Stratification

There is another effect of our economic theory. It stratifies the value of raw materials to end-products where raw materials have a lower value than the end product. For example, if lead costs $1.00 a pound to extract from the Earth, a car battery will have a higher value since it contains 20 pounds of lead and the cost of assembly of the battery is $10.00 then the value of the end product is $30.00 to the manufacturer.

This stratification was in the direction of end products always having a greater value than the raw materials it is made of (this is called the value-added process). This monetary comparison of products is the basis for the indifference of the current economy toward the Earth. Under the current economy, the Earth has zero value. The only value its resources can have is the value-added process.

The value-added inverted pyramid above shows how the value of Earth (at the bottom) is ignorable under the current economy. In other words, when the current economy sees a tree, its salivary glands start to work since its value is zero. The tree only has value when it is cut down, processed, transported, shaped, and installed in our boardrooms.

What the economists don’t understand is that the Earth one day will run out of zero-value resources. The question here is when will they realize this fact.