Friday
Jul092010
US Special: The Anti-Capitalist Evil of Kids Giving Away Lemonade
Friday, July 9, 2010 at 21:10
UPDATE 2015 GMT: Oh, my sweet Lord, it's not a satire. The aptly-named Terry Savage is very, very serious:
In the category of We Really Hope This Column is Just a Fantastic Satire, an offering from the aptly-named Terry Savage of the Chicago Sun-Times:
This column is a true story -- every word of it. And I think it very appropriate to consider around the Fourth of July, Independence Day spirit.
Last week, I was in a car with my brother and his fiancee, driving through their upscale neighborhood on a hot summer day. At the corner, we all noticed three little girls sitting at a homemade lemonade stand.
We follow the same rules in our family, and one of them is: Always stop to buy lemonade from kids who are entrepreneurial enough to open up a little business.
My brother immediately pulled over to the side of the road and asked about the choices.
The three young girls -- under the watchful eye of a nanny, sitting on the grass with them -- explained that they had regular lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and small chocolate candy bars.
Then my brother asked how much each item cost.
"Oh, no," they replied in unison, "they're all free!"
I sat in the back seat in shock. Free? My brother questioned them again: "But you have to charge something? What should I pay for a lemonade? I'm really thirsty!"
His fiancee smiled and commented, "Isn't that cute. They have the spirit of giving."
That really set me off, as my regular readers can imagine.
"No!" I exclaimed from the back seat. "That's not the spirit of giving. You can only really give when you give something you own. They're giving away their parents' things -- the lemonade, cups, candy. It's not theirs to give."
I pushed the button to roll down the window and stuck my head out to set them straight.
"You must charge something for the lemonade," I explained. "That's the whole point of a lemonade stand. You figure out your costs -- how much the lemonade costs, and the cups -- and then you charge a little more than what it costs you, so you can make money. Then you can buy more stuff, and make more lemonade, and sell it and make more money."
I was confident I had explained it clearly. Until my brother, breaking the tension, ordered a raspberry lemonade. As they handed it to him, he again asked: "So how much is it?"
And the girls once again replied: "It's free!" And the nanny looked on contentedly.
No wonder America is getting it all wrong when it comes to government, and taxes, and policy. We all act as if the "lemonade" or benefits we're "giving away" is free.
And so the voters demand more -- more subsidies for mortgages, more bailouts, more loan modification and longer periods of unemployment benefits.
They're all very nice. But these things aren't free.
The government only gets the money to pay these benefits by raising taxes, meaning taxpayers pay for the "free lemonade." Or by printing money -- which is essentially a tax on savings, since printing more money devalues the wealth we hold in dollars.
If we can't teach our kids the basics of running a lemonade stand, how can we ever teach Congress the basics of economics?
Or maybe it's the other way around: The kids are learning from the society around them. No one has ever taught them there's no free lunch -- and all they see is "free," not the result of hard work, and saving, and scrimping.
If that's what America's children think -- that there's a free lunch waiting -- then our country has larger problems ahead. The Declaration of Independence promised "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It didn't promise anything free. Something to think about this July 4th holiday weekend.
And that's the Savage Truth!
In the category of We Really Hope This Column is Just a Fantastic Satire, an offering from the aptly-named Terry Savage of the Chicago Sun-Times:
This column is a true story -- every word of it. And I think it very appropriate to consider around the Fourth of July, Independence Day spirit.
Last week, I was in a car with my brother and his fiancee, driving through their upscale neighborhood on a hot summer day. At the corner, we all noticed three little girls sitting at a homemade lemonade stand.
We follow the same rules in our family, and one of them is: Always stop to buy lemonade from kids who are entrepreneurial enough to open up a little business.
My brother immediately pulled over to the side of the road and asked about the choices.
The three young girls -- under the watchful eye of a nanny, sitting on the grass with them -- explained that they had regular lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and small chocolate candy bars.
Then my brother asked how much each item cost.
"Oh, no," they replied in unison, "they're all free!"
I sat in the back seat in shock. Free? My brother questioned them again: "But you have to charge something? What should I pay for a lemonade? I'm really thirsty!"
His fiancee smiled and commented, "Isn't that cute. They have the spirit of giving."
That really set me off, as my regular readers can imagine.
"No!" I exclaimed from the back seat. "That's not the spirit of giving. You can only really give when you give something you own. They're giving away their parents' things -- the lemonade, cups, candy. It's not theirs to give."
I pushed the button to roll down the window and stuck my head out to set them straight.
"You must charge something for the lemonade," I explained. "That's the whole point of a lemonade stand. You figure out your costs -- how much the lemonade costs, and the cups -- and then you charge a little more than what it costs you, so you can make money. Then you can buy more stuff, and make more lemonade, and sell it and make more money."
I was confident I had explained it clearly. Until my brother, breaking the tension, ordered a raspberry lemonade. As they handed it to him, he again asked: "So how much is it?"
And the girls once again replied: "It's free!" And the nanny looked on contentedly.
No wonder America is getting it all wrong when it comes to government, and taxes, and policy. We all act as if the "lemonade" or benefits we're "giving away" is free.
And so the voters demand more -- more subsidies for mortgages, more bailouts, more loan modification and longer periods of unemployment benefits.
They're all very nice. But these things aren't free.
The government only gets the money to pay these benefits by raising taxes, meaning taxpayers pay for the "free lemonade." Or by printing money -- which is essentially a tax on savings, since printing more money devalues the wealth we hold in dollars.
If we can't teach our kids the basics of running a lemonade stand, how can we ever teach Congress the basics of economics?
Or maybe it's the other way around: The kids are learning from the society around them. No one has ever taught them there's no free lunch -- and all they see is "free," not the result of hard work, and saving, and scrimping.
If that's what America's children think -- that there's a free lunch waiting -- then our country has larger problems ahead. The Declaration of Independence promised "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It didn't promise anything free. Something to think about this July 4th holiday weekend.
And that's the Savage Truth!
Reader Comments (9)
This guy needs a beer...maybe a case.
This lady needs to take some pills and chill out....
Did you actually watch the posted interview? Obviously it wasn't about free lemonade, she was just using a parable to make a political point. I think her critics are the ones who need to chill out.
why should she chill out? Is she out of line or something? Unless there is a story behind the story I do not see anything wrong with points she is making, is there?
I'm glad you posted this, Dr. Lucas.
I think we should put entrepreneurship on the back burner. Teach a child about charity/giving. Savage would have criticized the children and their nanny if they had given out the lemonade in a poor inner-city neighborhood. I wouldn't put that past her either.
Savage could listen to Mr. Corwin but, then again, she wouldn't give him the time of day. To her he's just a man with a drinking problem and no tertiary education. "What morsel of wisdom could he offer me?" .......If only she knew...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGaBGDqIcrk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGaBGDqIcrk
This world needs more Corwins and less Savages.
There's nothing wrong with being generous and providing charity.. Who is she trying to prove a point to? Putting down a bunch of girls trying to be nice only shows her self-righteousness and lack of social respect.
From Adam:
"Did you actually watch the posted interview? Obviously it wasn't about free lemonade, she was just using a parable to make a political point. I think her critics are the ones who need to chill out."
This hullabaloo reminds me of the 1963 film starring Peter Sellers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavens_Above%21" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavens_Above!
A naive Clergyman starts giving away food to everybody in the village - and in turn sends all the shopkeepers broke!! They did not appreciate his generosity.
Barry
Yeah, plenty. 1) Little girls do not represent the macro economy. 2) We have no idea WHY those girls were giving away free lemonade, only a supposition that it was wrong, and without asking "why," any supposition is a fallacy. 3) No, we don't "act" as though the "benefits" are free, we know they're not free because WE paid for them. 4) "No one has ever taught them there’s no free lunch," meaning nobody in America, not one single American, has ever taught their children that food isn't free, ever. Or did she think she was just implying "liberal" households think food is free? And that was gleaned by the appearance of a single lemonade stand one long weekend in July? This would be laugh-out-loud funny if uninformed people didn't take it seriously.
All this post did was point out the lack of both economic and journalistic expertise in the writer. Oh, and we learned she's mean to little girls. Awesome.