Economics 101

I read somewhere that "economy is the science of fulfilling infinite desires with finite resources". I couldn't agree more.

Human beings are unsatisfied by nature and will always want more, better, faster, smaller, bigger, you name it. The pursuit of that ideal of a better future is what moves us forward.

Along the way, we have to make some hard choices, since we have limited means, such as time, money, energy and so on. Time is by far the most scarce resource of all. We can never buy more, and every spent minute is gone for good. Regarding money, we can choose to spend right after we have it for the sake of the instant gratification, or save and defer the spending for some time in the future (delayed gratification).

Most of us dream and fantasize of unrealistic hopes. They tend to be impossible in nature, because most of the excitement and pleasure comes with the wanting, not with the fulfillment. If all of our desires would come true quickly, they would suddenly become meaningless. And at the very same time that one desire is satisfied, another one, even bigger pops up.

On this note, I'd like to post here an excerpt from the movie 'The Life Of David Gale':

"What is it that you fantasize about? World Peace? Do you fantasize about international fame? Do you fantasize about winning a Pulitzer prize? Or a Nobel Peace Prize? An MTV music award? Do you fantasize about meeting some genius hunk extensively bad but secretly simmering with noble passion and willing to sleep on the wet spot?
Fantasies have to be unrealistic, because the moment, the second, that you get what you seek, you don't, you can't want it anymore. In order to continue to exist; desire must have its objects perpetually absent. It's not the "it" that you want, it's the fantasy of "it". So desire supports crazy fantasies.
This is what Pascal means when he says that we are only truly happy when daydreaming about future happiness. Or why we say the hunt is sweeter than the kill or be careful what you wish for, not because you'll get it, but because you're doomed not to want it once you do. So the lesson of Lacan is "Living by your wants will never make you happy". What it means to be fully human is to strive to live by ideas and ideals and not to measure your life by what you've attained in terms of your desires, but those small moments of integrity and passion, rationality, even self sacrifice. Because in the end, the only way that we can measure the significance of our own lives is by valuing the lives of others."