Spending Our Way To Prosperity–Your Tax Dollars At Work
A well dressed man walks into the local hotel in a small Midwestern town and tells the
clerk he’d like to see some rooms and that if one meets his standards he will rent it. As proof of his good intentions he hands the hotel clerk a one hundred dollar bill. The clerk gives the man several rooms keys so he can check out the rooms and the would- be guest walks up the stairs.
At that moment the owner of the local grocery store walks in and asks the clerk to pay him for the one hundred dollars worth of groceries on his bill. The clerk gives the man the one hundred dollar bill left by the man checking out the rooms.
As the grocery store owner turns to leave, the local mechanic walks in, spots the grocery store owner and says, “How about paying me that 100 bucks you owe for fixing your car” ? The grocery store owner hands the mechanic the one hundred dollar bill.
The mechanic leaves and as he hits the door bumps into the town hooker. “Hey, how about that hundred bucks you owe me for last night?” The mechanic quickly slips the hooker the one hundred dollar bill.
The hooker walks over to the hotel clerk and hands him the hundred dollar bill, saying, “This should make us even for the nights you let me use a room.”
The hooker leaves and as the clerk stands there about to pocket the one hundred dollar bill the would- be guest descends the stairs, says, “Sorry, none of your rooms will do.” He takes the one hundred dollar bill from the clerks hand and walks out the door.
Are you following all this?
The 100 bucks left TEMPORARILY in the custody of the hotel clerk was used to pay the grocer, the mechanic, the hooker, and lastly the hotel clerk himself. And yet the original one hundred dollar bill ended up back in the pocket of the guy who started out with it in his pocket in the first place. And during all these transactions the money never even left the room!
Oh, one other thing. That well dressed man wanting to rent a room was really a crook in from the big city to case the joint. You guessed it. The one hundred dollar bill was counterfeit.
Are you still with me? Good.
Now you understand spending bills passed by congress.
