Opus 2017-050: Hood Economics

I usually have an annual rant in my classes on economics that involves people spending their money foolishly.  I talk about shoes.  Yes, shoes.  Pick a kid.  Ask them how much they pay for their shoes, how many pair they have and how many they buy in a year.  The answer is shocking when you consider that these are supposed to be disadvantaged children from disadvantaged homes.  Evidently being disadvantaged does not extend to buying shoes.

I then talk about how much I pay for a pair of shoes and how long I wear them.  A little math shows that it doesn’t take too many years before I am thousands of dollars ahead of them, just because of shoes.  Extend that to other areas of their lives and the lives of many people around us.

This year I ran into something new.  During my rant a student tells me that the shoes he buys for $225 he sells for $500. I stop and listen.  It seems there is a waiting list for some shoe styles and that if you know how to work it you can buy the shoes over the internet for one price and sell them for a lot more on the street.  It is like scalping Super Bowl tickets.  It is probably illegal but it pays well.  This is an eighth grade.r  This student is almost failing all of his classes yet he is making a living.  It is free enterprise at work.  It is raw capitalism.  It is also the cash economy.  He pays no taxes.  I salute him. 

He is breaking the law and costing me money.  I would bet he has an EBT card in his pocket.  It would bet he lives in government subsidized housing.  I am paying the bills for this boy while he makes the money.  At the same time I salute him.  Maybe his ambition and drive will pay off for society in the end.

homo unius libri