jungle

The phrase and the acronym are central to Robert Heinlein's 1966 libertarian science fiction novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which popularized it.[2][3] The free-market economist Milton Friedman also popularized the phrase[1] by using it as the title of a 1975 book, and it often appears in economics textbooks;[4] Campbell McConnell writes that the idea is "at the core of economics".[5]

[edit] History and usage
[edit] "Free lunch"
The "free lunch" referred to in the acronym relates back to the once-common tradition of saloons in the United States providing a "free" lunch to patrons who had purchased at least one drink. Rudyard Kipling, writing in 1891, noted how he came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures, in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter.

“It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts.″[6]

TANSTAAFL, on the other hand, indicates an acknowledgment that in reality a person or a society cannot get "something for nothing". Even if something appears to be free, there is always a cost to the person or to society as a whole even though that cost may be hidden or distributed. For example, as Heinlein has one of his characters point out, a bar offering a free lunch will likely charge more for its drinks.[7]

[edit] Early uses

TANSTAAFL: a plan for a new economic world order. (Pierre Dos Utt, 1949)According to Robert Caro, Fiorello La Guardia, on becoming mayor of New York in 1934, said "È finita la cuccagna!", meaning "No more free lunch"; in this context "free lunch" refers to graft and corruption.[1] The earliest known occurrence of the full phrase, in the form "There ain’t no such thing as free lunch", appears as the punchline of a joke related in an article in the El Paso Herald-Post of June 27, 1938, entitled "Economics in Eight Words".[8] In 1945 "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" appeared in the Columbia Law Review, and "there is no free lunch" appeared in a 1942 article in the Oelwein Daily Register (in a quote attributed to economist Harley L. Lutz) and in a 1947 column by economist Merryle S. Rukeyser.[2][9] In 1949 the phrase appeared in an article by Walter Morrow in the San Francisco News (published on 1 June) and in Pierre Dos Utt's monograph, "TANSTAAFL: a plan for a new economic world order",[10] which describes an oligarchic political system based on his conclusions from "no free lunch" principles.

The 1938 and 1949 sources use the phrase in relating a fable about a king (Nebuchadrezzar in Dos Utt's retelling) seeking advice from his economic advisors. Morrow's retelling, which claims to derive from an earlier editorial reported to be non-existent,[11] but closely follows the story as related in the earlier article in the El Paso Herald-Post, differs from Dos Utt's in that the ruler asks for ever-simplified advice following their original "eighty-seven volumes of six hundred pages" as opposed to a simple failure to agree on "any major remedy". The last surviving economist advises that "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".

In 1950, a New York Times columnist ascribed the phrase to economist (and Army General) Leonard P. Ayres of the Cleveland Trust Company. "It seems that shortly before the General's death [in 1946]... a group of reporters approached the general with the request that perhaps he might give them one of several immutable economic truisms that he gathered from long years of economic study... 'It is an immutable economic fact,' said the general, 'that there is no such thing as a free lunch.'"[12]

[edit] Meanings
TANSTAAFL demonstrates opportunity cost. Greg Mankiw described the concept as: "To get one thing that we like, we usually have to give up another thing that we like. Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another."[13] The idea that there is no free lunch at the societal level applies only when all resources are being used completely and appropriately, i.e., when economic efficiency prevails. If not, a 'free lunch' can be had through a more efficient utilisation of resources. If one individual or group gets something at no cost, somebody else ends up paying for it. If there appears to be no direct cost to any single individual, there is a social cost. Similarly, someone can benefit for "free" from an externality or from a public good, but someone has to pay the cost of producing these benefits.

In the sciences, TANSTAAFL means that the universe as a whole is ultimately a closed system—there is no magic source of matter, energy, light, or indeed lunch, that does not draw resources from something else, and will not eventually be exhausted. Therefore the TANSTAAFL argument may also be applied to natural physical processes in a closed system (either the universe as a whole, or any system that does not receive energy or matter from outside). (See Second law of thermodynamics.)

In mathematical finance, the term is also used as an informal synonym for the principle of no-arbitrage. This principle states that a combination of securities that has the same cash flows as another security must have the same net price.

TANSTAAFL is sometimes used as a response to claims of the virtues of free software. Supporters of free software often counter that the use of the term "free" in this context is primarily a reference to a lack of constraint ("libre") rather than a lack of cost ("gratis"). Richard Stallman has described it as "free as in speech not as in beer".

The prefix "TANSTAA-" is used in numerous other contexts as well to denote some immutable property of the system being discussed. For example, "TANSTAANFS" is used by Electrical Engineering professors to stand for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Noise Free System".
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Winged Wheeler

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

An armed society is a polite society.

A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.

Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.

Always store beer in a dark place.

Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.

Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.

Never attempt to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

etc........

alarkyokie

Rhymes with FROOMB...
"..no one calculated that John Brunt had been sent on the last exploration left to man -- an escape into the future. Not even John Brunt could have known the implications of such a terrifying journey until he found himself in the world beyond the present."

Internet Book List :: Book Information: Froomb!

III Corps

A long post to essentially the wrong people. I doubt this forum is representative of that segment of the country that believes money just happens and comes FROM the government; that they are ENTITLED to it; and it is the RIGHT thing to do.

The 'moocher class' believes there is a free lunch. The same ones that believe 'buy 3 tires, get one free' and 'a free gift with paid subscription'.

jungle

Not really that long, just an amusing history of the origins of an expression, but of course, I am easily amused. History, human nature and the evolution of human interaction form a rich field of things worth examining more closely. Everything is there, from the tragic to the comic and it can be a source of both awe and disgust. Happy reading!
Long would be something like 3,000 pages that nobody actually reads.

I just like to watch the rise and decline, the turn of the tides and the stars burning hydrogen far above our tiny struggle.

Sometimes it is useful to step away from the noise and examine ideas.
To turn them over in your hand like a finely machined part, to marvel at the fit and finish, the design and material. To realize it is the physical manifestation of ideas. And like parts, it becomes obvious that some ideas and their physical manifestations are of much higher quality than others.

FDXLAG

It may not be representative of this forum but it may be representative of this forums representatives.

Air Line Pilots Assn | OpenSecrets

jungle

Dog Food: Premium Purina® ALPO® Brand Dog Food






PAC Lookup
NO matches found for "independent pilots association"

III Corps

A good friend recently said, "Just remember, entitlements and benefits are the addictive narcotics of politics." If you notice, the freebies come early just like from the pusher-man. The pain and higher costs come after addiction. And few kick the habit (or repeal access) once addicted.

III Corps

This is an ALPA forum?

Nortonious

Now that I grok.