Greed and Tax: No such thing as a free lunch

The price of petrol is too much! A capsicum is worth it's weight in gold! How often have we heard these cries lately, with the finger of blame pointed at anyone in the spotlight. Russia, China, or Governments that don’t intervene enough, or intervene too much. Greedy corporations ripping off the little guy. But should we point the finger, and can we offer viable solutions? Have they really been twisting the knife into our hip pocket as much as possible, or are we partly to blame?

This is what childcare centres will look like in the future

Our capitalist infrastructure is dependent on the price of certain materials, energy, and wages remaining relatively stable. What makes a project economically viable now, can be drastically un-economical with only the smallest percentage change in base resources or commodities. As you span time horizons into the future, it can be increasingly difficult to justify the risk in massive capital expenditure in infrastructure or resources no matter the pending supply issues or consumer demand. And so, as uncertainty increases, so does our reluctance to solve the problem. It is simply not economically feasible without massive risk and economic down-side. The domino house comes closer to crashing down. 

Not the worse thing to collapse on top of you

We forget that we’ve encouraged and re-enforced this system with our own purchasing habits. How many years have we thoughtlessly purchased products, each time favouring a specific company structure, profit-making method, or logistics and supply chain solutions over others. We have favoured efficiency based on assumptions which will not always hold true. Just as we have favoured these processes, we have created a system which is less resilient, and less adaptable. The hidden opportunity costs are simply not factored into any of our choices. It is simply too hard, and not feasible for the common person to factor it into their daily purchasing decisions.

Let it in, what's the worse that could happen

There are infinite hidden opportunity costs every time you make a purchase. Just as you can demand cheaper or better roads, the opportunity cost is money not spent elsewhere. And if you want it all, the money will generally come from increased taxes. But if you don’t like taxes increasing, then the government needs to print more money, which in turn raises inflation. And so, as wages stagnate and the price of basic goods rises from inflation, you’ll need more cuts and subsidies. Everyone kicks and screams for handouts and cuts that are only coming from their own back pocket. Everything works until it doesn’t.