Lenten Thoughts for the Day: My Salute to Holy Week Entrepreneurs

Celebrating the Lenten tradition does not eliminate human needs and wants.

So while some entrepreneurs take these as opportunities to benefit financially, in reality, the main beneficiaries are the consuming public especially when many, if not most, people elect to spend time away from work. Life becomes a lot more convenient for the most of us.

Thus I salute entrepreneurs who elect to tradeoff leisure time to open shop when most businesses are closed. This is an example of ethical self-interest which extrapolates into public good.

In the words of investing guru Doug Casey

It's in your selfish best interest to provide the maximum amount of value to the maximum number of people

And the provision of public service through trade is, in effect, loving and servicing one's neighbors, clues of which can be found in the Bible.

From Galatians 5:13-14

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Why The Best and The Brightest Don’t Fit Into Public Service

Author and Economic Professor Steven Landsburg writes,

The main reason to hold down public salaries/benefits is not to save money for the taxpayers. I have no a priori reason to care any more (or less) about the taxpayers than I do about the public employees themselves. Instead, the main reason to hold down public salaries/benefits is to avoid drawing the “best and the brightest” away from more productive careers into public service.

More thoughts:

Aside from the crowding out effect, “best and the brightest” into public service translates to more fatal conceit (or the presumption that the knowledge they have is better than the markets). This subsequently impels them to boldly dabble or experiment with more interventionist policies at the cost and risk of the taxpayers. In other words, they tend to find new creative ways to pick on someone else's pocket.

In addition, “best and the brightest” also means figuring out cunning ways to game the political economic system (corruption, arbitrages, cronyism).