Dateline Dayton —A friend recently passed along this story, which is worth reflecting on this morning:

Cajun Economics

It's a slow day in Mamou, Louisiana.


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 traveling Shreveport salesman is driving
 through town.

He stops at the Hotel Cazan and lays a hundred-dollar bill on
 the desk, saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to 
pick one in which to spend the night.

As soon as the man walks upstairs, Bosco, the owner, grabs the bill
 and runs next door to pay his debt to Boudreaux the butcher.

Boudreaux takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt
 to Trosclair the pig farmer.



Trosclair takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at T-Boy's
 Farmers Co-op, the local supplier of feed and fuel.



T-Boy, at the Farmer's Co-op, takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to 
the local prostitute, Clarise, who has also been facing hard times and
 has had to offer her “services” on credit.



Clarise rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with Bosco,
the hotel owner.



Bosco then places the $100 back on the counter so the travelling
salesman will not suspect anything.



At that moment the salesman 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 now looks to the future with a lot more
 optimism.



And that, my friend, is how the United States government is 
conducting business today.

Mr. Hennessey may be contacted at pmhenn@sbcglobal.net