It is a slow day in the small Colorado 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
traveler will not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveler 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.
