Productive and Unproductive

Let's talk economics!

1a. You and your best friend go out in your car toward London Drugs, to be productive (consumers). A guy has just come from a shopping spree at the liquor store (Productive), and has been sampling from a bottle in a paper bag. Wham! He smashes into your car, your friend is killed, you end up a quadriplegic. Productive!

1b. You go on your bikes with your lover to a little-known park on a sunny day. Birds singing, sun warm. You stop to eat blackberries. You have a great talk about your childhoods, end up making love, and leave the place in a state of deep serenity. UNproductive.

2a. In a snarky mood, you torch your neighbour's house. She loses everything-- family photos-- everything. She is carried out, alive but crispy. Productive!

2b. You remove a fence, share garden with your neighbour. You harvest it together and have friends over for a feast. Good talk, good food. UNproductive.

3a. You talk someone out of suicide. They are inspired, and go volunteer at a hospice, make life better for the dying. UNproductive.

3b. You rape and kill 11 children or more. Lead cops and media a merry chase for years. Productive!

4a. You grow organic garlic. Give some as a gift to your neighbour who has cancer. He is cured over a period of a year. UNproductive.

4b. You work for Philip Morris-- 300,000 deaths a year in US: Productive!

5a. You sit by the Hudson river and remember old songs, you dream of a better world. UNproductive.

5b. You hijack a jet airliner, slit throats with an X-acto knife, and plow into a tall building, causing 3000 deaths. Tremendously productive!

So goes, fellow humans, the economic measure.