Do you believe that any of the following statements are true? If so, in my opinion, you’re nuts!

1. The merger of Northwest and Delta Airlines will be beneficial to consumers.

2. The soon to be received $168 billion dollar stimulus package, which pays many families from $300 - $1,200, will revive the sagging American economy.

3. The Iraqi army will eventually be able stand and fight without the aid of US troops.

4. Gasoline prices will never reach $5 a gallon.

5. Once Obama’s Pastor Jeremiah White fully explains within the context of his entire sermon the statement, “The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color.” we will all feel more at ease.

6. Increased government intervention in __________ will bring about efficiency, improved quality, and cost savings.

7. We shouldn’t foreclose on the homes of people who didn’t understand the terms of their sub-prime mortgages when they signed the loan papers.

8. The only thing that stands between the United States of America and complete energy independence from foreign producers is the allocation of more land to corn, and the conversion of more corn to ethanol.

9. Expect unity and solidarity within the Democratic Party when their National Convention ends in Denver.

10. Test scores in America’s public schools will go up if we can just find more funding for public education.

Tad Salyards Quote of the Week. “Any animal that steps on your foot and breaks it doesn’t qualify as a pet.”

A couple of weeks ago a sixteen year old (yet unidentified) girl allegedly called an abuse hotline claiming that her 50 year old husband had raped her at the 1700 acre Yearning for Zion Ranch near San Angelo, Texas. This prompted a raid of the ranch by authorities and the wholesale government confiscation of 416 children, 100 of whom are under the age of four. Separated from their mothers and removed from the only place they know as home, the kids are living in dorm-style conditions and are at the mercy of the courts until they can be placed with “stable” families.

It is a long-known fact that the group, known as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, practices polygamy. It is also known that many of the wives are young. Charges of sexual abuse remain to be substantiated, but should be investigated. It is my belief that Texas authorities didn’t need to raid the ranch. They should have investigated the charges of the 16 year old as a separate matter.

The news media made a spectacle of the story, showing photos of the women dressed in “Pioneer” clothing, with long hair. The ranch is now referred to by reporters as “the compound.” The dress of FLDS women is not much different than the dress of Amish women. Both FLDS and Amish dress differently that mainstream America. Both groups live somewhat secluded from the popular culture, attempting to save their children from being exposed to it. There is no crime in this. However, the practice of polygamy isn’t a religious right in the United States of America; it is illegal. The Amish don’t practice polygamy, the FLDS do.

The taking of multiple wives is accepted in Islam and is widely practiced by Muslims throughout the world. However, if you’re a Muslim living in the United States of America, you give up your religious right to multiple wives and must have only one wife. The uniquely American experience with polygamy began with the Mormons, whose prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr. practiced polygamy in Nauvoo, Illinois. After Smith and his brother were murdered at Carthage, IL in 1844, Brigham Young took the majority of the Mormons West to Utah, where polygamy was widely practiced. While the Mormons practiced polygamy openly in Utah, the rest of 19th century American society abhorred it. When federal authorities attempted to stop polygamy in Utah in the 1870’s they were threatened by armed Mormon militia.

Ultimately, in the early 1880’s US deputy marshals began extensive “polyg hunts” throughout Mormon territory, causing many polygamists to flee into Canada or Mexico. Those who continued to practice polygamy were forced into hiding. Many Mormons went to the penitentiary. In 1882 the Edmunds Act was passed, which disenfranchised polygamists, redefined polygamy as a crime and provided for legal action against violators. The mainstream Mormon Church, today known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, no longer advocates or practices polygamy, but it should be remembered that the Mormons discontinued the practice only because of the enforcement of Federal authorities. It should also be noted that the FLDS church in Texas is not in anyway affiliated with the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).

If the people of the United States and their governmental authorities don’t have the “stones” to enforce polygamy laws, then the FLDS, Muslims, and any one else should take on as many wives as they wish and have hundreds of children if it is their desire. On the other hand, if the people of the United States wish to enforce polygamy statutes in this country then the FLDS should immediately be allowed to return to the ranch with their families, with the understanding that federal authorities will enforce the Edmunds Act. Existing husbands, wives and children should be documented and all births and deaths recorded by government authorities. Whether or not a man has one or five wives, he should be required to support all of them and his children, without any welfare payments. If any man at the ranch takes another wife or sexually abuses an under age female, he should go to prison.

Anyone who takes a course in economics will quickly learn about a simple concept called “opportunity cost.” But beware; once you incorporate opportunity cost into your daily life, things will never be the same.

Opportunity cost is based on the fact that every minute of every day, whether we want to or not, we are deciding how to use our time. For example, if a man decides to sit down in a chair and watch a football game for three hours, he misses out on the benefits of some other activity that he could have experienced during that three hours. The benefits of the “next best” activity that is forgone is called opportunity cost. For example, if the next most beneficial thing the man could have done during the football game was to split wood for his winter heat, watching the football game may cost him some warmth when the cold January winds blow.

But opportunity cost is not just about work, nor is it about money. If a housewife decides to spend an hour doing the laundry and the next most beneficial use of her time would have been to take a nap, the benefits of the rest are the opportunity cost of doing the laundry. Even people engaged in leisure face the ever-present dilemma of opportunity cost; the person that jogs for an hour gives up the enjoyment of playing tennis during that hour, and so on.

Because our lives are like a candle, each one with a certain time to burn before the flame is extinguished; opportunity cost is an obsession for many economists, including me. The other day my wife and I helped a neighbor pack for a move to a new apartment. I was astounded to find that he probably owned 200 movie DVD’s! As I packed them into boxes my first thought was that at $15 each, he had probably spent nearly $3,000 for these movies. But then, my economist brain focused in on the real cost of those DVD’s; the benefits that he could have received by spending between 500 and 700 hours doing something else. After all, if a person worked a 40 hour week, he would have to work nearly 18 weeks to “spend” 700 hours. With 700 hours, the young man could have taken a complete semester of college courses, or spent time playing tennis, or taken dancing lessons, or learned to cook, or gone on numerous vacations, etc.

It seemed to me that the young fellow had spent nearly 700 hours of “consumption” time watching movies, when he could have benefited greatly by using some of those hours in “investment” time (activities spent educating himself or otherwise improving his future prospects for success). Why did he instead spend all of this time watching movies? First of all, he enjoys movies immensely, so he should spend some time watching them. But secondly, I suspect that he ignored the fact that there were some really beneficial alternative uses for his spare time. Don’t get me wrong, if watching 700 hours of movies gave him more satisfaction than anything else he could have done during every one of those 700 hours, the young man should have watched 700 hours of movies. I suspect, however, that even he would acknowledge that he would have been better off if he had watched a few less movies and reaped the benefits that would have come to him using at least some of his time doing something else.

One reason that we economists are a bit “wacky” is that any time we contemplate doing anything, we think about the opportunity costs of our time. If we are about to embark on activity A, we first consider if activity B, C, or D would be a better use of our time. We then engage in the most beneficial of those activities. At the university where I work, the members of our economics department have only one or two department meetings per year. Professors in other disciplines spend many hours annually in weekly “department meetings”, often spending time going over mundane details. We economists use email instead. If information needs to be disseminated or an important issue comes up, we inform each other via email. We share our feedback with each other electronically and even “vote” via email, which enables us to avoid most meetings all together. I’ve often asked myself why professors in other departments don’t operate the way we economists do. I think I know the answer; the minds of economists are programmed to always consider the “opportunity costs” of time spent in meetings, whereas professors in other departments ignore opportunity costs. This also explains why we economists get along so well together; none of us want to spend time dealing with “petty issues” that cause personal strife in so many organizations. After all, time is just too valuable to spend dealing with the “small stuff.”

A word of warning is in order. While employing the concept of opportunity cost in your daily life will make you extremely efficient and I recommend it highly, it may also tend to alienate you from others. It is easy to observe how others spend their time and to become judgmental. Remember that an activity that you deem to be wasteful may be a necessity for someone else. Remember that every person has his or her unique preference schedule for work and leisure, so if you’re a workaholic, you’ll have to remember that the other guy might actually prefer watching a movie to doing anything else. In that case, he should watch his movie and you should shut up!

There are many things that I like about the United States of America, but near the top of my list is what is often called the American Dream. It goes something like this: “In this place called the United States of America virtually anyone can be successful in achieving his or her economic goals”. The market system allows anyone to succeed, regardless of race, religion, gender, national origin, or even the level of a person’s education. This is the genius of America.

You see, the market is color blind. It is blind to gender and religion. At the extreme, it is even blind to education. When a young girl graduates from high school and opens up a small coffee shop, her customers don’t care if she went to college or not. They don’t care if she is black, white, Latino or Asian. They don’t care if she is a Jew or a Gentile, a Hindu or a Muslim. They want a really good, cup of Java, prepared just like they want, fairly priced, and served with a friendly attitude!

The young man who drops out of 8th grade because he is bored with school would be doomed to a life of poverty in most countries. However, that young man in the United States, with a lot of hard work and genuine ambition, might get a small bank loan to buy a used dozer and a beat up dump truck. With that he will get excavation jobs. If he does a good job and charges a fair price his business will grow. Twenty years later he might have fifteen trucks, twenty dozers, thirty-five employees, and a net worth of a million dollars. These success stories occur every day in the United States of America.

Of course, the odds of success are a lot better if a person expands their education beyond high school, either learning a craft or going on to a college or university. For people who learn a skill the American Dream isn’t just an outside possibility, it is almost a certainty. Whether one is an electrician, a cosmetologist, a teacher, an engineer, or a physician, he or she is respected for unique skills. The electrician wires the home of the cosmetologist, who cuts the hair of the surgeon. The surgeon drives a car designed by the engineer who pays the teacher to instruct his children. All parties involved gain through skill specialization and exchange of services. True dignity isn’t embodied in the type of work performed, but in the skill that one brings to his or her chosen profession! Both the hands of the pianist and those of the carpenter contain rare skills that the other cannot duplicate.

I ran into an electrician the other day who told me that for every five electricians now retiring from the profession only one new youngster is now entering. Only two years in technical school are required for a young man or woman to enter the profession as an apprentice electrician. From then on, good wages are assured in a profession in which jobs will never be outsourced to China. The same is true for plumbers, auto mechanics, engineers, computer technicians, and other occupations.

Many employers will assist in training employees who will work for them. Persons of any gender, race, and religion are welcome with open arms. I once told my class that if a person was a good mold designer with CAD skills, I would hire that person if they were a transvestite with polka-dotted skin and two heads! Just give me a person who is serious about making a good living and who is dedicated to trading a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. There has probably never been a better time in history for a young person to enter the skilled professions in this, the land of the American Dream.