I'm the Weirdo in the Car Next to You Talking to the Radio

There are few news stories that interest me so much that I talk to the radio. This was one of them. In case you don't want to read it, it was a story on the NPR show Marketplace that aired on December 28. Entitled, "It's Repugnant, But Hey, It's Efficient!" the story is based on the idea that economists are more likely than the general populace to embrace a repugnant idea if it is the most efficient idea. They illustrated this idea with a few stories from 2010 and I found myself thinking (let's face it, saying out loud) "Yes! Why not? That's the way it should be?"

So do these ideas make sense or are they repugnant and I should think about becoming an economist?

1. A new law in Israel, aimed at boosting the nation's low organ donor rates, gives priority to those on organ waiting lists if they've signed up as a donor. So if you are willing to donate your organs and then end up needing one, you're tops on the list. Golden Rule, bitches. That's not repugnant, right?

2. A councilman in Modesto CA has proposed to treat sewage waste water and pipe it to farmers who need water to water their crops. Um,what do they think happens to treated water from the water treatment plant? It's not shipped to the Nevada desert in double-walled stainless steel containers and buried alongside radioactive waste.

Yeah, I don't really get what's so repugnant about these ideas. I'm know there are some things out there that make economic sense on the personal level (money savers) that I find repugnant (like this and this) and I'm sure there are other ideas out there that may make economic sense but are repugnant ("SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!") but you're going to have to get a lot more repugnant to out-repugnant this non-economist.

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I never thought I would be telling people what I ate in such close proximity to a Soylent Green reference.... That is repugnant.

Breakfast: Toast, peanut butter and marmalade 35 cents
Lunch: Chili and Crackers/Cheese/Salami/Cucumbers $1.72
Snack: Free chocolate and then I gorged myself on Girl Scout Cookies 60 cents
Dinner: Free Pizza. I don't count it because Husband bought it. Also? He didn't realize he bought Diet Dr. Pepper instead of regular Dr. Pepper until he was reading this blog. Also? If you feel bad about laughing at Husband jokes, don't. He reads them and laughs with you. Also? If you're not laughing at my jokes, maybe you shouldn't expect to find something serious when you Google "Poor Man Snacks."

Total: $2.67