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My First Economics
by Gordon Francis Corbett

The first law of learning is primacy:  things we learn first stick with us longest.  As we all have parents, and as they do their best to raise us properly, they give us advice to help us to live well.

They use axioms and slogans, at first.  Those my parents gave me mostly concerned what I now recognize as economics.  Here are a few, presented to me not all at once, as I repeat them below, but one by one over time.

"Do your best."  "Work hard."  "Try not to buy on time."  "Save your money for a rainy day."  "You cannot spend yourself rich."

Nowadays, the last two have special significance.  Across our country, many people know that their jobs hang by a thread;  so, very sensibly, they are saving money to sustain them through the coming job-search.  If they do lose their jobs, they last better than do their less cautious friends.  If they keep their jobs, their savings give them peace of mind.

Some economic gurus advising our television networks see it differently.  See, those savers are helping to cause their own troubles.  To keep our economy afloat, we have to spend.  When people do not spend, the products and services they would have bought go begging, and the workers who would have produced them are fired.  So speak the gurus.

The fact is that if these supposed "Nervous Nellies" were to heed the networks' economists, many would find themselves simultaneously unemployed and broke. 

Good economists, like Dr. George Reisman, know that unless those families save, even brief unemployment will hurt them terribly.

Their parents took the time to tell them the truth.

Sorry about the other guys.