Solution,
Ireland's Bail-out package ...
It is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain 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 foreign tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a 100 Euro note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner duly gives him some keys.
As soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the 100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the 100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the 100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the 100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub.
Pleased with his windfall, 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 then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the 100 note which the owner then places back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs and, stating that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up and pockets the money, and leaves town.
No one produced anything and no one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism.
That is how Ireland's bailout package works.
Begorrah
The difference is that all of those 7 transactions were
sub rosa, no income, sales, or other taxes were paid, going unpaid are the politician, policeman, fireman, teacher, and other government employees. Assuming aggregate taxes were 10%, there would have only been 53.14 Euros left on the counter. 100.00 90.00 81.00 72.90 65.61 59.05 53.14
