The Similarities (and differences) between me and Herr Schuster

After I learned that I was "ssooo BOOOOOORING", from a comment to my latest post, probably from the perennial spammer who had been quite quiet for some time, reader T. Partee made the following comment:

As Schuster would say; if you aren't happy with it, then stay at home and not visit this "boring" blog!!!!

That's exactly what I am saying; thanks to T. Partee for clarifying that upfront. But there are a couple of crucial differences between me and Mr. Shoemaker, which puts the former German international and Barca/Real superstar at a much more precarious position than your friendly neighborhood economist:

First, Schuster is getting a couple of million euros for his services a year, whereas I am doing this blog mainly for my own enjoyment. Since he is liable to the rules of the free market, if he is not successful and/or he does not please the fans/tupkafa, he will be fired. BTW, I am completely prone to the same market capitalism as he is with my Hurriyet columns: If enough people think like Miss Anonymous above, or if I am getting quite a bit of negative commentary on the columns, or if no one is reading me, David, the editor-in-chief, will probably fire me even though he likes me as a person; after all, business is business. But the blog is my home, and to me it is my castle, just like the English bloke's home is his...

But the more crucial difference between Schuster and moi-meme, the one that warrants this post, is that Schuster is commanding a monopoly of sorts: Almost no Besiktas fan will switch to the eziks or the saibecis  because of the dismal performance of his team. It is true that some may not decide to come to the games, in which case ticket revenues and next season's pass sales will suffer. But even that is quite unlikely, given the devoted nature of Besiktas fans, including yours truly, who could not attend yesterday's game, BTW, due to being stuck in the hinterland... Economic theory dictates that Herr Schuster should have more market power, meaning that he can get away with such remarks. But it also means that he has more responsibility to the fans than I do to my blog readers, most of whom are not, unlike their football team, stuck with this blog. BTW, given the power of Besiktas fans have their say over club affairs, I would not want to oppose the fans if I were der Blonde Engel...

Having made these points, I can comfortably say that I am in a much better position than Mr. Shoemaker to tell my customers to stay at home, or switch to another blog, if they don't like most of what they are reading here...