Ferrocement construction is a commencement point for economic reasoning because small homes are a basic human need which when made of ferrocement pay for themselves more than once per generation. Reduced maintenance and insurance expenses are the two primary reasons. Also, design freedom contributes to energy saving designs; for example, roof and wall curves which match solar seasons and daily path.
The writer's post graduate thesis, 1970, predicted economic collapse of the Soviet Union due to costly domestic surveillance, bureaucratic entropy limits, disruptive pollution and excessive military spending. Some of these were external cold-war tools designed to cause financial collapse. Almost identical policies were directed toward the central north american economy with increasing intensity between 2000 and 2006.
In those days; intricate details of plans were centrally promulgated and enforced by police. State supported corporations received huge government handouts. Fear itself became the method of government. The creative consciousness of humanity was disdainfully dismissed. Attempting to meet the plan, a shoe factory in Moscow once panicked and produced only baby shoes. Toward the end, raiding retirement reserves became more and more common and almost half the people hired accountants to figure out their income tax.
The ferrocement.com Roof Laboratory and current events have provided fresh ways to view macroeconomics. Econ ½3 bubbled into print and was subsequently removed from the manual about organic fiber roofs. It returned to print in the manual of sculptured ferrocement houses (© 2006). Most of the economic ensemble is from various sections of this website, further inquiry is fruitful under the topic headings of Ecological Economics, Sustainability, Thermodynamics and Resilience.
Note: All verbal spice is pure Hollywood and is included for flavor only. The term consumer society translates to burp in most non-verbal animal languages, for example.
Ferrocement housing which pays for itself leads one to examine macro-economic theory as it is both practiced and taught. It leads one to examine how trickle-down theories concentrate wealth in the hands of people who may or not possess entrepreneurial skills; those without entrepreneurial skill often turn to buying existing housing stocks and renting homes to those who start life without inherited gifts of wealth. Housing which pays for itself over and over for hundreds of years raises questions about concentration of home ownership and the relationship of housing to the social adhesion required for a given civilization to exist. Long-lived ferrocement housing does not question the natural urge to save and pass the fruits of a life of work to one's heirs, rather, it points one to ponder the principles of free market theories which are only valid in a world of perfect information which is instantly communicated through price to accomplish the best allocation of resources, labor and capital for the highest gross national product. It is not wrong to inherit wealth, yet it is more than a little weird that housing, which is fundamentally as important as breathing, has remained so unquestioned as a proper realm for competitive business. Maintenance-free, multi-century, beautiful and low-cost housing raises profound questions about rigidly taught ideological dogmas which are effecting entire societies and planet earth on many more fronts than housing.
Fun is central to sustainability. Nobody likes to be told what to do and everybody likes a level playing field. This is as innocent and wholesome as any neutral starting place to open a planet-wide constitutional composition that can be envisioned from a ferrocement housing perspective.
To be continued.
Believe it ; longevity is a big part of free-form ferrocement. Time brings many people across the threshold of all ferrocement creations. Ferrocement builders are aware that their creations will remain long after most nations are history.
Economics : the dismal science. It suggests imminent catastrophe. Mass creature extinction from global climate collapse is assumed to include humans. Though consensus like this is perhaps closer to dire than dismal, it clearly indicates the clash between ferrocement builders and a way of life which promotes grabbing as much as possible before the planet becomes barren.
Deficit Spending : Analogous to stealing candy from children. Deficit spending is an almost impossible concept to discuss politely among those who support it. How does one talk to someone who supports stealing money from children? Better to do something else and work for a balanced budget and monetary reform.
Eco Monetary Unit : A unit of currency fully based within the metric system. One eco monetary unit equals one kilocalorie which equals 1000 calories. Olden days people were able to throttle down the accretion of wealth to royalty and central governments by imposing the metric system. Recent research revealed that ecological monetary units were vetoed by the king of misery, in about umpteen ott five.
Econ ½3 : Economics Omega Three takes its name from analyzing infinite beings attempting to genetically alter pork and chickens so that they will produce about sixty percent of the Omega Three nutrient found in wild fish, walnuts and eggs raised by mortals in a healthy environment. Though mortals often produce at a slightly higher price, the price differential is way more than completely offset by reductions in crime and environmental repair costs attributable to concentrated farm ownership by immortal corporations. Recent research reports most of the salmon that die before they return to spawn are killed from the complications of lice caught as new hatchlings pass by corporate salmon farms on their way to the open sea, for example.
Mathematical Absurdity : Attempting to fit even one infinite being on a finite planet is the primary mathematical absurdity used here. Division by zero is also a mathematical absurdity. Economic and Social Absurdity is clearly exhibited by busily building infinite beings which are designed to pillage the planet for profit.
Monetary Reform : The act of bringing currency into compliance with the metric system. One ecologically and socially sound monetary unit equals one kilocalorie.