Don,
If you responded to my request to make a written promise to never exchange dollar bills for 4 quarters, in any quantity, at any time, would you really suffer a significant opportunity cost? An opportunity cost must represent a real, positive benefit
So I give up parking meters? "Exact change only" lanes for road tolls? Not to mention arcade games, vending machines, pay phones and rounding up all those tips to servers to the nearest dollar?
As far as responding to written things from you... well, that sure has been costly too... lol...
Don, I'm enjoying the banter but it grows tiresom. I may not have all my neurons combed precisely in the right direction, nor wrapped tightly around the appropriate turns of phrase, but it's pretty simple to me.
A company making widgets claims it is earning $0.05 per widget, net of all costs. Except that employees are taking home $0.15 per widget in extra goodies showered upon them by management after shareholders said "OK".
Now, you can try to argue that this very real $0.15 extra wage per widget is a real cost, an opportunity cost, a hypothetical cost or a whatever cost. You might even try to argue that it's a non-cost. But after asking the angels to pause in their carefully choreographed soft shoe shuffle, we can pick up the pin and poke it on a problem: that widget is costing more to make than the $0.05 reported "profit" represents. And if the company tried to make widgets for ONLY that $0.05, it would risk losing some very key employees. At least that's what management says to us.
Meanwhile back at the brain ranch, these things shareholders are giving away have no cost, no opportunity cost, and no accounting cost. Which makes those of us who live on the proceeds of the things eternally grateful. It isn't every day that someone finds the proverbial free lunch. No wonder it's become an "all you can eat buffet"!
John |
