A farmer in rural Iowa says to his wife, "My love: I will
take our corn to market, and from the proceeds I will buy our daughter a
dress!" So, he loads up his truck with his corn (which was
grown with the sweat of his brow) and takes it to Iowa City. He
enters the market and a Frenchman says:
"Sir! How fine it is to see you! I have just
what you are looking for. I have this collection of fine dresses from
Paris. If you give me your corn, I can sell you four dresses for your
lovely daughter."
A Bostonian then approaches the farmer and says: "I will
give you two dresses for your corn."
The farmer considers both offers and decides to deal with the
Frenchman.
"Wait!" says the custom officer. "Do not
buy those four dresses from Europe. My orders are to keep you from buying
French goods. Rather, for the same price, you can buy these two dresses
from Boston. You, and our nation, will be better for it. Surely you
can see America will be worse off if you get the four dresses rather than the
two."
"Two dresses for the same price as the four? How will
such a deal make me wealthier?"
"Oh, I can't answer that question!" says the customs
official. "But it is a fact; for all our secretaries and
department heads and legislators and journalists agree that the more a nation
receives for its goods, the poorer it becomes."
And so the farmer
deals with the Bostonian, but he (and everyone else) is left wondering why a
person is ruined receiving four dresses instead of two(Thanks to John Murphy)
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