 Last time on Common Sense Soapbox, Bob to the Future! Well, I'm still confused and I don't like it. You're in luck. Someone here can explain it better than me. Hooray! Where are we? In the Great Hall of Economics. In this room you can hear a lecture from economists throughout history. My favorite is this economics caveman. Not to hear a lecture from him. That's an option too. Just another example of subjective value in action. How would pay money to hear your friend talk whereas you and a few YouTube commenters would pay money not to hear him? What is this subjective value? It just means that everyone values stuff differently. You know when we talked about scarcity and how we still need money to figure out what people value? Yeah? Well, that's because we only really know what stuff is worth when buyers and sellers agree on a price. What? That's ridiculous! Isn't value based on how much work something takes to make or how badly we need it? Well, that's all certainly part of it. We all take a lot of that into account before we agree to any kind of economic exchange. The seller thinks about how much work their product took to make and the buyer thinks about how much they really want to have it. Aha! I told you! But the value of goods and services isn't actually determined by the labor that goes into making them. Uh, aren't you contradicting yourself? Well, no. Here, listen to the guy who figured this out in the first place. Eh, I don't get it. Here's a few tokens. I'm sure one of these guys can help. Did you figure it out yet? I may or may not have decided to buy Pepper Jack cheese balls instead. Oh, I don't think they have those in that machine. Ah! What a cruel and dystopian future! I guess I'll just have to go with the black pepper cheese balls instead. They don't have those either. Ugh! Well, I'm not eating zest mix. I'll hold onto these for later. I'm sorry you didn't find something you wanted, but it is just another example of subjective value. When we're thinking about buying something, we're always choosing based on available options, not infinite options. So we have to rank our preferences, and our preferences are going to affect the price we're willing to pay. And the less I want something, the less I'm willing to pay for it, right? Exactly. Which is why you flat out refused to buy the zest mix. Tacos for sale! Get your tacos here! Step right up, folks! Oh, hey, Roberto! Oh, hello, Charlie. Tacos? You have tacos? I would pay $300 for a taco right now! Well, you're in luck, my good sir. Each taco is just 50 cents. Ah, get that card away! I never want to see another taco again! So just to be clear, you wouldn't pay $300 for one now. No way! See, even the amount of money you were willing to pay for a taco changed in just a matter of moments. You place a totally different value on the tacos now than you did when you were hungry. True. Now imagine what happens when millions of people are making the same choices every day. The economic value of different goods and services is constantly changing all the time. Yeah, I guess monetary value is subjective after all. Yep, and that's also why it's impossible for people to effectively plan the economy. Fair enough. Speaking of planning, Roberto, any plans to open a restaurant? Those tacos were amazing! I would love to, but I don't have the capital right now. Capital, huh? I thought you said government wasn't telling people what to do anymore. Not that capital. Capital, money, and resources used in the production of economic goods. If you're looking for investors, I've got some money saved. Let's talk. Will Charlie give her money to this strange taco dealer? Will Bob finally learn something about economics? What is all this capital business? Like, share, and subscribe to find out on the next exciting episode of Common Sense Soapbox. Bob to the future!