Price

Before money was invented we used a system called barter trade. There wasn't a standardized medium of exchange so we will directly exchange goods or services. You had to have something that I wanted and likewise myself.

Over time we invented better ways of exchanging: livestock, grains, shells, beads, gold, and other valuable items. Then, we evolved into the use of coins and paper money. But, as we became smarter and better educated, we invented really complex financial systems.

Speaking on one of these complex financial systems, Milton Friedman made me understand that when you have a limited quantity of something, one of the ways to regulate how much access and demand people have for it is with the pricing system. He posits that prices serve as guideposts to where resources (or items) are wanted most. This he calls Factor Pricing. The idea that came to my mind when thinking about the subject was that everyone could demand and have access to the same resources, but because these resources are finite, it would be impossible for everyone to have possession of them. As such, there is a pricing system to determine who actually wants these resources the most, because they are the ones, we assume, that will be able to afford to pay for the resources. Forget about luck and happenstance, there are not enough mansions and jet planes (and good men and women) for all of us. If you want it, there's a considerate or often unreasonable price to pay. The inequality in the society is not a coincidence.

On the other hand, there's an order or communal lifestyle we might want to keep a society on, we will fixate certain resources on a standard, using the pricing system. Friedman calls this Product Pricing. For example, certain professions have a standard remuneration price employers should pay. (The corporate parlance should be called pay range.) This pricing system sustains a lifestyle among the people of a society who are under such a pricing system: for every dominant profession in a society is a prevailing lifestyle. I know, it's a complex system.

Another reason for the pricing system is to distribute a resource. Ever wondered why certain resources of lower prices are often in high demand, purchased lavishly, and often ubiquitous in ownership? The pricing system makes it so. I would use this analogy for professions, jobs, and lives that are easily democratized in society. The price to reach such a threshold is not much, and it's highly seductive to settle for what you predominantly find available. We are humans!

Here's my point: Everything has a price. The good life, the average life, the extraordinary life; the good wo/man, the cheap wo/man, the great wo/man. the good friendship, the mere friendship, the great friendship. And frankly, none is evil, it all depends on your taste. See you later.