I normally wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning. Yesterday was no different, except the television was already on, showing a bunch of fancy-dressed-folks going into an ornate cathedral in London. More importantly, there was tens of thousands of people outside cheering wildly, which is not the same thing as working hard.
British economists have already estimated the lost productivity (or the cost of work NOT done) yesterday was between $2.5 billion and $10 billion. In other words, austerity-plagued Britain would have increased their GDP by that amount, if not for some wedding.
Of course, that is just the island of Britain. I'm confident the other two BILLION people who watched it worldwide were not contributing much to their respective GDP either.
So, was it a waste of money? Probably not . . . no more than having weekends off or taking a nap. Time off is necessary to re-charge batteries. So is silliness. Unlike the U.S., the U.K. has already started embracing the austerity necessary to restore their financial health. Things have been pretty glum for some time in England. It was only a month ago that people were rioting in the street over the austerity reforms. I think the Brits deserve something uplifting and suspect this was good for them.
Now, they need to get back to work . . . so do we!
