Our Budget Deficit Sweet Tooth
George Eliot’s short story “Brother Jacob” begins with a warning about the danger of the desire to be a provider of sweets.
“Among the many fatalities attending the bloom of young desire, that of blindly taking to the confectionery line has not, perhaps, been sufficiently considered,” Eliot writes.
What precisely is the danger that has been insufficiently considered? It’s the danger of inflation. When too many treats are produced and consumed, they lose their ability to delight.
“How is the son of a British yeoman, who has been fed principally on salt pork and yeast dumplings, to know that there is satiety for the human stomach even in a paradise of glass jars full of sugared almonds and pink lozenges, and that the tedium of life can reach a pitch where plum-buns at discretion cease to offer the slightest excitement?” Eliot…
