economics -1

for the first time in ages I had a Friday where I really wanted to not be at work. It was so weird. Yes I love my job but this week I've had enough of my time being consumed be that veracious monster called work.

Yesterday (how can it only be yesterday) after waking up feeling ill, I was rewarded by my major appointment for the day being cancelled and so found myself at a loose end for two hours.

Two precious hours while I was in a city.

Two precious hours where there were no demands on my time by anyone or anything.

So I went shoe shopping and bought books. I wanted to buy shoes but the call of Borders on Lampton Quay* was too strong - I love books so much that I get book overload in there but was restrained by the cost of the choice of books I was looking at. "Freedomnomics" by John R. Lott jr at $61 is quite high but since I buy non-fiction it's worth it and boy do I love books on economics.

Seriously if were ever to go back to uni I would study economics**. What a great subject!

Basically here's why economics is an important subject to try and understand. In a simplistic way, our entire lives are governed by supply and demand. Whether its money, food, DVDs, love, cars, electricity, carpet, weight, cash, happiness everything is priced by the concepts around supply and demand. Everyone and everything has their price.

When our needs ie demand are meet by supply we are happy. When something effects the demand or supply and the balance is altered for good or bad the demand is adjusted to meet the changing conditions. So when the price of fertiliser is increased for farmers because minerals mined in the Congo are effected by an ongoing civil war, the price of our food is effected - that chain reaction which is set off some crackpot dictator effects the price of our meat and veges. The actual cost of something has little meaning when you take time to understand the market and supply and demand.

There is something that takes very good care of this and that is the free market. It is the fairest, most reactionary and effective way of ensuring that supply meets demand. When governments stay out of the market, as the NZ does for the most part even under Labour, the market will make sure there is enough of everything at a price that we are willing pay. The free market looks after the customer even when it appears not too. And the only people who don't believe that are whingers.

So when you are voting take a good look at a parties economic policy because that is the one that really counts. If their economic policy is too interventionist, so will be their social policies etc = this is not good government.

Anyway yesterday my work/life balance was readdressed in a satisfactory way because my demand for free time was meet by supply of free time and the by product of that free market balance was a relaxed, new book owning me.

I also bought a book called "Why women should run the world". We'll see how that pans out before we pass judgement.

*Funny story - years ago when I was living in Wellington, one of the bars used imported underwear models doing 'fashion shows' at lunchtime to attract the punters in for lunch and a beer. There was outcry about how wrong this was on so many levels and the TV crew interviewed one of the models. This Aussie girl explained that they were intelligent, real girls who just made a buck be modelling undies and that they were no different from any of the girls who walked along Lampton Quay at lunchtime - except that she pronounced quay phonically rather than the correct "key". Now my spelling is not the best but you don't confuse me for a underwear model and her English is not the best so don't confuse her for an intelligent girl walking along Lampton KEY.

** My passion for economics may be because I've always just got economics. When I was in 6th Form I wagged six weeks of economics because our teacher Ms Chambers was so boring. We had an exam at the end of the six weeks and because I was actually a good student I attended the exam and passed. I spent those six weeks in the library reading and reading, probably economics books. I don't know what was taught during those six weeks but ghe exam worked for for me. It also heralded the end of going to the library without a pass for the entire school, so sorry about that.