Two bits, four bits...

I had an interesting discussion with some of the younger folks at work the other day. It was about my recent visit to the Chinese restaurant a few doors down from work. I eat there semi-often as it is quick and the food is decent. However, when I walk into the place I have always felt that the staff could simply care less that I was there; no smile no thank you, virtually, no anything. When I was stating that someone joked, perhaps it's just a front for drugs. (Yes it was a joke). I countered; even drug dealers need customers.

When you think about it, the discussion ran on, everything simply boils down to economics. Everything we do in life boils down to a financial mean. We work because we must. The establishments we choose often come down to price. When we change jobs, it's about economics. We live often based on our economic situation. We relocate, because of economics. Even our most personal events are severely influenced by the same. When do couples decide to have a family? When do we get married? Why do we get married? Marriage is ripe with financial gains and pitfalls. It is often said more marriages fail over finances than anything else. We can live with infidelity but not without financial mismanagement.

We invest tremendous amounts of time in our educational system both personally and payment. Why do we do it? To gain an economic advantage. The amount of money pumped into this system from Head Start to good old State U is staggering. We do it for a better job, a leg up, for financial gain. Even the college we choose comes down to an economic choice, value verses cost.

Take a look at life even away from our friendly confines. Primitive cultures all over the world rely on trade and agriculture as a system for economics. The stronger the trade or the better diversity of the agricultural system the stronger the tribe, or the family. Caste systems marry due to economics. There is no love involved in many situations. It may ferment and grow over time but the starting point is economics.

There is nothing wrong with economics as the underlying foundation of the structure of our lives. It has been that way since time immemorial, even before the caveman had a word for economics. More wood means a bigger fire. That's economics.