There are a host of myths about Christmas---as well as anti-myths. There is a myth, particularly around this website that evil forces are not attempting to take Christ out of Christmas---when it is perfectly clear they are. Thus the anti-myth must be reinforced by Christians, particularly around North Dallas mega churches. Cops who control mega traffic for Christmas service goers are stopping drivers and motioning for them to roll down their windows and take a bumper sticker--Don't let them steal Christmas!. I was pulled over to the curb, a Cop asked me about my bumper sticker---which reads, I reject the myth that they are not trying to steal Christmas. 

After explaining my bumper message and that I was on his side, the Cop let me off with just a warning for driving in Texas with a Ver'mont license. Arriving late at Target I encountered another Christmas myth. It seems that even though wealthy folks haven't gotten another tax cut for a couple of years, the parking lot is full of cars and the store is jammed with last minute shoppers. Not many of them appear to be wealthy, judging from their purchases---a $10 dollar outfit for a five year old, an aluminum skillet for $9.99 and wow, a $25 gift certificate, probably for Grandpa. 

For a change all thirty check out lanes had cashiers in them when normally only about three lanes are open. Seems that even without more tax cuts for the wealthy this year, the average person is out shopping and the store has employed more people. Some liberal economists refer to this phenomenon as aggregate demand---a concept in direct opposition to the Conservative view that stock brokers and Target executives must first get some extra Christmas dough in their pockets before a $8 an hour part time employee at McDonalds will venture out to buy a new skillet. Aggregate demand in late December is a Christmas myth which will be debunked both at mega churches and by the wealthy on the last day of stock trading before celebrating the birth of Jesus. 

Uncle Al is coming to dinner later today and I will be faced with the typical Christmas dinner myths about economics but I have been working on an anti-myth. He will start in on me with something like,

"All these taxes are killing job creators like me. I'm just not going to hire anyone till they stop raising my taxes"

I say, "I believe in free enterprise and competition"

Al says, "Right on"

I say, "That's why I'm going to clean your clock next year (we both have small businesses in the same industry).

Al says, "What do you mean by that?"

I say, "I can make more money cleaning your clock than arguing about a few extra dollars of taxes."

"That ain't too friendly, here at Christmas.", he's getting a little red at the collar.

I say, "Sorry, Al, while you're sitting on your hands complaining I'm going to hire a new salesmen and try to get some of your custormers."

Al says, "I might just throw a brick through your store window"

I say, "Well, Al, that proves you won't just sit on your hands if you have a few extra dollars of taxes to pay."

Al will never stop believing the myth that job creators will simply sit on their hands if they have their taxes raised but I can assure you that if one of his customers tells him my new salesman has been snooping around, he will spend whatever it takes to shore up that customer---a lost customer is about one hundred times more costly than a tax increase.

On the way back from Target I bought $100 in scratchers and passed them out at the McDonalds where I have oatmeal every morning. There is a Christmas myth against gambling but they had a great time dividing them up and one woman got $10 and you would have thought it was a million. I get a kick out of it, and they look surprised that anyone might have thought of them. I did this last year and can attest to the fact that there is no moral hazard in giving a McDonalds' crew $100 worth of scratchers, although the stock brokers and traders will maintain the myth of moral hazard for low wage workers.

On the way back home I heard on Bloomberg radio that the trading day would be quiet because the brokers and traders would all have been gone by now, "They're already on the slopes and at the beaches". Most likely when they return home, get their bonuses, perhaps get a tax break next years, things will pick up and the myth of wealthy job  creators will be perpetuated for another 12 months.