Who Could Ask for Anything More?

In the category of things that seemed like a good idea at the time, the BBC had news this morning about a couple who ran a gas station in New Zealand until the bank accidentally deposited ten million New Zealand dollars in their account. They managed to withdraw the better part of the money before the mistake was discovered, and now they've disappeared.

Call me a worrier, or call me wise, but I don't envy them. It's not like the bank made a mistake in chess and you get to take its queen; it's not a game at all, and you don't get to laugh and keep the money when this happens. There was some vagueness in the BBC radio report exactly how illegal it is to try. One of the officials interviewed said it was either theft or fraud.

The couple's fleeing the country suggests they understood that. And going from being a service-station operator to being a wanted criminal is kind of a big jump with a steep learning curve. You've got the cops to deal with. And you've got the bank, and the insurance companies that underwrite the bank. They're out millions, and have every reason to hire a stadiumful of private investigators and bounty hunters and any other help they need.

So the couple has to live modestly, and worry a lot. I don't see how they're better off. If they could pay the bills working at the service station, they were probably better off before. The David Copperfield character Mr. Micawber gave rise to what's called the "Micawber Principle":

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result: happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result: misery."

Personally I live modestly and worry a lot myself. But I don't have millions of dollars I can't really spend. I think that would be kind of frustrating. And I don't have armies of cops and other predators chasing me across the globe. I have enough problems without that, thank you very much. All I want is to be ten dollars ahead of the bills, and have a mind at peace.

I'm going to go downstairs and make coffee now, and stand on the porch and drink it. Then I'm going to water my tomato plants. And then I'll start my work day. Nice and calm and peacefully, is how I'll do all that. I don't have as much money as the New Zealand couple but I can live in my house and walk in my town. I wonder if they wish they still could, too?