Monday, May 03, 2004
 
The Economist Speaks

More from the Brian J. Noggle "Capitalism: It's All Good" School of Economics. Take this story, which says:
    High gas prices are forcing families to shop in cut-rate grocery stores, a food industry analysis finds.

    "High oil prices, both at the pump and for home heating, depress consumers' ability to spend more," said a report by the Food Marketing Institute released at its annual trade show in Chicago yesterday.

    "It is not surprising that more shoppers are buying food today in discount stores and other low-price venues than ever before," the study said.
It's all good. As rational consumers, those who allocate their resources to fuel and to food discount stores are acting in their own best interests. The free market at work.

What about the grocers out there? Well, people are choosing low price over....what is it again a full grocery offers?

You see, the Brian J. Noggle "Capitalism: It's All Good" School of Economics sees through every little ping of "bad" news as a net positive. When the man on the radio says copper prices are going up, that's good for the miners and it's good for the people who make alternatives to copper. Copper prices going down? Good for people who want to buy or make things with copper. Gas prices going up? Good for refineries and Big Oil, as well as for people who make hybrid automobiles, mass transit, and pastimes close to home. Gas prices coming down? Good for transportation companies, consumers, and tourist destinations.

Keep that in mind when these reports come out. The news is typically bad for whomever is releasing the report (well, probably good fro whomever got paid to prepare the doomsday scenario), but it's good news for someone else, and it's probably not zero sum. It's better news for everyone when capitalism is unfettered.

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:29 PM
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To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."