What to do with a $3 Million find...

We found out this week that a family in Ohio stumbled onto a cache of baseball cards from 1910 (hopefully not from the 1910 Fruitgum Company) while cleaning out their deceased grandmother's attic. The find is estimated to be worth as much as $3 Million. The proceeds will be divided among the 20 heirs to the woman's estate.

So, here is my question (and I have posed this question in a previous post), if these people are committed Democrats... i.e., left of center, should they sell these cards at an obscene profit, or should they sell them based upon their actual cost, which is ZERO?

Sure, they could justify the gouging of committed baseball card collectors by saying that the collectors don't actually need the cards.. the cards are not a necessity of life, like, say, gasoline, water, Big Macs, chain saws after a tornado, or iPhones. But what if the collector's need to collect can be proven to be some sort of mental deficiency as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act? What then?

Would market forces of supply and demand rule, or would fairness be the guide so that whomever could be the first to pony up $50 for the dusty box (200 cards x $.25 each) would walk away with a good dose of high octane therapy?

You know, it really isn't fair that some poor child in the ghetto who looks up to century-old baseball stars like Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Shoeless Joe Jackson, has to do without, while some rich snob like Russell Simmons, Diddy, or Kobe Bryant can scarf up any card they want by whipping out their American Express Black Card without a second thought.

It is really easy to despise the rich when they take advantage of market conditions to make lots of money. Ditto with the oil companies who make windfall profits when the price of gasoline skyrockets and their cost of production stays flat. It is even easier to hate the Saudi sheikhs when their cost of production is south of $10 per barrel and they sell the stuff at over $100.

But when a little guy does the same thing by owning something that costs little, then selling at a HUGE markup, we all think "Damn, I wish that was me."

Isn't that being a bit intellectually dishonest? Hmmmmmm?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lefties are only generous with other people's money. They will fight tooth and nail to get every penny they can out of those baseball cards.
Craig Hollins said…
You make three fundamental flaws in logic.
First, the socialist ideal is to give everyone their needs and let everyone work for their wants. I cannot imagine anyone needing a baseball card in that sense. Even your addicted collector - the need is to treat the addiction, not to feed it.
Second, there is nothing in the socialist agenda that precludes making a profit. It's allowed, even encouraged provided it isn't at the expense of someone else's needs.
Thirdly, the oil companies are providing a need (US energy) to provide their countries with foreign currencies - which they need to feed their people. Your attempt to link the two fails the logic test.
And just in case you're of the opinion that your lefties are left - nope. In any other country they would be seen as far right extremists. Makes you wonder what the rest of the world thinks of your Republicans, huh?
Finally, if you don't like paying the market price for oil, you can always do the capitalist thing and don't. Either don't use energy or find a substitute. Demanding the govt intervene in the oil market to lower your pump prices? That's socialism.

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