There's an old proverb that says something like, "a society grows great, when old men plant trees whose shade they'll never know." The internet says it's Chinese, or Greek, or both? I mean, trees and death are fairly common experiences so it doesn't much matter to me who really said it first. And specifically what matters here is what the possessor of capital may ask, "who the heck is gonna pay for the trees?"
Today the point was made that humans tend to prefer heuristics, and to this end I'll relate one that I came across from the conservative yarn-spinner P.J. O'Rourke.
There are four ways of spending money:
* spending your own money on yourself - this is what people and businesses do * spending your own money on other people - this is what those magnanimous rich people do with their charity * spending other people's money on yourself - this is what investment is * spending other people's money on other people - this is what government does
O'Rourke's conclusion is that in the last point, since no one cares about other people, government must inherently be inefficient and ineffective in spending money. It seemed quite a leap when I first read it, but now I recognize it for what it really was--an author taking other people's money in the form of an advance, and making sure he panders sufficiently to his audience to make sales.
Nothing hurts sales more than a sober discussion of adult topics.
Planet Nine is interested in the second point. It may become interested in other points, but we've got to start somewhere. To read more about what that where is, it's probably best to read up on What If There Were An Implementation Of Money That Wasn't A Currency?