the intrinsic value of assets.  Goods are only worth what someone will pay for them.  It doesn’t matter what it cost to manufacture them once they already exist.  It doesn’t matter if someone feels as if “they’re giving them away.”  As they sit, they age and deteriorate, while there are plenty of folks around who could use them.

 

Unsold cars at Port Newark.



Housing stock goes empty, while people live in tents?



Notice any disconnects?

These assets are not getting better, just older.  Will they sit and rot until they have no value whatsoever?   Will the banks holding mortgages refuse to renegotiate, while their capitalization fails, for fear that someone will beat them out of a dime?   We remain a world of plenty, but cannot match assets with needs as long as we hold firm to the belief that our “things” are worth more than anyone is willing to pay.  It’s been a long time since anyone had to seriously readjust their thinking, but now would be a good time.

If there was just some way that the people who have the assets, wasting away, could hook up with the people who need the assets, wasting away.  We have enough.