchange?
