In Praise of Capitalism From Our Niece, Angela

Hi all, Yesterday Austin came home with a stack of good grades, but among them was a worksheet that was marked down. It was about prehistoric times. One of the questions he missed was "Why did prehistoric people make cave drawings of mammoths?" Austin's answer: "To sell so they could buy clothing." Andy and I tried discussing why this was the wrong answer. Austin insisted that he couldn't find this part in the book and thus was forced to make up his own answer. We just kept asking him if he could think of any other reasons why prehistoric people might draw mammoths. After a minute of arguing back and forth, I told him to just use his brain for a second and think of another reason why they would make these paintings. Austin was very frustrated and whipped back, "Why ELSE would they draw something and go to all that trouble?" *By the way, he is selling cartoon books for $9 each if you all would like to buy one. They were going to be $.50 each, but when Addison said she'd pay $9, he decided to up the price. The subject: Bionicles. Addison may not be the most prudent consumer, though. This spring we went to a rock and crystal store in New Mexico. Austin's plan was to buy rocks that were valuable so he could resell them. I explained that he would not be able to resell them for more money any time soon because he was paying market price and that was not likely to go up in the near future. He didn't listen to me; he was determined to buy something he could make money on. (You know, moms are kinda dumb.) Austin and Addison each bought a couple of $3 crystals. When we got home the next week, Addison decided that she was going to start collecting crystals. She was willing to pay Austin $17 for one of his purple crystals. He came to me and said, "See Mom, I told you I'd make money." Exactly, Austin. Exactly. I didn't let these transactions go through (damned government interference), but aside from the "taking advantage of loved ones" part, he has the right idea. Haha Watch out, world! Have a great week! Love, Ang