We are all consumers. If we stop consuming, we die within days. But some of us are more conumption oriented, and some more production oriented. Would you rather use your free time blogging, building a table, or writing a poem or a computer program, or watching TV, going to a movie, eating, or shopping?

Not to cast my net too wide and claim that this is true of everyone, but my observations suggest that consumption oriented individuals tend to get bored more easily. When a producer encounters silence, they feel liberated and enabled to invent. When a consumer produces silence, they cast about for another tap to turn on--for another source of entertainment to inject into themselves to fill the gap.

Shifting gears a little, some business people are producers, and some are distributors. Among the distributors, there are those that are productive, like stores that sell products manufactured by a variety of producers. The productivity of others is much more questionable. Do day traders benefit the economy in any way? I suppose they keep the markets more active for longer term investors when the time to buy or sell arrives. But I have developed a bit of a distaste for day traders. Certainly their contribution to the GNP would be higher if they were doing work that actually produced something.

Then there's gambling. I'm not sure whether it's a step below day trading or whether day trading is just gambling. Is a day trader who consistently "wins" just a skilled gambler taking advantage of all the newbies? I can't help but wonder whether the something-for-nothing get-rich-quick attitude of those who heed the pull of gambling might have some connection to the consumption-oriented mentality. If someone wants to give me a bunch of money for nothing, I won't stop them, but I'm not going to waste time that could be used producing trying to sucker someone into doing so. Money is a necessity. Production is fun.