Economics

When my son was little, in his infinite curiosity he would spend hours asking the question, “Why?”  Just when I thought I had given him the answer, he invariably asked another, “Why?”  One day, trying to be patient, I answered a long string of whys.  Eventually, I stumbled upon the answer that seemed to satisfy his need to know, and my need to explain.

“Daddy, why?”

“Son, economics.”

And thus, I discovered The First Law of Economics:  If the question is why, the answer is economics.  Wars are fought because of economics.  Candidates win or lose elections because of economics.  Star actors and athletes are obscenely overpaid while star teachers remain obscenely underpaid . . . and why?  Economics.

Personal choices are the result of economics.  Most every choice we make, we consider in the balance.  What’s the price?  What’s the prize?  Is it worth it?  Can I afford it?  Or as advertisers like to ask us, can I afford to live without it?  It’s human nature to want to get the most for the least.  We search out bargains.  We buy a dollar lottery ticket with the outside hope of winning millions.  All of this which leads me to The Second Law of Economics:  People want the greatest prize for the lowest price.  Corollary to the Second Law:  Advertise either the low price of having, or the high price of not having.

In medical practice the price and prize is eruditely referred to as the risk-benefit ratio.  Any medication, any medical procedure, has possible risks and side-effects that must be weighed against the potential for benefit.  There is no medicine and no procedure that comes risk-free.  Every prize has its price, which segues nicely into the often ignored Third Law of Economics:  There is no free lunch.

No matter the prize, there is a price to avoid . . . the compromise of one's beliefs and principles.  Few prizes, if any, justify the cost of sacrificing personal integrity. Over the years, I have observed this Fourth Law of Economics: The greatest threat to beliefs and principles is poverty and wealth.  The Fourth Law of Economics paraphrased:  Money, too much or too little, tends to corrupt.

I started my blog 4 ½ years ago, one week after I began my retirement.  Monday, after 4½ years of retirement, I go back to work.  Don’t ask me, “Why?”