Thursday, June 28, 2012

The high cost of free.

     Nothing is free. Everything comes at a cost. The minute we hear free, our first instinct is to jump and grab what ever it is. There is nothing wrong with this but keep in mind someone IS paying the price of free. For example, the free goods you purchased may have been subsidized; small businesses may have been bullied by larger business entities into reducing prices to the point they are no longer profitable and run out of business resulting in a loss of jobs and a further blow to our economy. Large retail companies that offer free or low prices claim to hire lots of employees, but, while this may be true, most of these jobs are low paying with little or no benefits. The employees of these companies can't even afford the basic health insurance offered to them by their employers because it's either insurance or food on the table. Furthermore, local communities suffer because these employees have little or no money to support and patronize local businesses. The money made by these large organizations is not pumped back into the local economy but invested elsewhere in their best interest; you and I rarely benefit.
     We all want free health care right? It's not a bad idea, in fact, it's a great idea but we must understand that it comes at a price we will pay directly or indirectly and it may even cost more. Who will pay for the insurance? We can look to our neighbor Canada or across the pond to the UK for answers. They offer “free” health care but the taxes are so high one begins to wonder whether it's worth living there. The benefits and services offered by these free health care programs may not be first rate depending on the area you live in and the citizens usually have to pay more to receive better benefits. We can look further east to our friends in Asia. Health care and education is virtually free because it is funded by the oil wealth of these nations. At least, the wealthy few in these countries are smart enough to subsidize the cost of education and health care unlike some nations not worth mentioning because they have the oil wealth but corruption and greed has blinded the wealthy few from seeing the long term disastrous effects of their actions.
     Local supermarkets chains have no choice but to lower the price of their goods now because people just can't afford the prices anymore due to extremely high unemployment rates which further diminishes the quality of goods sold and decreases the number of the employed. The goods in these supermarkets would rot in the store if they did not lower prices and run the risk of running out of business if they did not reduce their workforce. Theft will definitely increase as people get desperate.
    We need to break out of this habit of free and PAY the cost. It cost money to run a business: employees, cost of goods etc. Patronize local businesses that offer quality products or services and invest back into community: this will help boost the local economy and will create a tremendous ripple effect which will be felt by other communities. The root of a tree is it's strength; The tree is weak if the roots are weak and strong when roots are strong. The foundation of a strong economy starts at the local level. It's great to get deals or freebies but get use to paying the true cost because it helps us all in the long run. You may think you are not affected but indirectly you are.

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Mr. Oluwasusi, A portrait.
