Redaction

Prior iteration has been unsubverted. Responsible parties have been corrected.

The Bureaucracy of Iconography

It is a commonly-held fact that war produces economic growth, but that's pure fallacy. War depletes resources considerably faster than it produces them. While the technological development is undeniable, the infrastructure damage is equally undeniable. So what is it that causes the boom/bust periods around war? The answer lies in scarcity.

The world pulses resource between holders. Those with the least amount of resources are able to purchase the most per-resource because those with the greatest amount of resources are desperate to get rid of them at any price. Abundance breeds contempt, especially when abundance devalues the commodity.

However, an economy can't be defined within itself. It must be defined in terms of other sources, because defined within itself there is no pulsation - no resource is gained or lost by the closed system. As a consequence, there is no fluctuations that produce economic strength. And when two economic entities interact, they form one larger economic entity. In the end, there can be no economic power, not unless resources are made to disappear and, at some subsequent time, reappear.

Within a closed economic system, scarcity and plenty must be simulated. Thus, the true power of economy lies in market manipulation. How is this done? With the people. Labor is controlled by what can be purchased for what price. Prices can be fixed, either by controlling the terminal outlet for resources or by controlling the supply of the resources directly. In turn, control of the labor leads to long-term manipulations of the market - more labor in one resource means less in others. Planning for the long-term means being able to save the resources now for when they will be effective, then training large amounts of labor to produce more of that resource so that once they are ready for mass market, the market will already be flooded and people will be selling devalued product at considerable loss. The sudden disenfranchisement leads to a greater lower-level labor force that forms the backbone of the economy, and those that do succeed can produce the booms and busts of tomorrow.

Those who manipulate the markets for their own gain and at the detriment of people do so to the gain of the economic power, because without the artificiality of economic shifts and trends there is no economic growth or power, and if they are not being manipulated citizenry will have no guidance or income to be able to consume the goods that keep the market economy active and functional.

Squeeze everything you can get out of the market in order for the market to have more to squeeze from it.