It's a slow day in a dusty little Australian town. The sun is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

On this particular day a rich tourist from down south is driving through town ,stops at the local motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

He gives him keys to a few rooms and as soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the $100 bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his drinks bill at the local pub.

The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar , who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit.

The hooker rushes to the motel and pays off her room bill to the motel owner with the $100 ..

The motel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything.

However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the Australian Government's stimulus package works.

I'm pretty sure this applies to any stimulus packages offered in the US as well.

Cheers, Vince

Vince, I think you hit the nail on the head! That is exactly how it would work if congress, were'nt involved.

Vince wrote:

I'm pretty sure this applies to any stimulus packages offered in the US as well.

Nope, in the US, the traveler won't have gotten the money back.

Ah, the problem is that in Aussie,
the $100 stops at the Bank for mortgage repayment..

yeah that looks like funny money type of accounting. there are cashless/barter systems working that barter jobs through a cetral organisation eg I mow bobs lawns and earn credits to get Joe to get me some firewood bob rewires Marys shed etc etc etc. the whole concept of needing money goes out the window if you dont have taxes or banks to pay.