Web Final Oct 2015

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Local author Blair Jackson visited the Camden Public
Library Saturday morning to read her recently released
children’s book, The Tanglewood Fox. Based on a
real-life encounter in the Berkshires with a fox who
attended the symphony nightly, Blair began what was to
become a lengthy yet rewarding journey into
self-publishing. She shared these experiences with
attendees, along with a wealth of suggestions for those
considering writing and publishing their own books.
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$1000
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THE LIGHTER SIDE OF A SERIOUS SUBJECT Austrian School of Economics
By Gary Edwards
A professor friend once expressed dismay at the salary of athletes and entertainers. She had read that Michael Jordan had signed a $30-million contract to play
basketball for the Chicago Bulls for one year. For eight months of “playing a game,” His Airness would receive this astronomical salary. She had spent 10 years
after high school getting an advanced degree to teach English literature at a state college. She earned about $50,000 per annum for this worthwhile and muchneeded
work.
Her distress was understandable, I suppose. I have heard this argument many times, even voiced the seeming injustice myself at times: How in the world can
these “jocks” and rock stars and movie stars make such obscene amounts of money, when teachers and carpenters and truck drivers live paycheck to paycheck?
Doesn’t seem fair or logical, does it?
Well, perhaps not. But let’s see if we can shine some light(heartedness) on this subject. It is called market economics, and often econ is referred to as the “dismal
science.” It need not be. We’ll take a look at the explanation offered by a group of Austrian economic thinkers.
Most notable of these thinkers were F.A. Hayek and Ludwig Von Mises. These gentlemen proposed that the best way to organize economics activity was through
the free market. Based upon the notion that there are only so much to go around, they stated that people trading freely among themselves would produce the best
method to organize economic activity. In econ speak, we call this the laws of supply and demand. Scarce resources must be allocated to satisfy unlimited human
demands. Borrowing from the Great Scot, Adam Smith, father of modern economics, the Austrians thought that a system of prices would organize economic
activity spontaneously without any of the individuals being aware of a so-called “larger purpose” --- fairness, or government intervention, or any otherwise noble
notion. In Smith’s famous formulation “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to
their own interest.”
In modern terms, if you want steak, sell your bread, beer --- or used cars, or computers, or other resource you have to offer in the marketplace --- and use that
income to buy a rib eye. After all, there are only so many steaks to go around. In more econ speak, this called scarcity.
To return to our unhappy educator, many people can teach English. It is a cliche that there are plenty of Ph.D.s waiting tables. On the other hand, there is only
one Michael Jordan, as he himself once pointed out.
Comments? E-Mail to br549@modernmedianow.com
Next Time: The Diamond-Water Paradox
Suggested Reading: FA Hayek “The Road To Serfdom” Visit Ludwig Von Mises Website @ Auburn University
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