What’s Wrong With Us?

Public reactions to common everyday issues are a puzzle. The perception of shortage or unavailability apparently stuns some people. They go into overdrive to ‘fix’ the problem by searching high and low for the scarce item. Meanwhile, the scarcity demands a higher price for the item. This is the God given belief of American capitalists. Supply and demand rule price.

Well, this is true in the main wherever you are on the globe, whether you are a capitalist or a communist. If an item is generously available the price will be lower as a rule of thumb.

But they need not be. For example, used cars. I don’t need a used car at the moment. So I will not go out and buy one. I will likely need one in the future, but just not now. I’ll wait. Waiting pays dividends. Time passing may find a lessening of the shortage and a softening of the price of the goods. Even if the need is now, I can wait or make other arrangements to avoid buying the item while its price is high.

Same is true if I am trying to sell something in a down market. Wait until the supply and demand is in better balance and prices rise for what I wish to sell. Timing. Timing. Timing.

COVID vaccines not readily available for you in your area at the moment? Wait for them. Ask for help from your doctor. In the meantime, distance yourself from other people you know not to be vaccinated, or from strangers you no nothing about. Wash your hands frequently. Stay home as much as possible. And wear a MASK. They work.

I know the mask works. I have allergies and I haven’t had an allergy symptom for the length of the COVID pandemic. I haven’t had a cold, sniffles or the flu either. Of course I haven’t had COVID.

Yes. Masks work. So do commonsense efforts to avoid getting infected.

Don’t agree with a politician in your governor’s office? Why is that? Just exactly what do you not agree with? Is it everything? Or a few items? In the main, is the governor doing his/her job? Are the results generally as expected and favorable? Then why would you vote against the person for one or a few issues you disagree with?

In Illinois, our governor (Pritzker) has done an enviable job in protecting the mass public from COVID. That doesn’t mean it has been a walk in the park. We have had major infections of COVID in the past 20 months. We have had thousands of deaths. Suffering and agony have accompanied our experience with COVID. However, we have avoided tens of thousands of deaths from this cause during the same period. We have minor outbreaks of the disease in well-vaccinated areas. Heavy outbreaks with fatalities are present in regions of the state where vaccinations have been avoided by the people. Vaccinations have been available. They have been actively avoided by the public. The results are predictable. Death and suffering.

Commonsense protections against the virus have been mandated from time to time to protect the bulk of the public. People do not like being told what to do. They see this as an overreach of authority. It is not. The responsibility of the government and our elected officials is to keep us safe from many perils. Disease is one of those perils. Rather than being angry with the officials, mandates or government in general, be angry at the disease and help eradicate it.

What a person chooses to be upset about tells us much about the person holding such views.

I thought Americans were reasonable and educated. Evidently I gave us more credit than we have earned.

September 21, 2021