“No matter where you go, there you are” was never supposed to be deep – it was intended to be silly, since it is such a tautology.
I always hated the chorus to “The Gambler.” People seem to think it’s wise (though it says nothing) and even uplifting (with sentiments like “The best you can do is die in your sleep.” Pretty cheerful. :rolleyes: )
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Milton Friedman
So no inflation in barter economies, then? Ok.
[Yes, there’s Friedman’s theory that says that it is excessive monetary growth that is the cause of inflation and that inflation can only be tackled by quantity restraint on the part of monetary authorities (which certainly is not meaningless and even contains some truth), but the quote itself is just trite.]
Umm, there is no inflation in a barter economy unless some monetary or pseudo-monetary aspect is introduced.
The point is that “Look before you leap” is advice that needs to be born in mind – it’s an ideal, but sometimes “He who hesitates is lost.” They’re BOTH necessary advice, depending which error you tend towards. So each by themselves seems both trite, obvious, and yet not universally applied.
Which, I believe, was precisely hawthorne’s point.
Everything happens for a reason.
Priceguy and hawthorne, actually, I disagree: I suspect that a straight barter economy is more susceptible to inflationary (and deflationary) pressures than a monetary economy. Whether money is involved or not, the law of supply and demand seems absolute - so, consider what happens to a barter economy during either a famine or a particularly bountiful harvest: The amount of goods being exchanged for food items is going fluctuate rather drastically from the norm. While this is unlikely to be a permanent change, it is going to happen.
(BTW, IANAE, so I could be wrong here…)
I suppose he’ll correct me if I misinterpreted his meaning, but I think he was citing inflation in a barter economy as disproving that inflation was necessarily a monetary phenomena.
What your describing isn’t inflation, just a change in the relative value of one good. Other goods lose value relative to a product that experienced a famine. Inflation is a rise in the overall price level.
In that case, the quote isn’t entirely on-topic, since it’s false rather than just dumb. Anyway, I suppose we’ll have to sit back and wait for hawthorne to settle this.
“All you need is love”—pretty much the whole song.
Why do you say it’s false? Besides it being true, I also happen to think it says a lot with few words.
You have to make allowances for obvious sayings, when they are used with the intent of enlightening someone who’s overlooked that very obvious principle. Some time ago, a member here was complaining about his complete lack of focus and direction regarding college, changing schools and majors as often as most of us change our socks, seemingly.
One of the replies was headed…Wherever you go, there you are…and in the context it was appropriate as well as a bit humorous.
Again, it’s addressed to those who don’t get it. There are people who think its cool and impressive to be mean to people. They are the ones being addressed by this statement.
I don’t think it’s false. I don’t even have an opinion. Let’s go through this. Until hawthorne pops in here and explains himself, collapsing the waveform, there are two possibilities:
hawthorne cited inflation in barter economies as evidence that the quote is false. This is your interpretation of his statement. If this is the case, hawthorne’s mention of it was a little off-topic since then, the quote is, by hawthorne considered false rather than dumb. That’s what I meant when I said it was false, not that I personally consider it to be false.
hawthorne agrees that there is no inflation in barter economies and finds this so obvious that he finds the quote to be stating the obvious. That’s my interpretation of his statement. If this is the case, hawthorne’s mention of it fits squarely into the topic.
Gotcha.
[Getty Lee] If you chose not to decide, you still have made a choice [/Rush]
My contribution:
Fuck’m and Feed’m Fish
Which doesn’t sound profound on first, or last for that matter, hearing. I think it’s a general, “Bite me,” addressed to vague and not present at the moment to be insulted in person, antagonist.
I’ve always wanted to use this phrase on the SD. But up till now haven’t found just the right place.
You may now return to the economics lesson.
From a Billy Joel song:
“I got remote control
and a color TV.
I don’t change channels
So they must change me.”
And this was BEFORE the car accidents!
I can see how KidCharlemagne came up with his interpretation, but Priceguy got what I meant.
I sure sucked the fun out of this thread.