In Finance: Building an Economy Chapter 5
Oh spring is such a wonderful time. The annual rebirth of nature brings such warmth to everything. Spring is welcomed in our little village with a gathering of everyone in the town square. They work for a few days to get the common areas ready. Cleaning, repairing, planting, improving, and having a wonderful time together. The time together helps renew their friendships and consider what's in store for the village in the coming year.
They talked about how little work there was during the winter. The introduction of the dollar helped them see it as never before. James talked about how used the extra time to finished the house he was building. Now all he needed was someone to buy it from him. Mary made some improvements in the server software which increased the speed for everyone's internet connections. Patricia worked a bit on maintenance on her equipment, but mostly relaxed and read books. John spent a lot of time on the internet.
Once everyone was happy with the improvements the had their traditional spring party. As was typical, quite a bit of the party was spent talking about the projects everyone had for their personal and business lives. While this seemed a very informal social party, our folks didn't realize that the friendly discussions were the kick-off to each person's big business season. Each project discussed had impact on the others. If someone purchased James' house then Partricia might have an opportunity to get the job moving people in. Mary would get a new customer, and people always needed a lot of little things from John when they moved in.
Mary's plan to replace an old cable to the next village meant Mary would be getting a large wire shipment in. John would need to make some connectors and junction boxes, James might have a chance build a small shed for the server equipment.
The village is a small place, just about everyone's project means opportunity for the others. During the party people didn't think they were selling things to each other, but they were unconsciously making mental notes about the upcoming work opportunities.
John was worried. Most of the projects he heard about wouldn't start for a month or so. Most likely his pile of dollars would be exhausted before the jobs were ready. Before the party John asked Mary if she had any work for him in the next few weeks, perhaps he could get a jump-start on some of the items she'd need for the new cable installation. She said she wasn't ready to start putting things together, but he suggested that he could provide them sooner for a bit of a discount on the price. She considered the option and, after a bit of sales work on John's part, agreed.
The party also represented an informal meeting of the community where the talked about what improvements and changes might be needed in the village. If another person moved into John's house there were a few things in the village that might be needing upgrades. There was a discussion about how to interest someone from the next village to move in, and how it would impact their little community. Everyone was awash with ideas for an expanded community... as well a bit fearful of what changes would result.
And so the season started... with big plans, happy people, and a bright future. No one was aware that on that day their village experience a fundamental change in their basic economic model. The change wasn't necessarily good or bad, but it was a very, very large shift... and happened with barely a thought, without a vote... the changed passed silently without note.
Posted by Paul Gernhardt on Tuesday, November 04, 2008