Economics is about relationships. The first kind of economy was a gift economy. Our primitive ancestors gave each other gifts to initiate, maintain, and repair relationships. We still do this today, especially on our holy days: Christmas, Halloween, birthdays. We deliver stuffed animals to children affected by natural disasters. In the ancestral environment the day-to-day survival of our predecessors depended on their relationships with their fellows in the small groups of hunters and gatherers who populated the land. Giving gifts helps us to feel a sense of belonging to a group. Sometimes working men say, "I work for a living! Nobody ever gave me nothing!" But a child will not survive infancy without someone feeding and taking care of them. All of us give and receive gifts of infinite worth.
The story is that the United States is the "Land of Opportunity," where you can make it big if you work hard. I don't think that means you have to make it all by yourself. Sometimes it's interpreted as, if you don't make it, it's all your fault. It's your responsibility if you make it or not, but we're all in circumstances beyond our control. It's okay to help people, giving them gifts with no strings attached, and to accept help.
Our moral reasoning these days includes the idea of balance, like balancing the books. "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch," etc. You pay as you go. Fairness is returning good for good, bad for bad. Under the gift metaphor though fairness is equality of distribution. Everybody gets some. It's a different logic, but it's more instinctive, not recently developed like the market.
Pizza to share
