The Economist's Cookbook

... and here are a few thoughts:

I was hanging out with one of my friends last night and got into a discussion about the nature of people. He made the argument that the majority of people who give to charity are doing so to keep from feeling guilty. Essentially they are buying good feelings.

While that may be the case for some, I think that the majority of people give money to charity because they can't give time. Time is an odd good because it is very finite and unknown for each person. As a result you see people allocating their time to the uses that they value most. Money is a commodity which can be given and yet still earned. There is not a finite amount of money for one person to possess. Well there might be a finite amount of money, but for the purposes of this, let's assume that it is a renewable resource. Given this, the value of most people's time is extremely high.

This doesn't mean that people are guilt tripped into giving money, but they give money rather than give time, because the marginal value of the latter is far higher.


Another thought: I really hope that Hillary or Obama don't get into office (not that I like McCain at all) because that will drastically decrease the time frame for me to buy an AR-15. Specifically this one:








A friend of mine just bought an M&P40 Compact for a carry gun. It's got a solid feel to it and I might look at getting one for a carry weapon some time in the near future.