Photo: Chinese apples.
“The good life is the simple life…”
Or so says Emrys Westacott, a professor of philosophy at Alfred University in New York. He wrote a whole book about it. The Wisdom of Frugality, Princeton University Press, 2016.
The book was translated into Italian, Korean, Simple Chinese and Complex Chinese, so that people who are actually interested in wisdom and frugality could read it.
Americans don’t seem too interested. We want to be great, again… not simple, again. Apparently, however, the Chinese picked up his book.
According to a story on CNBC by reporter Lee Ying Shan:
China’s consumer inflation fell to a five-month low in November, climbing 0.2% from a year ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, released Monday…
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a slight pickup in retail inflation to 0.5% in November from a year ago, versus 0.3% in October…
Among the purchaser price index of industrial producers, the prices of ferrous metal materials led declines by 7.1% . Fuel and power dropped by 6.5% while chemical raw materials decreased by 5%…
If I’m understanding this article properly, the cost of fuel and power in China dropped by 6.5%.
“Dropped”. With a “d”.
Over here in America, where we were once great — and will be made great again, God willing — the inflation rate for November was 2.7%. And the “core CPI” (whatever that is) rose by 3.5% annually.
So, like, more than ten times the inflation rate seen in China.
I found this photo online, and it looks like I could buy a Chinese watermelon for $1.38.
Why haven’t we become Communist yet? They seem to have this whole thing figured out.
The good life is the simple life… the frugal life… and where watermelons are cheap.
Through much of human history, frugality wasn’t really a choice. You were lucky to own a stinky animal skin to throw over your shoulders. Most people didn’t even own shoes, and if they did, they were cheap sandals or flip-flops, or maybe moccasins. In ancient times, the Greeks viewed footwear as self-indulgent, ugly, and unnecessary. In the Greek art of the day, even the gods and heroes were depicted barefoot, and Alexander the Great conquered his vast empire with barefoot armies.
Meaning that my ex-wife Darlene probably owned more shoes than Alexander’s entire army.
Naturally, there were always rich people who not only owned shoes, but also furniture and rugs and even slaves. Once you get accustomed to owning actual people, it’s hard to imagine living any differently.
Nowadays, it’s no longer acceptable to own people, even if you’re really rich, like Elon Musk. You have to hire them. But you can own shoes.
In fact, almost everyone I know owns shoes. Not just the rich people. Once you get accustomed to owning shoes, it’s hard to imagine living any differently.
Same with electronics. You get accustomed to them. For example, I looked up the information about Alexander’s barefoot army on my iPhone. (I already knew about my ex-wife’s shoes, but I was reminded.)
Why am I writing about frugality, at this particular time of year? Isn’t Christmas all about excessive consumerism? Too many toys under the tree, too many pairs of socks for Dad, and too many ugly sweaters for Mom?
And then, too many calories consumed at too many Christmas events?
The Chinese have it figured out. The most common Christmas tradition seems to be: to give someone an apple.
From Trafalgar.com:
This is not just any apple – it’s a Peace Apple.
One of the most common Chinese Christmas traditions among young people is to send cellophane-wrapped apples as gifts to their friends. The apples are also often sold with printed messages like ‘love’, ‘peace’ and ‘Merry Christmas’.
This tradition evolved because ‘Christmas Eve’ translates into Mandarin as “ping’an ye”, which means ‘peaceful night’. The Mandarin Chinese word for apple is pronounced as ‘ping guo’, which sounds similar to ‘peace’. The Chinese love their homophones, and therefore the locals say that eating an apple will bless you with a safe and peaceful year ahead.
And less inflation.