Ten Wonders of Capitalism

I usually reserve Friday for blogging positive things, but I think this week -- which has seen Donald Trump all but guarantee the destruction of the Republican Party as a home for supporters of economic freedom -- has earned an extra day of positivity here.

Without further ado, I share a neat post by software consultant Hillel Wayne titled "Ten Weird Things You Can Buy Online (And Why You Would)."

His criteria should tell you that this is a cut or two above some dude finding random, stupid things -- as you might understandably be inclined to think after spending too much time on social media or following the news:

• Not a one-off. It's either something a merchant is selling on an ongoing basis or something with an active marketplace of buyers and sellers.
• There's an actual legitimate use. No gag gifts or collectors items.
• There's an actual price. It's not "call for a quote". If I have to call for a quote then I can't just buy it on a whim.

I'll list the items here -- not to steal thunder, but to pique curiosity. It's worth learning something about each:

1. Three Yards of Books
2. Human Milk
3. A Life-Size Animatronic Whale Shark
4. Private Islands
5. Uranium
6. Chlamydia
7. Live Bees
8. Bedbugs
9. Rollercoasters
10. Oil Tankers

It's a mostly light-hearted post, but Wayne is within inches of the awe and reverence that are strangely missing from our age.

There's a measure of having a fresh look at things too many of us take for granted, as we see with the market for human milk:

I really like how this is the perfect example of how marketplaces develop. Some women overproduce milk, some underproduce it, there's an inefficiency in allocation, therefore market!

And you might also get a sense of awe at what the Invisible Hand of mutually beneficial trade has wrought:

It's insane to think that there'd be a secondhand market for eight-hundred foot oil tankers. This sent me down the UN Maritime Transport Review rabbit-hole, where I learned that in 2021 shipyards built the tonnage-equivalent of 1200 Aframaxes (pdf. 43). Nothing else made me realize just how unimaginably vast world trade is and just how much work goes into keeping the international supply chains running.

The post is a fun read, but I read it while on a walk, so I also reflected on it a bit.

So let me recommend this fun and thought-provoking read with the modest additional suggestion of giving yourself some time to let it sink in, and to ponder that this is just a small sample of the limitlessness potential of human creativity and trade.

-- CAV