AcmeShorts

A young economics student had several fiat notes burning a hole in his pocketbook, so he went to the marketplace in order to purchase some goods.

“Greetings, merchant!” exclaimed the student. “Tell me, have you any goods?”

The merchant was a hatless man in his shirtsleeves. Behind him stood his young and shy daughter. “Aye,” said the merchant, pointing to the bushel of goods before him. “We’ve a vast supply of goods. Vast supply. Shall I have my daughter help you carry away the whole bushel?”

“Excellent,” thought the economics student, for he knew that such vast supplies would be favorable to him in negotiating the price. But rather than strike a deal just yet, he decided to push his luck a bit further. “I don’t know,” he said. “These goods don’t look so very good. In fact, they are quite moldy and have a foul odor! I wouldn’t pay more than a half crown for the lot.”

But just then a landed fop pulled up on a horseless velocipede. “I demand your entire supply of goods,” the landed fop demanded, tossing a large wad of fiat notes on the counter, “and further, I demand three tonnes more in advance! In fact I demand them so emphatically, that I expect your supply will never keep up with my demand.”

“Now just a moment,” declared the young economics student, “I was negotiating for those goods!”

“What can I say,” said the landed fop, “I’m very demanding.”

The young economics student was furious. If only he hadn’t hesitated, he might have purchased the goods at a far more favorable price. But with this new demand, and the potential for months of scarcity, who could tell how high the price might go? He watched in disbelief as the fop snatched up much of the remaining supply of goods in the marketplace.

The economics student was at a loss. He desperately wanted to spend his fiat notes but there were simply no goods to be bought.

“Well, if goods are out,” the economics student said with a shrug, “perhaps I can purchase services.”

With that the economics student handed over his fiat notes, and spent a nice afternoon screwing the merchant’s daughter.