Mr. Buker of Leaf River, Illinois, composed the following note to accompany $5 bills sent as Christmas gifts in an area where state and local sales taxes amount to 5 per cent.
Dear…
Instead of presenting you with the wrong size of something, or a gadget you may not have use for, here is a genuine Abe Lincoln Instant Credit Card. Abe’s picture makes it genuine because he was a genuine American. However, and this would grieve Abe’s heart terribly: it is no longer genuine for the amount stated on it. The man behind the counter is still glad to take it and it will buy a couple dollars’ worth of most anything.
You see, the box of Shredded Wheat that was marked 11¢ some years back, and no tax, is now marked 27C*, plus tax. Even at today’s prices you can’t exchange this for $5.00 worth of goods. You must quit buying when you get to $4.75, and reserve the other two bits to pay the tax on what you have in your cart. No, it won’t take you very long to exchange this picture of Abe for a few goods at the market place.
Perhaps you wish it would take longer, so you might want to do it this way. Take your picture of Abe to the bank and exchange it for 500 little metal tokens, each one with a picture of Abe on it. Then go out and have a big time. Two or three of them will buy a penny stick of candy. A dozen of them will buy a nickel ice cream cone. Just one of them will allow you to sit in your car and watch the people walk by for twelve whole minutes. And, oh yes, it is still the coin of the realm when the collection plate is passed at Sunday School.
It used to be good advice to take a few of these pennies and dollars to the bank and put them to work drawing interest. But it seems now, even with the interest added, it is worth less when you take it out than when you put it in.
It doesn’t make sense. Something has gone wrong. But if we put on our thinking cap we can figure it out. We ask Uncle Sam to do everything for us. And Uncle Sam is such a good guy that he jumps at the chance. He hands out money right and left.
The only trouble is he doesn’t have any money except what he first takes out of your pocket. Then when he can’t get enough out of your pocket he plays magician and pulls money out of the thin air. This is called inflation and it causes Shredded Wheat to go from 11¢ to 27¢. Well, if we run out of money, we can always borrow more. Or, can we?
But, this is Christmas and with what help Abe is able to give you, we wish you a Merry Christmas. We also fervently wish you a Happy New Year.
