The rain beats down on a small Irish town. The streets are deserted. Times are tough. Everyone is in debt and living on credit.
A rich German arrives at the local hotel, asks to view its rooms, and puts on the desk a 100 euro note. The hotel owner gives the German a bunch of keys and he goes off for an inspection. As soon as the German has gone upstairs, the hotelier grabs the note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher hurries down the street to pay what he owes to his feed merchant. The merchant heads for the pub and uses the note to pay his bar bill. The publican slips the note to the local hooker who's been offering her services on credit. She rushes to the hotel to pay what she owes for room hire, and puts the note in the hotelier's hand. He thanks her and puts the note on the desk in front of him. Less than a minute later the German appears, says the rooms are unsuitable, picks up his money and leaves town.
No one did any work. No one earned anything. But everyone is out of debt. And the German still has all his money.
Is there or is there not something fishy about the above account? Please email me and help my poor brain to sort it out...
Nothing fishy, the hotelier owed the butcher but was owed exactly the same by the hooker so initially, even before the German arrived, had no net debt. The same applies for all others in the story.
ReplyDeleteIn the end no one has any debt but also no one is owed anything either.
The net debt at the beginning is exactly the same as at the end.