PastorsBlog: “Scroogenomics”
December 1, 2009

Below are portions of an online article

Scroogenomics

By George Will

WASHINGTON -- Another huge value-destroying hurricane is about to slam America, destroying billions of dollars of value. Another Katrina? No, another Christmas.

Gifts that people buy for other people are usually poorly matched to the recipients' preferences. What the recipients would willingly pay for gifts is usually less than what the givers paid. The measure of the inefficiency of allocating value by gift-giving is the difference between the yield of satisfaction per dollar spent on gifts and the yield per dollar spent on recipients' own purchases.

Christmas etiquette involves composing one's face to feign pleasure when unwrapping an unwelcome windfall -- say, a sweater of an appalling color and a style that went out of style in the 1940s -- and murmuring "Oh, you shouldn't have" without revealing that you mean exactly that. Price of the sweater: $50. Value to recipient: $0. Actually, less than zero, considering the psychological cost of the forced smile.

But, you say, what about sentimental value? Don't you value the thoughtfulness of dotty Uncle Ralph who gave you the sweater? Actually, Ralph's sentiment in selecting it was like your sentiment when you selected for him the candle shaped like Gandhi -- desperate bewilderment about what he might like.

A tenth of gift cards' values, worth billions of dollars, are never redeemed. The cards are lost Christmas morning in the blizzard of wrapping paper, or just forgotten.

Furthermore, he says, there are some goods -- e.g., Spam -- that people spend less on as they become richer, and there are other things on which people spend larger portions of their incomes as their incomes rise. These are called luxuries. One such is charity. So, particularly for the rich or ascetic person who has everything he or she wants, why not gift cards useable only for charities? Some organizations (e.g., Charity Navigator and charitygiftcertificates.org) facilitate this.

"There are worlds of money wasted, at this time of year, in getting things that nobody wants, and nobody cares for after they are got." So said Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1850.

georgewill@washpost.com

Copyright 2009, Washington Post Writers Group

Full article here: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/26/scroogenomics_99316.html

Just a thought, if giving gifts at Christmas were an imitation of God’s gift at Christmas, what would our gifts look like? Remember God’s gift? He gave His only Son, whom He loved above all else, as a gift to the world. The world hated and rebelled against God. And God gave them the most precious gift He could, His own Son to die for us.

An idea: go to Mission India or another ministry you enjoy. Show your family the pictures and needs there. And instead of giving gifts that George Will (and God) say do not satisfy, give the gift of life eternal to people who need Jesus. Just a thought.

But if anyone wants to buy me a 65” HDTV, don’t wait until Christmas. St. Nicholas day is December 6, which is when my family gives each other gifts. : )

God bless your celebration of Christmas!

In Christ,
Pastor Steve

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