Fester Chugabrew, you’ve reminded me of a theme I used to write about, but haven’t lately. I should revisit the issue.
The subject you bring up is absolutely right - government can’t print the number of dollars to cover last year’s economy, it has to print the number of dollars to cover today’s economy, as value is constantly invented.
I like to use examples like the painter or the carpenter in my illustrations... Here’s an example, if you’re interested...
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/cannibalizing_capital.html
Taking the examples of a carefully-crafted wedding ring that is melted back into raw materials, or a once-valuable house that is demolished on account of political contrivances, while these may indeed represent a loss of value, the process of new value created is ongoing.
What baffles me is how we assign value to something. We convince ourselves that by shaping materials we’ve added value - the amount to be determined how and by whom? - but by allowing materials to revert to raw form, the value goes away. The purported image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast sold for how much?!!! The determining factors must include uniqueness, scarcity, and objective benefit to the purchaser(s).
How does one make a living from words? The words must bestow some benefit to the hearers, so much so that they will part with their substance to receive them, both retroactively and in advance. Fascinating.
A lot of this to me is like smoke and mirrors. I am a true simpleton insofar as I readily accept what the Psalmist writes: “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” So “ownership” and “value” and “waste” are things I view with curiosity and experience concretely at the same time. Thanks for pointing me to that article. I’ve read a few others of yours and have been much edified.