Economeeeooo 2!
It has been 8 1/2 years since I posted my parable about the US economy. I still like it, but now I think I need to tell "the rest of the story," to quote one of the finest radio personalities I've ever had the pleasure of hearing, Paul Harvey. I need to do more than just state the problem; I need to offer a solution. Please understand that I am highly educated in economics; I took a semester or two of Economics back in college, nearly 40 years ago.
Back on the island, the situation began to get out of control. No one trusted that the leaves represented actual shiny rocks anymore. They demanded to see the shiny rocks, and even to make one-for-one trades. When the actual rock supply ran dry, we could not spend our leaves anymore, even if we offered double and triple the amount for the same item or service. The economy ground to a halt.
Then a funny thing happened. Someone came to me with a need for the one service I was really good at providing - stand-up comedy. I offered to give them one happy hour of sarcasm in exchange for the carrots I was no longer able to buy. Basically, we discovered that bartering is a more useful and equitable means of getting what we need than the substitutionary currency of rocks and leaves. If I don't need anything but my neighbor does, I can simply help him out of the goodness of my heart, without requiring a promissory note of any kind.
Understand, we'll never get ahead this way, but what is the point in that, anyway? We're on an island, looking forward to one day going home. Why try to get ahead when we're going to leave it all behind anyway? Why not make life on the island as comfortable for everyone as we can until we're rescued? If someone cannot help out, we'll take care of them. If they choose not to work, we'll not let them starve, but we won't validate their selfish laziness, either, by pretending they're a productive member of society. That's not as likely to happen anyway, being as we're all shipwrecked together, equally desperate, equally alone. That kind of laziness comes about over time, when it is ignored and, as I said before, validated.
America is far more complicated than a few dozen survivors on a remote island, but the ideas I have mentioned are still true. We need to stop wanting, pursuing and hoarding wealth. Greed is what is killing us. There is enough for everyone if we'll only share what we've been blessed with.
Back on the island, the situation began to get out of control. No one trusted that the leaves represented actual shiny rocks anymore. They demanded to see the shiny rocks, and even to make one-for-one trades. When the actual rock supply ran dry, we could not spend our leaves anymore, even if we offered double and triple the amount for the same item or service. The economy ground to a halt.
Then a funny thing happened. Someone came to me with a need for the one service I was really good at providing - stand-up comedy. I offered to give them one happy hour of sarcasm in exchange for the carrots I was no longer able to buy. Basically, we discovered that bartering is a more useful and equitable means of getting what we need than the substitutionary currency of rocks and leaves. If I don't need anything but my neighbor does, I can simply help him out of the goodness of my heart, without requiring a promissory note of any kind.
Understand, we'll never get ahead this way, but what is the point in that, anyway? We're on an island, looking forward to one day going home. Why try to get ahead when we're going to leave it all behind anyway? Why not make life on the island as comfortable for everyone as we can until we're rescued? If someone cannot help out, we'll take care of them. If they choose not to work, we'll not let them starve, but we won't validate their selfish laziness, either, by pretending they're a productive member of society. That's not as likely to happen anyway, being as we're all shipwrecked together, equally desperate, equally alone. That kind of laziness comes about over time, when it is ignored and, as I said before, validated.
America is far more complicated than a few dozen survivors on a remote island, but the ideas I have mentioned are still true. We need to stop wanting, pursuing and hoarding wealth. Greed is what is killing us. There is enough for everyone if we'll only share what we've been blessed with.
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