Random Waves of Insight

Last night on "The Simpsons," Bart took up coin collecting, and had collected every last coin for a complete set, except one. So Homer took him to an auction.

At the auction, Mr. Burns had bought all the coins for sale, kind of like how Fry in "Futurama" had bought all the 20th century items at an auction when he got rich.

The last item in the Simpsons auction was the coin Bart needed.

Homer said, "Five dollars."

Mr. Burns countered with, "Five hundred."

Homer said, "Five dollars, cash," and waved his money around.

The auctioneer said that cash didn't matter, the bid was five hundred dollars. Going once, going twice...!"

Bart said, "Dad!"

Homer said, "Five hundred and one dollars!"

Then Mr. Burns casually said, "Ten million."

WOW! Mr. Burns raised the stakes from five to five hundred, and then from five hundred one to ten million. Why?! Sure, he wanted the coin, but there's a lot you can do with ten million dollars.

Maybe the joke was just random craziness, but I think Mr. Burns' character has been sufficiently developed to make this incident more interesting.

He's all about money, right? He wants as much as he can get. I think his character prizes cash over things. He's thrifty - if he can get a good deal, then he'll do his best to see it through. So why blow $10 million on a penny? To win...

I wonder though, about his thought process. He's probably spent lots of money before. And in doing so, he'd be forced to think about whether it was worth it, and what alternatives there could be for that same sum.

If I had $10 million, I would save it.

If I had $10 billion, $10 million would seem like less... but that's still a lot! You could do a lot with $10 million (just call 10-10-2-20). So if Mr. Burns has already exhausted every other possible use for $10 million, then why not get the penny? (Which Homer managed to con back later.)

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