Living in Neverland

Back when we were children, we had many childish notions. It’s part of being a child.

For instance, if you ask a four year old, where does money come from? Many will answer, "from mommy’s purse". What a delightfully childish response. And it is true as far as it goes.
By the time a child is about ten years old, If you ask the same question, they will say that it comes from the "country". Also age appropriate and also true, as far as it goes.

As for myself, as a youth, after finding out that the government "made" the money, I began to wonder why there were poor people. After all, I reasoned, if the government makes the money, and people are poor because they have no money, why doesn’t the government just make more of it, enough so that everyone will have enough.

As I grew to adulthood, I came to understand that it just doesn’t work that way. I guess I was about twelve or thirteen when I figured out that the government only prints the paper it's made of. I still wasn’t entirely sure of what money actually was, but I knew enough to understand that my notion was childish, that is to say, adults knew better.

But much to my amazement, it came to my attention at about fifteen that many actual adults still hadn’t figured it out.
And now that I wear an older mans clothes, it causes me pain to think that many adults still think that. In fact, most of the people who are in charge of the government and the Federal Reserve Bank think that.
They also hold a lot of other notions popular with children as well.

For one, they think that someone would actually loan their own money to people who cannot pay it back with the expectation that those people would repay. Only a child would think that. I have never met such a person. (or a group of such people) In fact, they don’t exist outside of Congress.

Another is the notion that if the bully at school beats you senseless day after day he will stop if you just ask him politely. Even thirteen year olds understand that won’t work. Outside of Neville Chamberlain, I have never heard of an adult who believed that in their heart of hearts. More childish wishful thinking. (Or hopeful thinking, in the style of the day)

Here’s another, if you asked a child if the nice man who was just elected President would be the best person to operate a large automobile company, the child would probably say yes.

Or this question; For a long while the lawmakers have set the minimum amount that people can be paid by other people for doing work. If that concept is as good as we are told it is, children might wonder why the amount isn’t set so high that everyone who worked for someone else would be wealthy. Good question, for a child.

And finally, children are used to the concept that they cannot make good decisions for themselves and that it’s always best if adults make the decisions for them. They may not always agree, but they are used to it. On that issue, the children finally get it right.

Like Peter Pan, many people never really wanted to grow up. Seems like a lot of them got their wish.