There is a big disconnect between wants and needs as far as people are concerned. What I have a hard time wrapping my head around is why some people want to dictate what others should be allowed to 'want'.
Recent suggestion was all the SUV's be banned because very few people 'need' them. Similarly, our President discussed an elderly person with a broken hip, would not 'need' surgery if they had another condition. My friend Shoo spoke of lowering health care costs is quickly done, if you restrict procedures. If someone looses an arm in a car crash, the health care cost of cauterizing the stump is much less then re-attaching the arm so it functions. Does a person really 'Need' two arms? I mean there are many people who get along fine with just one.
It is quite the slippery slope.
A gentleman named Abraham Maslow developed a Hierarchy of needs. Breathing, Food, Water, Sleep, Homeostasis, Shelter and Sex are at his list of basics. It is really easy to extrapolate quickly from these needs into wants. Food for example, you need to eat a certain amount of a certain variety to sustain your life and health. There is nothing anyone, anyplace could ever argue that would justify that a deep fried Twinkies as a food of basic need.
6 comments:
I say have all rich people that want plastic surgery donate the money to the poor. I think that would feed the world, right?
Would you presume to tell Bill and Melinda Gates how to spend the money they have?
You would have more impact if you donated needed goods to a local community kitchen.
Typically "rich" people donate considerable sum to various charities. Including feeding the poor Beyond the allowed deductions in most cases.
Plastic Surgeons have enough income from the rich to provide pro-bono work like Operation smile. Which you are advocating eliminating" Obliquely.
It's important to understand needs vs wants, but it is up to individuals to prioritize.
If you can have your wants, while taking care of your needs, I think you've achieved a level of success we are all looking to obtain. I see no reason to punish them.
We only need basic clothing and shelter, so anything other than basic clothes is a want not a need, right? That's a bit extreme, but who are you [the metaphorical "you" like "they"] to tell me what my priorities are, and where they should be.
Lindsay, thanks for reading and posting. I think your spot on.
Freedom to make our own choices and the Freedom to rise above our basic needs.
I definitely enjoy the read! That's why freedom is so great, we can make choices that allow us to succeed or choices that show us a growiing opporuniy to learn from a mistake
It seems as if Keeka's joke got misinterpreted as a serious statement.
Regarding the reply, in any organized society there will be some level of telling Bill and Melinda Gates how to spend their money. The only question is how much do we tell them what to do with (via taxes) and how much do we leave to their discretion?
Very few people in the US think that there should be NO taxes. That is unworkable if we are to have a functioning society. The government has an important role.
Needs and wants play into the current tax system. The system at least attempts to allow for a level of "needs" to be taxed lower than the "wants" are taxed (i.e., the progressive tax rate system). It does this imperfectly, but it does it. Therefore, the concept that some amount of potential plastic surgery money goes to feed the poor already exists.
I'm sure that Keeka does not really advocate taking all of the money to be spent on plastic surgery and moving that to the poor. After all, within our lifetimes the "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs" style of economics and government has been proven ineffective.
Also, I humbly disagree with the "nothing anyone, anyplace..." comment about deep fried Twinkies. Those very definite statements are a little too black and white. But that is another story.
However, I absolutely agree with the basic premise of this post. Having government play too big of a role in deciding needs vs. wants is a very slippery slope. The fact that there may be justification of deep-fried Twinkies as a "need" (if I ever decide to present that argument) would be proof of that.
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