Merry Christmas- Grandma Got Detained by TSA

Via Reason TV (ht Mish):

Not too much to type about being that it's Christmas and there isn't much news.  I improved on my post from yesterday a bit and got it on the American Thinker today:

In The Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed as a stingy and greedy businessman. Dickens describes his mythical character as "...a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"  Mr. Scrooge gives little to nothing in direct charity and rebukes a couple of men from his place of business for requesting a monetary donation for the poor.  He offers this infamous suggestion instead:

"If they'd rather die they better do it now and decrease the surplus population."

The character of Scrooge has been used to demonize those with wealth and who give little to charity for decades.  Generations upon generations of children are spoon fed The Christmas Carol as a cautionary tale that one should give back to those less unfortunate if you posses the means to do so.  While there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with voluntary charitable donations, the narrative surrounding Scrooge's supposed tightfistedness ignores the important role businessmen similar to Dickens' less-than-favorable characterization really play in a market economy.

Consumer demand is often lauded as an all-important indicator and driver of economic growth.  Yet it's always prior production itself that makes consumption possible.  The economic truth known as Say's Law tends to be defined as simply "there is no demand without supply."  What this means is that in order for one to consume, one must produce first in order to obtain the funds, goods, credit, etc. to engage in a transaction.  Even if someone in destitution were to be given a charitable donation, those funds must first come from the donator's previous production.  The same applies to welfare payments via the government.  Government can only redistribute what it first confiscates from those who produce.  Though consumption makes up a far greater portion of the overall spending in an economy, production is always the key enabler of economic growth.

It turns out, and I was unaware of this when I started typing that article, Steve Landsburg had a similar piece in The Slate a few years ago.  Now I look like a cheap imitation; oh well.

Happy holidays everyone!