TANSTAAFL

Fans of the late Robert Heinlein easily recognize this acronym. The Wikipedia entry best describes it:

TANSTAAFL is an acronym for the adage "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which discusses the problems caused by not considering the eventual outcome of an unbalanced economy. This phrase and book are popular with libertarians and the phrase is often seen in economics textbooks. In order to avoid a double negative, the acronym "TINSTAAFL" is sometimes used instead, meaning "There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch".

It 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."

That having been said, there is so such a thing, at least in the schools, as a free lunch. And some of us really need it.

This entry was posted back in July and focused on the problem of what to do about free school lunches where there's no school.

It was only a few days ago that this comment was posted to that entry: Last year I received reduced lunch, family of 4, made 35k. This year I was over the income by $900. family of 4/40k a year, (so much for that raise lol) My stepson came home and asked me if we received it this year, I said no that I was 900 bucks over the limit, his response " oh most my parent's family lied to get it". I Im not angry that I didn't get it because the federal government considers me above need now, I realize cut offs need to be set somewhere but do they even audit this program; I still would choose not to lie but it was tempting. I do live in morrisville, pa. not just a random lurker!! a lurker nonetheless though. One thing of note to others, LIHEAP raised thier income limits to 44k for family of four for this upcoming season, last year it was set at 31k for family of four. That is quite an amazing jump.

As we approach Thanksgiving, the classic opportunity for us to over-indulge, let's refocus our thinking. Yes, costs for EVERYTHING have risen and it always seems like there's a lot more week left at the end of the weekly paycheck. It's hitting you pretty hard.

Cut your income in half or more, and then try to make it stretch.

I'll say it again: Check out Philabundance.org. And don't forget there's free lunch students in Morrisville too. Not sure where to start? There's always the Morrisville Presbyterian Church food bank.