Is it really wrong?

I was reading this weeks article by John Stossel, and it started off with this:

We grow up learning that some things are just bad: child labor, ticket scalping, price gouging, kidney selling, blackmail, etc. But maybe they're not.

That got me thinking. People are against child labor...but when you need every penny/nickel/dime you can lay ahold of, why is it bad? I was reading an older book on Google books - I forgot the name of it - but in the early 1900s, those 10 and up generally worked. It wasn't until after WW2 that a majority went on to finish high school. I guess my parents were unusual, as on my mom's side, they all went to college, and on my dad's side, he went to a technical school. (he played football there) Should we abolish child labor in other countries? That would be making poor countries already poorer. Prostitution rises in countries where the jobs are less. So.. a choice. having kid selling their body on the street, or working to make Tshirts? Its a real no-brainer.

8th grade education was the basic thing, for "the greatest generation". Things were invented, unlike now = when everything is basically the same since then. Merely improvements on something already invented. Think about it. Ok, enough rabbit trail there.

What about "price gouging"? Who is to say what a "fair price" is, when the product is scarce? Of course the price is going to rise. Market value is related to how desired a product is, and the scarcity of it. If there's a lot of it, and it's desired, prices will stay low. As amount falls, prices will rise. (common sense).

Take those "price gougers" heading to a hurricane-stricken area with gallons of water. Are they supposed to sell the water for 74c a gallon? Or, do they take into account their time and trouble, not to mention gas money, for bringing it to that area? So what, you have to pay more...so you can get water/generators/whatever. Would it be better to NOT have those items? According to the gov't, it would be.

"being parsimonious is a form of greed" was one of the comments. Think about it.

1: exhibiting or marked by parsimony; especially : frugal to the point of stinginess
2: sparing, restrained
— par·si·mo·ni·ous·ly adverb

Origin of PARSIMONIOUS

(see parsimony)
First Known Use: 1598
Related to PARSIMONIOUS

Synonyms: cheap, chintzy, close, closefisted, mean, mingy, miserly, niggard, niggardly, stingy, penny-pinching, penurious, pinching, pinchpenny, spare, sparing, stinting, tight, tightfisted, uncharitable, ungenerous
Antonyms: bounteous, bountiful, charitable, freehanded, generous, liberal, munificent, openhanded, unsparing, unstinting

ok. think I've exhausted that rabbit :P

On another note, school vouchers for choice of education for your child. I think it's a good idea. But the only problem I forsee, is that the government will want to call the shots at any school accepting vouchers. Bad idea!

Look at this:



The LEA is the "Local Education Authority".. ie. the public school. Notice the wide gap between public and private/charter/whatever schools. Which one would be better used to educate children? Yet another no-brainer. And of course, the teacher's unions are all over this, saying that it's horrible that public schools are losing money through students fleeing. well DUH! Big FAIL for public schools.

Now for the taste buds - I made a nice strawberry shortcake for dessert last night, but I figured out do NOT make the full recipe when there are only two of you eating it. The shortcakes turned out huge, and youngest only ate 1/3 of hers. I started thinking about food, and being I was talking with a friend about food, this came to mind:



Chicken fried BACON. Complete with cream gravy. Hopefully the gravy is nicely peppered. Imagine the calories in that thing - a fat, deep fried in fat, served with a fat. An artery-busting thing!