Ramlings on Money

Picture from a bicycle trip cooking fresh pasta and meat sauce on a fire (probably illegal fire) we had when we were camping (possibly also illegal) in a forest near the Harz mountains. Notice good food, shoes I have worn almost every day for 2 years, and quality army cookware.

Todays ramblings will be largely based around money. I have recently been talking a lot about money for some reason (probably because Europeans keep bringing it up and I am taking a development economics class). This post will wander around quality, prioritizing, and ideology.

Since I am probably only staying in German for about 4 more months, I am trying not to accumulate much stuff which has led to me joining the trend of buying cheap things that I don’t care about like everyone always does. So I bought a 1 Euro cheese grater that has already broken. I hate that and am very frustrated that I allowed myself to have an excuse to buy something cheap when I knew the quality was poor. I had a very interesting conversation with a French guy studying agriculture here about food quality. He said that in France there was still a market for boutique cheeses made by small farmers in the country and that was one thing that he really missed about France. He went on to say that Italians really have the best food quality and will not just buy what is cheapest on the shelf. Every time that I bring food to a party to share, I get asked how expensive it was. It is hard to have a conversation with anyone about it when they buy what is cheapest as their only decision.

Last night, I was repeatedly told how unglaublig (unbelievable) it is that we can get drivers licenses for so cheap. In Germany driving classes and license fees and everything are about 1500 Euros. I have heard similar numbers from Swedish people. They said that it would be cheaper to fly to America, get a drivers license and fly back (obviously not actually possible). I countered by saying that, that was exactly what I was doing for my Masters program. I went to one of the cheapest schools in California at 7000 Euros per year. I am paying 700 Euros per semester here (half as much on rent, no car) and everyone complains that Goettingen is way more expensive than the other schools in Germany. Even with my flights, school is much cheaper than getting a Masters in the US (obviously ignoring RA’s and all sorts of complicating factors). But this shows what our governments find is important to spend their money on. In Germany we have more of a socialist system where expensive things are taxed (cars, gas) and important things are subsidized (education, health care). I have to believe that America is on the wrong side of this financial equation.

I have found that I am happiest when I make money as small of a factor as possible in my decisions. Obviously it takes a certain amount of capital to be able to think beyond immediate needs, and I am very lucky. But when making decision based purely on quality, I think that I end up eating healthy food, wearing the same shoes for years, and rarely buying the most expensive things. Over the long run, I think that this decision making is cheaper. I will continue to develop this thought, it is not yet complete.

I want to write about this in relation to buying a farm and living on the land where I could make and eat really high quality food, but I think this is long enough. Maybe later.