PREPNOMICS 101

[Burt Gummer]

This topic was inspired by this previous topic: http://unchainedpreppers.com/forum/**top-secret**/a-link-and-some-thoughts/

Global macro economics and how they are affected by modern politics in perspective with your personal economy and preparation effort.
Or:
Prepnomics 101

Step 1
Turing on your computer (basic economic concepts)

You are shipwrecked alone on an abandoned island and no help is coming, you need to survive lest you end up like the rest of your ship mates. Thinking back to what you have learned from Dave Cantebury you quickly asses you situation and take inventory of resources available to you.
The crashing waves on the shore, rocks strewn around the beach, in the distance a small stream runs into the ocean next to a grove of what appear to be coconut trees. As well the jungle behind you seems to contain plenty of building materials such as wood and vines.

You are in the process of economizing the resources that are scarce

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scarcity:
The condition of desires exceeding the available resources to satisfy them. Scarcity is a universal fact requiring people to make exchanges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarcity

and critical to your survival. You for instance do not have to worry about suffocation because air is abundant and not scarce.
You would like to get off this island by building a rescue signal or raft but having been adrift for some time you are in dire need of calories and hydration this takes precedence over your exodus this has just become a Tradeoff

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The unfortunate fact (caused by scarcity) that making one choice means that others choices become unavailable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradeoff

.

So you approach the grove of coconut palms the coconut are large and ripe but are high up in the palm and certainly not easy to acquire. You have several options available to you regarding methods of acquiring your goods

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Scarce physical items that an individual values because they can help to satisfy his preferences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_%28economics%29

. You could grab the many rocks on the beach and hurl them at the fruits hoping to dislodge one this seem very labor intensive and in your current state, holds a cost

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Cost–benefit analysis
a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives that satisfy transactions, activities or functional requirements for a business.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_benefit_analysis

in calories and energy higher then you are able to pay and will regain from the coconut.

Deciding against the rocks you consider using a vine looped around your waist and the trunk of the palm allowing you to ascend it. But recognizing the risk

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is the potential of losing something of value, weighed against the potential to gain something of value
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk#Economic_risk

of falling as an externality

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is the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externalities

you wisely choose that you are not willing to do so.

Motivated by you dislike of broken legs you decide to go with your last option by acquiring a suitable branch from the nearby woods stripping off the twigs and using the pole by knocking the coconut off it's stem. The coconut is dislodged and falls to the ground, you crack it open on the nearest rock and profit from it's rich juice and meat. You have produced a coconut as a good, the tool you used for it is considered in economic terms a capital good

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is a durable good (one that does not quickly wear out) that is used in the production of goods or services.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_good

one of the three factors of production

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are the inputs to the production process. Finished goods are the output.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factors_of_production

the other two being: Land (coconut grove) and your labor.

Congratulations! By using your human ability to reason

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is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, applying logic, for establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason

by applying several basic axioms

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The starting assumptions or foundations in a deductive system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom

(physical action costs effort) (Gravity causes things to fall) you have managed to use logical deduction

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A form of reasoning that starts from one or more axioms and moves step-by-step to reach a conclusion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_deduction

to take a purposeful action

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An activity undertaken for a conscious reason; behavior that has a goal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxeology

the basis of economics and all human life. And so you have survived a lesson on the island.



This is the first basic lesson of economics formatted for this forum and adjusted to it's audience. I hope you all can recognize the massive overlap economics – survival – prepping have with each other.
Writing this up takes a significant effort costs me my time in order for me to continue I’m going to need pertinent feedback by it's reader (class participation) so I can profit by becoming better at it.

Now for Dave.

http://youtu.be/cOg4Ud4HiEU