The Economics of Half Past Two: Consumer Theory and "It's About Time": Part I

Oh hi, internet, Patrick here!

As you may have read last week, we here at Half Past Two have decided to step up the blogging duties...a lot. In fact, you will be hearing from each of us once a day, everyday of the week. And I'm your man for Saturday, so let's get to it!

Now as much as I appreciate everyone else's blog entries, (Bhakti's July 30 entry comes to mind) what have we accomplished through all this blogging? How is this veritable goldmine of musical-cyber-tiddlybits known as a "blog" really benefiting the world?

Glad you asked, because today I am going to tell you how YOU can improve the state of the US Economy in One Easy Step:

1) Buy the Half Past Two album, "It's About Time"

Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "Self, how in the hell is buying a CD going to possibly help us out of this economic mess we have created, and even if it COULD, why is Half Past Two so darn special?!"

Once again, I'm glad you asked. Without any further ado I present to you, the internet:

"The Economics of Half Past Two: Consumer Theory and 'It's About Time'"
by Patrick Holder

Now the first, and many would argue, most important Macroeconomic implication of Consumer Theory is how the Marginal Propensity to Consume affects the aggregate wealth of a nation. Though it may seem contradictory to assert that spendthrift nations have greater aggregate wealth, the higher MPCs for many nations result in higher aggregate demand, and thus lower inflation and unemployment rates, and provide a stronger push towards technological innovation on the supply side of things.

But what in the world does any of this have to do with Half Past Two? Well, countless studies have shown that middle class consumers in the age range of HP2 members typically have the highest MPCs, meaning that every dollar you put into the pockets of Half Past Two is going to work much harder to bolster our economy than those hot-shot major label bands, who consume at far more conservative percentages than us folks. Secondarily, unlike CDs you buy in those pesky stores, Half Past Two album sales are completely under the table, and are, thus, completely tax free, raising our consumption multiplier by another 8% or so.

For the next element of our discussion, we will have to recall the lessons of the late great David Ricardo, and his revolutionary developments in the theory of Absolute and Comparative Advantage. Now, many musicians are multitalented, dabbling into fields far outside of music and still making impressive achievements. Brian Eno, for instance, is not only a musician, but a visual artist, speaker, and businessman, and has been fairly successful in all these endeavors. Not so with us Half Past Twos!! Seriously, have you ever seen David try to draw something? I have (ah "Barreling Along" album art). It's painful. Outside of our musical element, we are the most talentless folks you'd ever meet. But, and this is important, we are MASTERS of our musical realm. We're talking unheard of levels of Absolute Advantage. That Bhakti kid alone can shred on more musical instruments than I can name. If David Ricardo has taught us anything, all of society has benefits to reap from the awesome Comparative Advantage of our employment in music.

Now at this point I know you're all saying to yourselves, "But Patrick! The Ricardian Model assumes perfect competition, and doesn't take into account competitive monopolies, such as yourselves!!" And this is a very valid point. Unfortunately, my response, and the exciting conclusion to this analysis will have to wait 'til next week, as I'm out of time.

I'm sure you all THOROUGHLY enjoyed the time we have spent together, and closely followed along with every word. So be sure to come back next week for "The Economics of Half Past Two: Consumer Theory and 'It's About Time': Part II"; same bat-time same bat-channel.

Seeya kids,
Patrick