Make sure you read this one.... “How a stimulus package works...”
It is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan town of Pumphandle, and streets are
deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit.
A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and 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 bill and runs next door to
pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig
farmer.
The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.
The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute,
who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.
The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.
The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveller will
not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not
satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.
No one produced anything. No one earned anything.
However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot
more optimism.
*And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Stimulus package works*.