ALICE: Hatter, the White Rabbit was talking about PROGRESS and jobs, but I became confused.
MAD HATTER: Was he saying government spending does not really create jobs?
ALICE: Exactly! But why not?
MAD HATTER: Jobs are created when the economy grows, which requires PROGRESS.
ALICE: What is Progress, then.
MAD HATTER: It’s almost magic; it is when one dollar makes two people happy.
ALICE: Oh, how can that happen?
MAD HATTER: If I offer you a dollar to sweep my floor, and you want the dollar – we both get what we want.
ALICE: And that is called Progress?
MAD HATTER: Exactly! But the government screws that up in two ways.
ALICE: How sad! But how?
MAD HATTER: First, it spends on odd things to make cronies and rascals happy, but no one else.
ALICE: Like a bridge to nowhere, that no one wants?
MAD HATTER: Yes. And even worse, the government took the dollar out of the private economy – now I cannot pay you to sweep the floor.
ALICE: So neither of us can be happy.
MAD HATTER: Taking money out of the private economy is bad for the private economy.
ALICE: So why does the government hurt us like that?
MAD HATTER: Politicians spend tax dollars to buy re-election votes.
ALICE: I don’t like politicians.
MAD HATTER: No one does, well, except for those who are taking the cash.
ALICE: Taking money out of the private economy is bad for the private economy.
MAD HATTER: I know, right?
*end
The Hatter Dialogues 