Gleaners

Gleaning is a form of scavenging where unutilized food is collected and consumed. As such, gleaning plays a role in the economy in that it reduces waste. When gleaners find and consume food that otherwise would have been left to rot, more is left for others to consume in the market economy. Gleaning is in this respect a sign of economic efficiency.

Gleaners have existed since the dawn of organized food production. They are mentioned in the Bible where it's considered a sin to chase them away. However, they have always been a thorn in the eye of those who want to rule the world. Their lifestyle renders them autonomous despite their poverty, and that's too much to bear for would be tyrants who want everyone dependent on the state. Hence, gleaning was considered a crime in the Soviet Union. It's also increasingly discouraged in the western world where a combination of regulations and welfare handouts are putting an end to the practice.

The modern day phenomenon of dumpster diving is a form of gleaning that has been regulated away. Restaurants and supermarkets are required to lock their dumpster so that no-one can enter them. Instead of letting individuals scavenge for food, the state encourages charities to collect unused food, and distribute this to the would be gleaners. What used to be an activity engaged in by bands of hippies has thus been transformed into an orderly business of standing in line for handouts.

However, this intervention has removed much of the efficiency that gleaning provided to the economy. Charities require people to work and to spend their time doing what their clients would have done on their own. This is a needless layer of bureaucracy that does nothing to help anyone. It merely consumes resources that would otherwise have been used more effectively.

The disappearance of gleaners is an artificiality created by the welfare state, similar to the disappearance of the servant class. People who would otherwise have been employed effectively in the economy have been sedated and made dependent on the state. Instead of having these people employed productively, they are sitting at home, watching TV, while receiving welfare handouts. The cost of this is put on the shoulders of tax donkeys who could have employed the servants directly and let the gleaners free to scavenge for food, thereby keeping food prices down.

No-one besides would be tyrants are gaining anything from this. The servants and gleaners are cut out of the economy, and are thereby prevented from opportunities that would otherwise present themselves. Servants and their families are separated from people higher up in the social ladder, and are thereby left with fewer opportunities to extract themselves from poverty. Gleaners are similarly prevented from offers of day labor and other opportunities to better their lots.

Tax donkeys are left with the financial burden that the welfare state puts on them without giving them anything in return. People who would have otherwise employed servants and nannies are left to do household tasks themselves. This tiers and distracts the productive to the point of burn out and sick leave. The number of productive people in the economy is thus reduced further, and this will continue until there's a collapse of the system. People will refuse to work, and production grinds to a halt.

By the look of it, we're now entering this final phase of social decline. There are far more job openings than job takers. People are revolting against the system by refusing to work.

What follows is inevitably a collapse. The current system has to be scaled back so that efficiencies can return to the economy. This will be visible in a return of the servant class and a return of gleaners. Only then will we know for sure that the natural order of things has returned and that we once again are in for a prolonged period of economic growth.

Gleaners

By Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F004601-0004 / Enzen / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Link