The Greek Bailout Package

[kgwilson]

It's a slow day in a little Greek Village. 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 German tourist is

 

driving through the village, stops at the local hotel and lays a $100 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 gives him some keys and,

 

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 tavern. 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. The hotel proprietor then places the $100 note back on the

 

counter just as the traveller comes back down the stairs. He picks up his

 

$100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money,

 

and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However,

 

the whole village is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot

 

more optimism.

 

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the Greek bailout package works.