An Energy Parable
June 19th, 2008 by Wiley CodyFuture Democrat: Man, I’m so sick of my parents telling me what do to. I want some independence, but every time I try to do my own thing, they hold my allowance over my head.
Future Republican: I agree. You and I are way too dependent on our parent’s allowance. Let’s do something about it.
Future Democrat: I have a plan. First, we can make our parent’s allowance go further by finding different suppliers for the things we like to do. We’ll have to go on the internet to find the best prices from around the world and - yeah, they might take some time to get here, but at least we’ll be saving money. More importantly though, we need to try to completely ween ourselves from our parent’s money. To do this, we need to invent a brand new economic system based around a currency that doesn’t exist yet. Of course to make this work, we’ll have to develop the currency itself, figure out how to distribute it and convince enough people to actually use it so that we can spend it at all the stores we like to shop at.
Future Republican: Heh. That’s a good plan for the long-term, but don’t you think it’s a little slow and complicated? I mean we should definitely do those things, but in the mean time, since I have plenty of time to myself - I’m just going to get a job and earn my own money. That way I’ll be less dependent on my parents.
Future Democrat: Um, you can’t earn your way out of this problem.
Future Republican: Actually… you can.
