Food for thought.

[Surpmil]

It is a slow day in the small town of Podunk, NY and main street is deserted. Times are tough: everybody is in debt and living on credit.

A tourist drives into town and stops at the motel. Coming into the office, he lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the $100 bill and hurries next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher immediately takes the same $100 bill and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer pockets the $100 and races to pay off his bill to the Co-op.

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and drives over to pay his debt to the local prostitute who has even had to offer her services “on credit”.

The hooker rushes to the motel, sees the owner at the desk and immediately pays off her accumulated room bill of $100.

While the $100 bill is still on the counter, the tourist comes down the stairs saying the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up his $100 bill and leaves.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything, but half the town businesses are now out of debt and looking forward to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that is how a “stimulus package” works.

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[Flying10uk]

Yer but, couldn't the guy at the Co-Op have made use of a room over the shop, had a, "Cheapie tonight dearie.", saved a bit of cash and not had to travel across town to the local Motel?

[Ovidio]

It is a slow day in the small town of Podunk, NY and main street is deserted. Times are tough: everybody is in debt and living on credit.

A tourist drives into town and stops at the motel. Coming into the office and he lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the $100 bill and hurries next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher immediately takes the same $100 bill and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer pockets the $100 and races to pay off his bill to the Co-op.

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and drives over to pay his debt to the local prostitute who has even had to offer her services “on credit”.

The hooker rushes to the motel, sees the owner at the desk and immediately pays off her accumulated room bill of $100.

While the $100 bill is still on the counter, the tourist comes down the stairs saying the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up his $100 bill and leaves.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything, but half the town businesses are now out of debt and looking forward to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that is how a “stimulus package” works.

We had the same story around here. A couple weeks ago. Seems like she’s following the disease

[emmagee1917]

I read this years ago . It was an American tourist in a little Mexican town during a time of a Peso devaluation , IIRC .
Chris

[Surpmil]

Yer but, couldn't the guy at the Co-Op have made use of a room over the shop, had a, "Cheapie tonight dearie.", saved a bit of cash and not had to travel across town to the local Motel?

The people with that sort of savvy had probably long since moved to a large urban center.

Yes, this has been around a while I'm sure, I edited it to please my ear.