3 Things 12-23-24
Thing One
Friedman's Four Things Explains Poor Public Anything
Milton Friedman, a renowned economist and author once explained that there are four different ways to spend money:
1) You can spend your own money on yourself.
If you spend your own money on yourself, you’re very careful about what you spend it on. You make sure you get the most for your dollar. (Like you would if you hired MAS to help you with investing, insurance, etc.,)
2) You can spend your own money on someone else.
When you spend your own money on someone else, you’re careful not to spend too much. You don’t worry as much about the gifts you buy for other people as the things you buy for yourself. (Like the Christmas gift you buy for someone from the clearance rack)
3) You can spend somebody else’s money on yourself.
You’re careful to get good things for the money. But you’re not very worried about getting the best bang for your buck. You’re happier to spend more of somebody else’s money within reason. (Like the fancy meal you purchase at the fancy hotel you select when you know your company will reimburse you)
4) You can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else.
You become a “distributor of welfare funds.” You’re interested in making your own life as good as you can. But you’re not going to be anywhere near as careful as spending this money on other people. (Like the government officials who collect tax revenue and then spend it on public education for the masses)
Friedman constructed a simple matrix (below) with the four categories and pointed out what will be obvious to anyone willing to spend a few minutes thinking about it: money spent in the top left quadrant (item 1 above) is the best spent with the best outcomes while money spent in the bottom right quadrant (item 4) is the poorest and most wasteful of all spending.
While not many of us are unfamiliar with the generally dismal state of public education – or anything the government spends large sums of money on, our problem attribution tends to align with our political leanings. But if we set politics aside and consider Friedman’s matrix – honestly – it’s hard not to see it as yet another argument for more choice in education. And even if we end up spending the same amount of money being spent today, which is possible but not likely due to the benefits of competition, we should put that money directly into the hands of the consumers of education (or say healthcare) and let them make the purchase decisions for themselves. The suppliers would then be properly motivated to deliver the quality that is so sorely needed.
By the way, for anybody who remembers the Ad Council’s old war-on-drugs commercial from the 1980s, you might agree that Friedman’s theory could easily be updated and repurposed with the appropriate image of a pile of money going up in smoke:
“This is your money. This is your money being spent by other people, on other people. Any questions?”

Thing Two
The Meaning Of Christmas
In A Christmas Carol, his classic story written in 1843, Charles Dickens explained to us, through the evolution of his main character, Ebeneezer Scrooge, what he thought the meaning of Christmas was in a way that was both powerful and entertaining
In 1889, a writer for The American Magazine, who appears to have read Dickens' work, put it this way:
"
"To give up one's very self – to think only of others – how to bring the greatest happiness to others – that is the true meaning of Christmas."
In 1965, Linus Van Pelt explained it to Charlie Brown and the rest of us by reciting The Annunciation to the Shepherds.
Time changes lots of things. It doesn't seem to have touched Christmas yet. Here's hoping it never does.
Thing Three
Just A Thought
“Doubt is the origin of wisdom”― Rene Descartes
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