Dollars? Yen? Rupiah??

I read somewhere that the Indonesian Rupiah is devaluing again.. *sigh*
Which reminded me to write the second piece of Choices and their Prices.

I feel than in general, people make choices to satisfy their needs. A need could be anything, but I have distilled it down to two main components.

1. Truly basic needs - survival needs (such as food, clothing and abode)
2. Need for fulfilment - actualization needs (such as communication, love and recognition)In the modern world, need for communication could very well have been promoted to the rank of basic needs. And usually when a person's basic needs are already covered, they will begin to crave to get more satisfaction.

Now, given the complexity of choices, how can one measure its price? This is my opinion: "The basic unit for the price of a choice, is time."

We need time to do even the simplest task, and a choice usually involves money. Time is a more deciding factor in the end because we can spend time to earn money, but we cannot spend money to earn time. The most we can do is save a small amount of time. In the examples I gave in my previous post, we can see both factors at work.

Go to Zouk - 5 hours + $50 (drinks) + $10 (taxi)
Go to Union Square - 5 hours + $30 (drinks) + $10 (taxi)
Go Home - 5 hours + $3 (electricity+internet access)

So, the Price of a choice also varies depending on several factors (such as earning power, how busy you are and the need), each with different weights. I think it mostly depends on how a person value the satisfaction he/she can get from spending that time, minus any negative consequences. (It is worth having a hangover at work, aching limbs, a thinner wallet, and extra work at the weekend for a chance to spend 5 hours with Miss S?) After all, we all have limited time, and and unlimited craving for satisfaction to meet.

Younger people in general has more time to spend, and older people has more money to spend, and as time is actually the more valuable commodity, younger people can afford to make the more 'expensive' choices. Unfortunately, they also tend to overdraw their credit, and ended up having to paying more time than neccessary for their past choices.

Wasting time moping over past relationships is a good example of paying 'interest' on a time debt. Recalling good times in past relationships is like getting 'dividends' of satisfaction for the time 'investment'. Two sides of the same coin (of which I don't have). Which is bigger? Your interest payment or your divided?