Mereja.Forum

I have had to ask a simple question over the last many days and I still do not have an answer. I know that it sounds naïve in the eyes of trained economists. I wish I knew better about it.

Suppose a number of farmers in different parts of the world produce 100 kilograms of tomatoes that are comparable in quality. Naturally, you would expect each of them to be able to sell their produce for comparable prices, which means their earnings would be comparable. In reality, it doesn't seem to be the case.

Over a long time now, I have had to ask, and there must be plenty out there who have been asking the same question, how the purchasing power of the American Dollar in comparison to the Ethiopian Birr is so different. I am guessing this applies to all currencies on a global scale.

So, how is it that producing 100 kilograms of tomatoes of comparable quality anywhere in the world failed to become a common denominator, to take this as a single example, for the global monetary system and that it became such a mess?

After imagining and realizing the powers of transportation (automobiles, trains, ships, airplanes,) automation (wheels, Da Vinci's pulleys, countless other mechanics,) and communications (telephone, television, electronics,) how long would it take to eradicate poverty off the face of our planet without the global monetary system that is such a mess?

A little while back, I imagined that if I ever filed and won lawsuit against any enterprise or won a big lottery, I said to myself I would donate it all to what I called Project Shelter. I don't do either, filing a lawsuit or playing lottery.

Just a few days after that thought process came to my mind after seeing so many homeless people here in America, I heard in the news what I thought was the most merciless punishment in the long history of civilization. The news was about bringing ብርመዱ of the street into a nearby empty room. ብርመዱ means a dignified being, a human being. Just imagine a ብርመዱ sleeping on the street in the cold and a hotel room very nearby staying empty for a night because no guest has come to book it. Whoever imagined to bring the homeless to an empty room nearby must have imagined something merciless in the history of civilization. What is civilization if it fails to bring a ብርመዱ on the street in the cold in the middle of the night into a nearby empty room? I am sure this simple example doesn't solve the problem of homelessness in the 21st century comprehensively but it is a simple example in the right direction.

Also imagine plenty of cars staying idle in some places and plenty of people walking long distances on foot in other places. So, does it take a lot to bring the plenty of walking feet to the plenty of idle brakes all around the places if the global monetary system wasn't such a mess?