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My wife and I parked our Airstream in a state park mixed-use campground not long ago. As I walked about checking out where the various hiking trails began, I overheard a woman tent-camper saying to the man she was with, "I hate these Airstream campers." I don't think she was talking about us specifically since we were a ways from where we were parked. She continued, "They spend ridiculous amounts of money pretending they're out in nature, but they drag their luxury homes along with them. Think of all the people that could be fed with the money they spent on their fancy toys." I didn't stop to answer her because I could tell she would not be open to an economics lesson, but you, my dear reader, that's why you're here. Now, ignoring the fact that if you are camped in a campground, with restrooms, water, and electricity, whether in a tent or an Airstream, you're not all that close to nature where you sleep, but you're there to hike through nature on all the associated trails. I have no idea how many people could be fed with the money we used to buy our Airstream, assuming we didn't buy something else instead. I guess it's possible that she has taken a vow of poverty and spends a considerable proportion of her income feeding others, but they had an upscale tent and high-end camping clothing, so... I have no idea how many people this woman feeds, but I'll bet she'd be amazed at how many people Airstream owners feed. To begin with, we feed the 430 Airstream employees at Airstream's headquarters and production facility in Jackson Center, Ohio. We have been feeding them for three-quarters of a century. We also feed the employees of the Airstream dealerships, dozens of them nationwide. The dealership where we purchased ours employs 35. That should bring the total to well over a thousand, but that's just the beginning. As you probably know, Airstreams have aluminum bodywork. So, we are helping to feed the bauxite miners who obtain the aluminum, as well as the folks at Alcoa's Lancaster, Pennsylvania plant, who process the bauxite into usable aluminum sheets and raw metal for the frame and forged aluminum wheels. But the trailer itself is not the whole story. We also help feed the employees at Goodyear, Carlisle, and sometimes other brands that make the tires we roll on. We also help feed the copper miners in my home state of Arizona, who work at the Morenci and Safford mines and a couple of others within 50 miles of my home. They supply the copper for the electrical wiring that powers the trailer. Of course, we mustn't forget the truckers of Freeport-McMoRan who haul the copper and, of course, the workers who built the trucks they haul it in. Furthermore, Airstreams aren't all aluminum. They have a lot of glass windows, supplied mainly by Lippert Co., and Blaine Window Hardware. The glass in these windows is made from silica dioxide, which is mined in many areas around the US and made into glass by the Corning Company. Zamp Solar manufactures solar panels in their Bend, Oregon, facility. The batteries that store the power are Airstream's upgraded lithium batteries, manufactured by Dragonfly Energy in Reno, Nevada. These batteries are also known as Battle Born Batteries. Third-party suppliers like Suburban in Dayton, Tennessee, American Water Heaters, or Eemax typically manufacture Airstream water heaters. Airstream owners also feed employees of air conditioning companies like Dometic, Carrier, and Coleman-Mach. Also, for over 50 years, Airstream awnings have been custom-built by Zip Dee in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Airstreams come with Fantastic Fan Vents by Dometic. While Airstream doesn't specify the exact manufacturers of their microwaves, they are installed at their facility. Airstream mattresses are primarily made in the USA by companies like AB Lifestyles and Airstream Supply Company, which offer custom-made mattresses for Airstreams. Of course, we have to insure our Airstreams, so we help feed the employees of insurance companies. When we're on the road, we eat at restaurants a lot more than we do at home, so we also help feed restaurant staff. That's a lot of people being fed, but there's still more. Because all those people spend the money they earn building our trailers, so they help support grocery stores, clothing stores, automotive dealerships, realtors, and many, many more. We also help pay back the investors who make it possible for Airstream to be in business. Those investors make about a 7% annual profit. I can't tell Karen Complainer how many people our Airstream fed. That's how capitalism works. You put money in people's pockets whenever you buy something in the free market. You also give them something that food alone can never do; you are honoring the training and hard work it has taken them to hone their skills and produce a quality product. When you give someone food or something else, you undermine their dignity and self-worth and subtly tell them they are not as worthy as you are. Free-market capitalism feeds more people with more and better food than any system ever tried. Hating on people for how they choose to spend their money only displays an ignorance of how free markets work. I'm very sure that the thousands of people fed by Airstream buyers are thankful for Airstream customers and would much rather be building Airstreams than taking food handouts from Karen Complainer.

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