NEED VERSUS WANT

You can want and not need; you can need and not want; or you can both want and need the same thing at the same time. Nevertheless, in our society, too often the two are not given the discrimination they deserve. People want, often impulsively, and because they lack frustration tolerance, they experience only a sense of 'need'. A commercial is aired showing a lovely ice cream dish with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream topping and nuts. The weather is hot and steamy. The image flows into a fantasy of remembered coolness and creamy ice cream slips down one's throat. Suddenly, it is not longer a want but experienced as a driving need, so off in the car to the nearest ice cream server. Want comes in three flavors: important, can't do without it, and I'd kill for it. Need also comes as: I will hurt until I get it; I can't move on unless I can have it; My survival depends on my getting it (I will die without it).

Right now people are feeling confused and are anxious about joblessness, poverty, inability to care for their families, their own perceived failures rather than the company heads who have cheated them of salaries workers should have earned while the CEO's were slipping more than their share of profits in their own pockets. Wants and Needs become indistinguishable. Like a battered spouse, workers came to feel they deserved the punishment they received, the fear of the loss of job if they asked for more as Oliver dared (Dickens), and that they should be grateful as they are receiving more than they deserve anyway.

One important idea in economics is that of needs and wants. Needs would be defined as goods or services that are required. This would include the need for food, clothing, shelter, and health care. Wants are goods or services that are not necessary but that we desire or wish for. For example, one needs clothes, but one may not need designer clothes. One does not need toys, entertainment, gems, etc..One needs food, but does not have to have steak or dessert. One does not need glamorous trips, mall shopping, etc..

An important part of the economics is the distribution of resources or goods so that people's needs are met. This is especially true in times of scarcity when there are not enough resources, goods or services.

Many times advertisers try to appeal to consumers in such a way that the consumers feel they need certain goods or services when in fact they only want them.

Wants and Needs can be defined in economic terms. Brain Pops, Jr is a wonderful Internet tool used by many home schoolers. Their definitions are: "A need is something an organism must have in order to survive. For example, people need air, food, water, and shelter. A want is something someone would like to have."

With the above as background, it is easy to see how those who cannot distinguish between their ability to understand and guide their emotional selves would also not make a particularly good judgment about what they need to survive.

In actuality, you only need four things to survive:

* A roof over your head
* Enough food and water to maintain your health
* Basic health care and hygiene products
* Clothing (just what you need to remain comfortable and appropriately dressed)

Everything that goes beyond this – a big house, name-brand clothes, fancy foods and drinks, a new car – is a want.