AmosWEB is Economics: Economics with a touch of Whimsy!

Friday
January 16, 2026

AmosWEB means Economics with a Touch of Whimsy!

LABOR-LEISURE TRADEOFF: The perpetual tradeoff faced by human beings between the amount of time spent engaged in wage-paying productive work and satisfaction-generating leisure activities. The key to this tradeoff is a comparison between the wage received from working and the amount of satisfaction generated from leisure. Such a comparison generally means that a higher wage entices people to spend more time working, which entails a positively sloped labor supply curve. However, the backward-bending labor supply curve results when a higher wage actually entices people to work less and to "consume" more leisure time.

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production stages (537)
factor payments (277)
limited resources (255)
perfect competition, characteristics (253)
perfectly elastic (246)

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MARGINAL PROPENSITY FOR GOVERNMENT PURCHASES

The change in government purchases induced by a change in income or production (national income or gross domestic product). The marginal propensity for government purchases (abbreviated MPG) is another term for the slope of the government purchases line and is calculated as the change in government purchases divided by the change in income or production. The MPG plays a role in Keynesian economics. It augments the slope of the aggregate expenditures line and is part of the multiplier process. A related marginal measure is the marginal propensity to consume.

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"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."

-- Grenville Kleiser, Author

Fact 5: Our Necessary Evil

It's time to give up our attempts to enter the Merciless Monolithic Media Masters Cable Television Company, Inc. office and take care of other pressing business -- taxes. The next stop on our excursion through the economy is the Shady Valley City Hall, where we need to momentarily, and begrudgingly, pause so that I may pay my semi-annual property tax bill. This is the least enjoyable stop -- at least for me -- on our journey. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.

Of course I hate to pay taxes! But, then again, who doesn't? Taxes are one of those annoying and evil necessities of life that simply can't be avoided.

Or can they? Do we have to pay taxes? A quick visit to a bookstore will produce dozens of books telling you how to avoid taxes by investing here or buying this or doing that. Better yet, if we could rid ourselves of the inefficient, bloated, incompetent, do-nothing government, then you and I wouldn't have to pay taxes. Right? We could use our hard-earned income to buy stuff that we want, rather than letting the inefficient, bloated, incompetent, do-nothing government spend it on stuff that we don't want, don't know anything about, and will never need. Right?
Tell me more...

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BLACK DISMALAPOD
[What's This?]

Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time surfing the Internet hoping to buy either a wall poster commemorating the first day of spring or a lazy Susan for you dining room table. Be on the lookout for high interest rates.
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This isn't me! What am I?

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

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