Comment by fleddr

A dutch economist once estimated that about 50% of a modern economy is bullshit, basically just keeping each other busy.

It's made possible because of the naive belief that markets create supply out of demand, and that this mechanism is ruthlessly efficient.

Right now, somebody is "inventing" potato chips flavor #16,333,132. Nobody asked for it, but a whole bunch of people are involved in its creation. Next, the product is pushed, and if not totally disgusting, you might try it. If the push is large and prolonged, you may even make it a regular buy. Even more so when you see lots of other people eating it.

Did this product meet your demand? No. Do you believe its a good use of labor to make this product? No. Your "demand" was fabricated out of aggressively pushing supply.

Are the top 10 songs in the charts the songs most in demand, the market efficiently selecting the best songs, taking into account all recent music produced? No. The songs are pushed. Supply decides, not demand.

Right now, thousands of engineers are working on the next iOS version, adding hundreds of new features. You'll probably use 2 of them. You'll get all 500 features anyway, regardless of demand, as you will definitely buy the next iPhone.

That's the 50% I'm referring to: artificially created demand that really is just marketing and manipulation.

Another way in which markets aren't efficient is a lack of competition. After all, it's every market player's goal to basically exit the arena, not needing to fight for their continued existence. Several sectors have big industry players that effectively have no competition. The same can be true for businesses where locality is a unique benefit. And it applies to local and federal governments, whom have no competition at all. And there's patents, cartels and other ways to escape market forces.

These non-competitors sustain armies of workers with bullshit jobs.

Ultimately, our economic system doesn't care. When you have a paid job, nobody asks questions about whether it has meaning. Your government will like you and so will your family. Bullshit or not. We have build a system that celebrates meaningless consumption and meaningless work.