There is a story about Ronald Reagan and a soviet leader who was touring the US. It turns out what he was most impressed with was our grocery stores with their fully stocked shelves.
A sign that our system works is the dollar stores sprinkled around the community. Picture all of the merchandise that is spread out on those shelves. Granted, most of it is junk, but it is junk that is providing millions of people with jobs and provides a level of purchase that is possibly the only one available for most of the world. I generally ignore most of what they have but if I want something cheap for short term use, they are the place to go. On some items you get the same quality at a fraction of the cost. On other items you actually pay more. If I want a brush to scrub the grill at my apartment for a few months I am happy to pay a dollar for something that might fall apart quickly. If I want fresh fruits and vegetables I might want to shop somewhere else.
It is a kind of freedom we don’t think about much.
Maybe it wasn’t Ronald Reagan that brought down the Soviet Union. Maybe it was the free market represented by dollar stores. The Dollar Store, a sign of liberty and freedom.
homo unius libri
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.