Originally Posted by
samsonlonghair
You might buy it if you need it, or if you think you need it. You might pay several times more than what it costs to preoduce the item, especially in a tightly controlled market.
For instance, some people really love birds. Such a person might convince herself that she "needs" a parrot after seeing one in a pet store. After deciding what kind of parrot she wants, she shops around and finds that the lowest price available is a few hundred dollars. She pays this amount for a young parrot whose feathers have not fully come in yet. After taking home the bird she can't figure out why he keeps on singing spanish lullabies.
The distributor who sold that parrot to the pet store goes to the Costa Rican Rain forest every year. In the Spring time the native people who still live in the forest (yes, they're still there) climb trees and snatch baby birds from the nests. These hatchling are taken home and the women of the tribe take care of the birds along with the children, often singing them lullabies in Spanish and Portuguese. When the distributor comes in the Fall he trades for the young birds. The native people can recieve a knife, a bell, or even a cord of fabric for each bird.
The distributor then takes the birds back to the US. He slips the customs agent a hundred dollar bill, and sells each bird for three hundred to seven hundred dollards. The woman who bought that bird had no idea that her bird only cost the distributor a twelve dollar knife. If she ever found out she wouldn't consider it equivalent anymore.
Reply With Quote