It strikes me as weird, classical economists siding with social conservatives. The basics of market thoery should really have the economists on the side of the social liberationists. I think the reason they don’t comes down to the cost of labour, which is pretty much the biggest cost for a business. But this is stupid and short-sighted of business people. Rather than always trying to reduce the cost of labour, say by eroding workers rights, they should take it as a given, and find other ways to reduce the cost of labour, say by introducing new technology that increases the capacity of your workforce. Reducing labour costs is short-sighted but immediate, and thus gets focused on by business owners. The cycle goes like this; If I can reduce my costs (the biggest being labour), I can increase my profits, which means I can expand my business. The problem here is that the second part of the equation is left off, which goes; if I expand my business I need greater capacity (supply) to meet the greater demand, so I’ll need to expand my workforce, so my costs will go up. Which really is just supply rising to meet demand, which leaves your profits where you started.
The smart thing to do would be to maintain your costs, increase the capacity of your workforce (say by giving them better training, or investing in green energy and put power back into the energy grid). Then rather than using your increased capacity to expand your current market, which would easily drive prices down (static demand plus increase supply equals falling prices to meet the market), find a new market. But how do you find a new market? Well, essentially, in a capitalist first-world economy, you create one, which is what marketing is all about.
And this is why I think gay marriage is pretty much inevitable in Australia.
Because while there’s lots of business clamouring to cut labour costs, there’s also a lot that given up on that and are clamouring for new markets. So it goes like this; increased capacity plus static demand (or in the case of Australia, rapidly increasing supply plus reasonably increasing demand) equals excess supply. This could be stored, say by purchasing government bonds (which takes supply out of the market), or by finding new demand, or creating new demand. Practically, this means creating a new market. And because supply can’t exist without demand (ie, it has to go somewhere), there’s nothing quite as demanding as the market. So where do you find a new market in a fully functioning economy? Well, about 30-35 years ago, someone noticed that bright pink cash cow all the social conservatives had been politely ignoring, and decided to sell them their rights, wrapped up in some pretty consumerist wrapping paper, with sparkles, and gay rights have been rolling forward ever since.
So really, business needs gay marriage, because all the other gay markets have been established, and there’s still lots of excess supply going round. Which is why I think the neo-cons aren’t really good economists, because classical economic theory says that if there is a market for it, well supply must meet demand, and there’s a market for gay marriage as there is both supply and demand for it.
I could really go on and on, about how the whole system works, and how it’ll eventually get there for most people. The reason capitalism is so strong is that it works. But it takes no account of immediate human suffering. Supply and demand will always move to meet each other under capitalism, but this is a process of weeks, months, years, and centuries, and it grinds people down. And it’s really giving all power to the market, and do we really want that? Because at the end of it all we still have human agency, the capacity to say no (which is why some markets fail), and I’d rather power stay in the hands of people.
I failed economics. Well, three unit economics. And I only failed it in year 12. And I passed two unit economics quite well. But I failed the third unit, the advanced unit, and it didn’t count towards my TER (that’s Tertiary Entrence Rank, for all the UAI babies out there). Which meant I only got into the BA at sydney uni, instead of the Bachelor of Social Science at UNSW, which was my first preference.
But, you see, of all the subjects I took for my HSC, economics has by far been the most useful since I left school. The concepts I learnt in economics, about classic economic theory, the market, business cycles, supply and demand, etc etc, are fascinating, and help me understand so much of what is going on in the world. And secretly, I love it. I love the sheer brutality of classic economic theory, how cold and heartless it is. I love being able to understand it all. And I find it beautiful in a terrible terrible way. I can’t help but be impressed by the sheer scale of the monster. Having studies economics in highschool has helped me so much in my study at uni, and when I was an activist, and during my whole career as a public servent so far. It helps me understand politics, and policy, and why something happening somewhere far off in the world can have such an impact here. It helps me understand people. I cherish the economist in me.
So I’ve decided not to go to queensland in october, and not to go to lismore for new year, and not take any of my holidays from work between now and may next year. This is mainly because during my recent housing crisis I had very little money saved, which meant I had to move back to my parents for a bit, and put in place a strict savings plan. And the thing is, I’ve found that because of my savings plan, even with the increased rent I’m now paying, I’m still saving money. I have a small wad of cash saved now, which by new year should be quite a sizable wad. Which by may should be enough of a wad to do something quite exciting with, which will also coincide with enough leave from work saved up to also do something quite exciting with. So I’m thinking of doing something quite exciting that I’ve not been able to do before, like travel, which would be cool. *must resist urge to by new computer*
So what this means is priorities. And opportunity cost. Priorities are the good things, the goals you make, and the thoughts you have to keep you motivated. Opportunity cost is all the stuff you could have done, but are deciding not to, because of the priorities. If one wished to achieve one’s priorities without becoming excessively debt-laden, the opportunity cost will come first. So I have months of opportunity costs to look forward to. So, no sleaze, no camping at broken hill, no lismore, no tropical fruits, no computer, no leave from work. Some I don’t care about, like sleaze. Others are sad because they are genuine opportunities to do things i’ve not done before, like camping at broken hill. And others are heart-breaking, cuz no matter how I figure it, I can’t make a trip to lismore cost $250 or less for the three days I could do it without taking extra time off work (and that’s excluding the cost of tickets and party favours). Petrol costs too much to drive, and camping is really only possible if you drive, and there’s no accomodation in town for less then $200 per night, and accomodation outside of town is too far without a car. Of course, I could change my mind, or up my budget, but the decision really needs to be made now on accomodation. And having been to lismore for new year three times previously, but never having been to, say, Istanbul, I think I’ll prioritise saving the money. I’ve also not done a new year in sydney since the whole concept of a queer new year in sydney imploded, so it might be interesting to stay and see what happens, especially since the done thing is to not be in sydney for new year anymore. I mean really, was there anyone from sydney not in lismore last year? It was a little ridiculous.
