Somebody Might Knock You on the Head

My grandmother used to say that you shouldn't carry a lot of money around because somebody might knock you on the head. I guess I understand that, but what I never did understand was how that guy who was going to knock me on the head would know that I was carrying a lot of money. It seems like he would have to knock first and ask questions later. I have never heard of a mugger asking somebody how much money he was carrying before knocking him on the head but, if he did, and you answered him truthfully, does that mean he would refrain from knocking you on the head if you weren't carrying enough money to make it worth his while? Furthermore, is there any statistical evidence that rich people get knocked on the head more often than poor people? Somebody should do a study on that.

I have a debit card, but I have never used it to get cash, and I have never bothered to memorize my pin number for that reason. I never used to carry a lot of cash even before I got my debit card. If I was planning to buy something that cost more than I was carrying, I would get our checkbook from my hypothetical wife, who keeps it in her purse. My debit card is only good up to $200 so, if I'm planning to spend more than that in one place, I still need to get the checkbook from my hypothetical wife. Some time ago, some of the stores in our neighborhood started scanning your check and then giving it back to you. This bothered my hypothetical wife for some reason, so now she goes to the credit union periodically and draws out several hundred dollars at a time. If it's more money than she plans to spend that week, she puts the surplus in her top dresser door, cautioning me to lock the doors if I leave the house so that somebody doesn't come in and steal it. I don't know how a potential thief would know that money was in the top dresser drawer, but I don't argue with her anymore than I used to argue with my grandmother about being knocked on the head.

When I worked at the paper mill, they told us that a new machine is supposed to pay for itself within ten years and, if they don't think it will, they don't buy it. I don't know if it's the same all over, but most places probably have some kind of similar policy. When you think about it, it's not so different from the way we buy stuff. If you only have a small yard, you're not likely to buy a lawn tractor or riding mower. It's just not worth it.

One way they could adjust for the diminishing demand for labor would be to make the standard work day shorter. I think that's one reason they went to an eight hour day in the first place. So why not a six or even a four hour day? I suppose there would be a practical limit to that, though. When it got to the point that people were spending more time commuting to work than working, it just wouldn't make any sense. Another thing they could do, which they are already doing to some extent, is to pay people not to work. I understand that the ancient Romans used to pay people to have kids in order to insure a future supply of soldiers for the empire. We certainly don't need any more kids in this country nowadays, so maybe they should pay people not to have kids. They need to get money into our hands one way or another if they want us to buy stuff, which I'm pretty sure they do.