Produce and Prosper

Let me first define prosperity. You are prosperous when you feel you essentially have all you currently wish to have. The path to prosperity is fairly straightforward:

1. you individually produce all that makes you feel prosperous or

2. your community produces all that makes its members feel prosperous or

3. your community produces all that its members can exchange for the things that make them feel prosperous.

In principle, prosperity is not hard to achieve. You wish to own Mercedes cars? Make Mercedes cars. Or make something you can trade for Mercedes. You need iPads or iPhones to make you feel prosperous? Make them. Or make something you can trade for them. That's the only way. This capability is not measured by GDP, as it only stands for the combined value of all financially quantifiable transactions.

If I mow your lawn and you, in turn, repair my friend's electricity network who, in turn, cleans my flat, we've produced high GDP but low prosperity, because all we've done is provide services to each other in a closed loop. None of us produced anything we could trade for a Mercedes or an iPhone. (I'm using these goods merely as examples, I'm not suggesting that we actually need Mercs or iPhones to feel prosperous. It's up to the individual to decide what they need to make them feel prosperous, but producing the things to trade for them requires an organised effort, i.e. a decision by, and cooperation in, the community.)

The use of money doesn't improve the prosperity status at all, because money lubricates barter trade, but does not grant you goods you don't have anything to give for. (I.e. you'll only have a Merc if you have something to sell for the money to buy it. Much as we may pay each other for services provided in a closed loop, that will never get any of us the money to buy a Merc.)

Hungarians have yet to get to grips with this fundamental logic, which explains why they are not yet prosperous. We need to make a community decision and join forces to produce the goods that will get us the things that make us feel prosperous.*

*This is a translation of my original post in Hungarian, hence the reference to my country, but the economic model is applicable to any region whose inhabitants want to prosper.

You agree, or have a better idea? Have your say.