Thursday, August 26, 2010

Laissez Faire

Following having our dirty laundry aired on NPR, the Gans household has swiftly moved back to fundamentals in the allowance policy. No more arbitrary restraints on spending although the health tax remains.
This has led to a upkick in spending -- just at the time the US economy could use it -- and, for the most part, it is responsible.

I say, "for the most part," because the 6 year old has moved quickly to corner the Silly Bandz market. You can see the result to the left. It is an embarrassingly large number -- in fact, that's 222 elastic bands. We know this because the only thing one does with 222 elastic bands is count them. This, of course, moves it partly from frivolous purchase to educational one but there will be no subsidy forthcoming.

When I asked the 6 year old why she bought so many she claimed that so and so had more, "a Googol-plex" in fact. Suffice it to say, keeping up with the Jones is a losing cause. I pointed out that she would eventually run out of money and asked what would she do then. She said, "I'll just stop buying things." She has that right. That is a day I'm looking forward to.