We've been conditioned to think and believe the world is limited. Everything is limited, that's why they come with a price. And the higher the demand is for something, the higher the price. Fair enough. For the rest of this post, I will attempt to show you how 'unlimited' this world actually is.
Diversity
We live in a diverse world, which many may agree is the main reason the world has never seen a single decade of peace. People kill people simply because their ideologies do not tally. But diversity is present for a reason. Let's not look far, and keep the experiment simple. Take for example:
Specimen A
30 year old male, corporate employee. Trades his life for silly amounts of money, with an optimistic vision that one day he'll be able to make it big in the industry. Lives in KL, probably the most status-driven city in the country ( I say probably because I'm just assuming. If Penang is better so be it). Being a status-driven city, everyone wants a BMW M3 and those wooden LV cuff link collections. Does Happy Hour after work actually to avoid bad rush hour traffic, but ends up being a very expensive habit. But it's okay, because that way he can 'socialize' with his managers and that's good for his career.
Specimen B
35 year old male, doctor. Also trades his life for even sillier amounts of money, also an optimist. But this optimist finds peace in healthy kids in rural undeveloped worlds. He loves trekking and living in the wild when he's free, and is an avid waterfall hunter. He also believes in the preservation of nature's virginity, so he'll never divulge any undiscovered trails to anyone else, especially those 4x4 morons. He drools over MSR 4-season tents and Vibram Gore Tex boots, and drives a 20 year old 5.5l Turbo Charged Land Rover because an M3 can't go up off road slopes.
Both these people are considered professionals, heavily invested on proper education. Yet when they emerge eligible to the working class, they choose ways to best fit their career into their preferred lifestyles. How many people with RM 10 Mil in their pocket would actually go up to Next Cars now and drive themselves out a Gallardo? How many people would even think about owning a yatch? Sure these things are 'Nice To Haves' but when you'd actually put your list of Goals out, would any of these items be in it? I would also now tell you that 20% of the people reading this ( which is not a lot, I admit) will say 'Yes! I want to own a Gallardo!' Others say 'I'd rather go travel the world' or 'I prefer the fun of gambling them off'.
The point is, everyone is made and raised differently so not everyone will want the same thing. Some see cars as the ultimate form of fun (like me) while others can't seem to be able to find any purpose than driving them to and from work or Jusco. Diversity in the world creates balance. Some like Vanilla Ice-creams while others like Chocolate. They're the reason there's enough iPhones to go around.
Multiplier Effect
When your best friend opened up his new restaurant one day, you brought all your friends over to pay a visit. You say you're all being good friends by supporting. When it's time to pay, you ask for a 'special' discount. What part of support is asking for a stupid discount? Isn't supporting supposed to be paying the full amount?
One client asked me to sell his house, and told me he usually pay less than 1 % Commission (note: market commission rate for Real Estate Agents are 3%) because agents work very little and earn way too much. He was also quite proud of himself when he told me that. How would he know I work very little? Everyone tries their best to pay the least for everything they want, to a point where people actually take pride on their sly bargaining skills. I say it's cow shit. Fine, Bali markets are cut throat mongers. And Chinese businessmen are not famous for being honest. But those guys are all idiots.
In Economics, there's a term called the Multiplier Effect. For those not familiar, you haven't done what I told you to do: Go Borders and buy 'Business for Dummies'.
Imagine if everyone would do one similar thing when they receive money:
Spend 80%, Save 20%
John gets RM1000 selling cakes. He spends RM 800 and Saves RM 200
John buy Shirts from Shawn for RM 500 and Toiletries from Jane for RM 300
Shawn spends RM 400 and saves RM 100
Shawn buys an MP3 player for RM 400 from Sam
Jane spends RM 240 and saves RM 60
Jane buys birthday cakes from John for RM 100 and other food for RM 140 from John
Sam spends RM 320 and saves RM 80
Sam buys bread from John for RM 200 and Shirts from Shawn for RM 120
Shawn spends RM 96 and saves RM 24
Shawn buys cakes from John for RM 96
Lets stop here, and take your time to slowly analyze the situation above. Trade among 4 people, selling mostly commodities has transformed John's initial RM 1000 to RM 3680 where RM 3216 were spent and RM 464 saved. Take away the initial RM 1000 for any reasons you see fit, and we see RM 2216 still free to roam the open market, and still growing after each trade. I know, it's controlled environment and it's too ideal and bla bla bla. But if the essence is there, chances are real world situations would not fall very far from it. And yes, the RM 3216 did not go back to him. But RM 464 went to the bank, and that's the money he'll use if he ever takes out a loan for expansion. And Shawn, Sam and Jane did buy cakes from John using the money initially used by John himself. Imagine now the world trades Trillions of Dollars a year.
The point of this little experiment is to prove that if you let loose your guards on how much other people earn by your cost of buying something, you'll also be sure that these money lost to over-priced items will come back to you in other forms and from someone else entirely. So long as there's no government intervention involved, the money will circulate all around and eventually return to you. Because you reap more than you sow.
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