Broken Window

Derek Thomson blogs at The Atlantic, and this post got picked up by Andrew Sullivan.  It is a rough breakdown profiling the average male consumer, based on a variety of sources comparing the size of various industry sectors.  The part that got my goat was when he said 'Buying a $2 bottle of water in a cafe doesn't seem much, but it contributes $15B to the economy.'

Bottles are a contribution.  Water is a contribution.  Bottling water for sale from locations with potable tap water (which is often not accessible to the customer to increase sales) is not a contribution.  It is a parisitism.  A $15B chunk of the economy that is taking time from workers at all levels, money from consumers and creating work for garbage men that works through advertising and restrictive mall contracts so that people have to buy disposable bottles of water instead of filling from the tap.  (Water, though, is probably the least undeserving cold drink available.  I have no blessing for you, Coke.)

Calling this a contribution is falling prey to the Broken Windows Fallacy.  There is a lot of the economy that doesn't pass this test. We are slapping each other on the back for wasting each others time, because we think calling it work and getting paid dignifies it.  It doesn't help prostitutes and it doesn't help you.