Essential Economics for Politicians

I went to a Daily Mass on Black Friday last year. The priest didn’t waste too much time with the homily, but he made a few comments about Thanksgiving and a statement about Black Friday which I found hopefully refreshing. He said, “This is a day for the poor.” Of course, he’s right, but how often do we think of Black Friday in those terms? As Thanksgiving and Black Friday approach once again, let us reflect on this concise but incredibly profound statement.--Cole Harter
 
It’s Not About Greed

Black Friday is truly one of the most beautiful examples of capitalism we have around these days. It’s a day when everyone gets richer. The producers get richer because more people are buying their wonderful products, and the consumers get richer because they both come into possession of something they greatly value and because they save a little of their hard earned money in the process. This is what capitalism is all about: mutual enrichment through mutual gift-giving.


Judging by his accent and the color of his skin, this priest is almost certainly an immigrant from a very poor country. He definitely understands poverty, and the fact that he sees something charitable and Christian in a day so often sneered at by Catholics and upper-middle-class Americans in general for its apparent celebration of consumerism and materialism is extremely enlightening. The truth is Black Friday benefits the poor and the working class most of all. The rich don’t need a discount. They buy what they want regardless of the price.

But Black Friday is a day when the fruits of our labor are more abundant and more available for more people. Think about this next time you mock some single mother on food stamps for taking part in a "doorbuster" crowd while trying to get a discount Christmas present for her children. It can be tumultuous, but it’s also a glorious celebration of the humanitarian implications of the free market.
 
Suspend Judgment

It’s very easy for people to sit back on Black Friday and exempt themselves from the rat race, to hold themselves above all those plebs scrambling for a television at half-price. The neo-Marxist left, and regrettably some libertarians, like to tsk-tsk at these people for being so foolish as to think “useless junk” like TVs and children’s toys and gaming consoles are worth such revelries.


This is the great tragedy of the political philosopher, who thinks he knows what’s best for everyone. “You don’t really need that TV, you don’t really need that new pair of shoes.” To these people I say, get off your morally superior high horse. Who are you to say what people need and don’t need? That is the beauty of voluntaryism and capitalism: it is a descriptive, and not a prescriptive, worldview. Nobody is required, let alone qualified, to decide what’s best for everyone else. In a truly free market, free from government coercion and cronyism, everyone is able to allocate for themselves what resources, goods, and services they deem most valuable and essential.

Mostly we think of Black Friday as a day of crass consumerism, of greed, and irrational attachment to material goods. But just look how good life is. The free market has yielded a surplus unthinkable to even the richest members of society as recent as two hundred years ago. So stop judging and celebrate abundance.
 
There Is No Such Thing as Poverty in Hong Kong

One of the great injustices of our age is, as The Guardian reported, that 20 percent of the people in Hong Kong, one of the richest places on the planet, live in poverty.

All is not quite as it seems though. The actual correct statement is that as well as being one of the richest places on the planet, Hong Kong is also one of the more unequal rich places. That isn’t quite so serious.

.....................

But giggles aside, there’s an important underlying point: inequality – not poverty – is being measured here. The international definition of poverty is less than $1.90 a day. There’s no one in Hong Kong on this at all, therefore there’s no poverty. There are, however, people in Hong Kong who have much less than others. And it’s entirely true that Hong Kong is more unequal than most of the developed world. But it’s still not true that relative poverty and poverty are the same thing.

https://fee.org/articles/there-is-no-such-thing-as-poverty-in-hong-kong/
 
Bruddah IZ said:
Suspend Judgment

It’s very easy for people to sit back on Black Friday and exempt themselves from the rat race, to hold themselves above all those plebs scrambling for a television at half-price. The neo-Marxist left, and regrettably some libertarians, like to tsk-tsk at these people for being so foolish as to think “useless junk” like TVs and children’s toys and gaming consoles are worth such revelries.


This is the great tragedy of the political philosopher, who thinks he knows what’s best for everyone. “You don’t really need that TV, you don’t really need that new pair of shoes.” To these people I say, get off your morally superior high horse. Who are you to say what people need and don’t need? That is the beauty of voluntaryism and capitalism: it is a descriptive, and not a prescriptive, worldview. Nobody is required, let alone qualified, to decide what’s best for everyone else. In a truly free market, free from government coercion and cronyism, everyone is able to allocate for themselves what resources, goods, and services they deem most valuable and essential.

Mostly we think of Black Friday as a day of crass consumerism, of greed, and irrational attachment to material goods. But just look how good life is. The free market has yielded a surplus unthinkable to even the richest members of society as recent as two hundred years ago. So stop judging and celebrate abundance.
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Thanks man. Now I can buy that Bentley and not feel like an asshole? Please tell my wife!
 
Bruddah IZ said:
There Is No Such Thing as Poverty in Hong Kong

One of the great injustices of our age is, as The Guardian reported, that 20 percent of the people in Hong Kong, one of the richest places on the planet, live in poverty.

All is not quite as it seems though. The actual correct statement is that as well as being one of the richest places on the planet, Hong Kong is also one of the more unequal rich places. That isn’t quite so serious.

.....................

But giggles aside, there’s an important underlying point: inequality – not poverty – is being measured here. The international definition of poverty is less than $1.90 a day. There’s no one in Hong Kong on this at all, therefore there’s no poverty. There are, however, people in Hong Kong who have much less than others. And it’s entirely true that Hong Kong is more unequal than most of the developed world. But it’s still not true that relative poverty and poverty are the same thing.

https://fee.org/articles/there-is-no-such-thing-as-poverty-in-hong-kong/
Click to expand...
You can’t be this stupid.
 
Bruddah IZ said:
No I can't. But enough about me. Have you ever been to Hong Kong?
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Three times. There’s a lot of poverty in Kowloon.. The government increases the minimum wage periodically and is introducing universal pensions to try to alleviate it. All civilized economies have substantial government intervention. We have less than most others.
 
xav10 said:
Three times. There’s a lot of poverty in Kowloon.. The government increases the minimum wage periodically and is introducing universal pensions to try to alleviate it. All civilized economies have substantial government intervention. We have less than most others.
Click to expand...
We have more freedom than all others...
 
xav10 said:
Three times. There’s a lot of poverty in Kowloon.. The government increases the minimum wage periodically and is introducing universal pensions to try to alleviate it. All civilized economies have substantial government intervention. We have less than most others.
Click to expand...
What years were you there?
 
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