Sharing

(2/28/2009) - The idea of private property is one of the most important concepts underlying our modern capitalist economy and culture.  In fact, sitting here I find it difficult to even imagine a society operating without any notion of private property.  The capitalist system is defined by the fact that the means of production are privately owned.  A large portion of our legal code is dedicated to protecting it.   

The idea of private property and its application in the capitalist system has helped produce enormous gains in material wealth.  However, when taking into account that we live in a finite world, and not the infinite world assumed in the logic of ever-growing capitalism, there are many ways in which private property leads to tremendous inefficiencies.  Consider the case of the lawnmower.  When I lived in Portland, we had a push lawnmower that we used every 2-4 weeks while the grass was growing (or at least should have if we wanted to keep the grass at a socially-acceptable level).  Mowing our lawn took about a half hour, at most. 

Inefficiencies of Private Property

Let’s suppose that you mow your lawn every other week, from April to October.  Between getting out, mowing, taking a break for some lemonade, mowing some more, refueling etc., it takes about an hour to mow the lawn.  In the suburbs, like where my parents live, this might be up to four hours, but for now lets look at the city scenario because sharing would be more effective there anyways.  On the average, there are about 12 hours of daylight a day (there are more during the summer, but it wouldn’t be very neighborly to start mowing at 5:30 in the morning).