Man Made Unemployment part 1

  Historically, employment was limited to the supply of specie. If the gold, silver, sea shells, glass beads or whatever currency was not available to pay for labor. Then there would be excess labor as there was not the money to pay for the recruitment of labor. Most arbitrary currencies such as sea shells and glass beads have already been discarded. However less ample types of specie such as gold and silver had remained to be used as monetary units long into the 20th century.

  These metals are often standard, attractive and fairly resilient to oxidization thus often viewed by most civilizations as being a proper vehicle for savings. Sea Shells, glass beads, and other trinkets have often been discarded once man moved beyond neolithic cultures and societies.

  The recognition of gold and silver as money appears even in the Art of War. Sun Tze, having been born before the invention of paper, and thus paper money, could not imagine financing a war with anything else.

"In the operations of war,
    where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots,
    as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand
    mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them
    a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front,
    including entertainment of guests, small items such as
    glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor,
    will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day.
    Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men".

  Silver was especially expensive given that unlike today, where silver is simply an optional monetary unit, in ancient China silver along with other finite commodities was the monetary unit. Silver in ancient China was a monetary necessity demanded by all walks of life. Whether merchant, artisan, or gentry. Currently, few people own any silver. Today, we can expand the money supply by diluting it with paper and digital money. The money supply can be further expanded through the trade of securities and bonds. Mortgage agreements, promissory notes, personal checks, credit cards, ect.

  Unlike ancient China, there really is no monetary constraint in the 21st century. In the warring states period, farmers were paid in commodities, soldiers were paid in commodities, taxes were collected in commodities. Thus the monetary constraints of running an empire. If Sun Tze was alive today, the Art of War would have to be revised. Wars can be fought for an indefinite period of time since monetary constraints have long evaporated with the introduction of fiat money, securities, and credit.