Please Wear Me When I'm Dead

When I die, I want all of my friends and family to wear some of my incinerated remains. Wear me however you like, but may I suggest depositing some of my ashes in a small pendant and wearing the pendant around your neck? I know that you'll miss me, but this will keep me close forever. You may be thinking that the $595 price tag is not exactly cheap, but ask yourself one question: can you put a price on love?

I wish I knew who thought of this lovely idea, because I'd like to shake his or her hand. How precious!

Is a Country a Company?

A few days ago I listened to a Marketplace news item about France, its tax rate, and how its tax rate is influencing the behavior of its wealthy. To summarize: France has a "wealth tax" of 60%, while neighboring countries have either lowered or eliminated their wealth taxes. About two wealthy French people per day are immigrating to lower tax countries, which has cost the French government about 30 billion USD over the past decade. Meanwhile, lowering or eliminating the wealth tax is politically unpopular among the less wealthy French voters.

Since hearing that story, I've been thinking more about immigration. If immigrants shop for countries in a way similar to the way customers shop for merchandise, is a country like a company? Are there other similarities between the two? I'll be thinking about this more, but I'm pretty sure that this "country shopping" trend is going to become more common as more people become globally mobile. As the world moves toward speaking one common language and economic ties between countries become more numerous and vital to prosperity, immigration will become easier and easier. Then, even more so than now, countries like France will have to adapt to this new marketplace or become less prosperous.

If you’re interested in the Marketplace story, you can listen to it or read a transcript (listening to it is more fun).