OK, some points of business. Why the Chinese? In this case, I had to go with the numbers, there are a billion people in China, and while not all of them are literate in what we call the Chinese language, (there are many languages and dialects spoken in China; Languages like Uighur, Tibetan, Mongol, Kazakh, and dialects like; Shanghai, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Min-nan, Hakka, etc.) I have to do this in the interest of readership, it's simply a practical matter. Why the title? Big Happiness in the Yellow Village? When I lived in China the name of my city was 黄村，which means Yellow village, the county was 大兴, which means, you guessed it "Big Happiness". I think this kind of edgy symbolism is what my billions of worldwide readers are looking for. I am sorry that I haven't written lately but I have been extremely busy with this Economics class that I have been taking. As an update, I am still unemployed but I have decided to go back to school full time and study Accounting. This seems like the opposite of what I was doing before which was East Asian studies. I decided that I should develop a skill that people would be willing to pay me for. In the last month I have become an expert in Economics because I have been taking classes online and they are really concentrated. So it turns out that in this last month I know more than Alan Greenspan. Which leads me to today's post.
Black Market Economics 101
You may ask yourself how street drug addicts can support their drug habits. There is no simple answer. They must find an alternate way of being productive. The good news is that the sleazy underbelly of society is often a sellers market full of opportunities for the enterprising denizen of the transient world. I am thinking of one market in particular that is quite productive. If I were to tell you that you can take a certain leafy green vegetable matter, put it into a plastic bag and re-sell it for at least a 500% profit what would you think? I am telling you that this is a reality. What am I talking about? Well, it starts with an 'M'. You guessed it, I'm talking about Mistletoe. What is mistletoe you ask? Despite the fact that I have often profited off sale of this comodity, I am not quite sure. It has something to do with one of the most popular holidays in the occidental world. Christmas, honors the birth of the Lord and Savior of mankind. Many scholars point out, that Jesus Christ was actually born in the summer but the tradition remains to celebrate his birth on December 25th. I have been a Christian my entire life and have participated in roughly (exactly) 47 Christmases, so I consider myself somewhat of an expert on this custom. I have never seen nor visited the residence of any christial who actually uses mistletoe as part of their holiday decor. Nevertheless, it appears to be an important part of the cultural lore surrounding this holiday. Singer Burl Ives, known for his rendition of the "frosty the snowman" theme, among other holiday classics, is a prominant propogandist for mistletoe. In his hit, "Holly Jolly Christmas" mentions mistletoe on two ocasions. According to the theory, mistletoe is normally suspended above the heads of revelers and is believed to justify random kissing of apropiate partners who happen to come in proximity of another and both are within the accepted range of this decoration. This seems problematic from a legal perspective but I have been assured that it is still practiced with reasonable levels of goodwill on the part of participants. Botanists have explained to me that mistletoe is a cancerous growth in trees and has little intrinsic value. For this reason, we do not see farming of mistletoe the way we do with evergreen trees. When I lived on the streets, I stayed in a Christmas tree lot and mistletoe was available to be distributed by holiday minded entrepreneurs. Usually placed in a plastic bag and with appropriate ribbons, we have one of the most spectacular marketing success stories. This business is not without it's pitfalls. Mistletoe has a shelf life of aproximately, the month of December. But during this brief period in the Roman calendar, this poisonous weed is transformed into one of the most profitable of botanical merchandise.
