I've mentioned this in my journal before, but I forget where.
There's this old Chip 'n Dale cartoon where Chip and Dale, two chipmunks, discover this glorious thing called a peanut. Instead of an acorn, which only has one nut per package, this "peanut" thing has two. Chip finds one and cracks it open. "One for me, one for you," he declares.
This is probably the earliest example of what I can only call my "hard-on for capitalism." Whenever I read a story or see an example of two people trading to get exactly what they want, I just get this pleasant little burble of endorphins in the back of my head.
(Now that I think about it, Chip and Dale did this a lot. There's one cartoon where Donald Duck's trying to chase them out of his model train village - 'cause, you know, Donald just loves his trains - and spends 14 minutes chasing them, trying to smoke them out, siccing dogs on them, etc. In the end, he gives up and lets them live there. They keep the set clean and tidy, and in return Donald gives them a place to live. omg the invisible hand omg)
The idea that people can get exactly what they want without pleading, whining or threatening was amazing to me. It's probably what led me to Ayn Rand in my high school years and Austrian economics in college. I love the mutually enriching power of trade. I love the fact that cooperation and voluntary exchange makes everyone richer, instead of one person richer and one poorer. Even when I witness exchanges that don't benefit me personally (like two imaginary chipmunks and an imaginary pantsless duck), I become convinced that I live in a Benevolent Universe. Even if I don't believe in a god.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-04-29 10:04 pm (UTC)There's this old Chip 'n Dale cartoon where Chip and Dale, two chipmunks, discover this glorious thing called a peanut. Instead of an acorn, which only has one nut per package, this "peanut" thing has two. Chip finds one and cracks it open. "One for me, one for you," he declares.
This is probably the earliest example of what I can only call my "hard-on for capitalism." Whenever I read a story or see an example of two people trading to get exactly what they want, I just get this pleasant little burble of endorphins in the back of my head.
(Now that I think about it, Chip and Dale did this a lot. There's one cartoon where Donald Duck's trying to chase them out of his model train village - 'cause, you know, Donald just loves his trains - and spends 14 minutes chasing them, trying to smoke them out, siccing dogs on them, etc. In the end, he gives up and lets them live there. They keep the set clean and tidy, and in return Donald gives them a place to live. omg the invisible hand omg)
The idea that people can get exactly what they want without pleading, whining or threatening was amazing to me. It's probably what led me to Ayn Rand in my high school years and Austrian economics in college. I love the mutually enriching power of trade. I love the fact that cooperation and voluntary exchange makes everyone richer, instead of one person richer and one poorer. Even when I witness exchanges that don't benefit me personally (like two imaginary chipmunks and an imaginary pantsless duck), I become convinced that I live in a Benevolent Universe. Even if I don't believe in a god.
So that's where my soul's at.