The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

176
Chapter 30 • Treat or Trick?
“It must be nice to have bread for your old age,” said Jonathan.
“That’s what we thought, too. It seemed such a marvellous idea
because there would always be bread to feed the elderly. Since
we could all count on the great Security Trust basket, most of us
stopped saving any bread of our own for the future. Figured we
didn’t have to help our family and neighbours either, since the
Council would take care of us all.”
His shoulders slumped as if weighed down by the burden of a
lifetime. The old man scanned the frail and aged group. He pointed
to another elderly gentleman who was seated on a bench nearby.
“One day my friend, Alan, watched people put bread in and take
bread out of the big basket. Alan calculated that the Security Trust
Basket would soon be empty. He used to be a bookkeeper, you
know. Well, Alan raised the alarm.” Alan began to nod shakily.
“We went straight to that basket and climbed up the side. It
took some doing, but we’re not as weak and blind as some of those
young Lords think. Anyway, we looked in and discovered that the
food basket was almost empty. The news caused an uproar. We
told that High Lord Ponzi right then and there that he’d better do
something quick or we’d have his hide at the next election!”
“Whew, I bet he was scared,” said Jonathan.
“Scared? I never saw anybody so fi dgety. He knows we have
a lot of clout when we get riled up. First he proposed to give the
elderly even more bread, beginning just before the next election.
Then he’d take more bread from the young workers, beginning right
after the election. But the workers saw through his scheme and they
got mad, too. Those young workers said they wanted to have bread
now. They said their own pantries protected bread against mould
and rats better than the Council’s big basket. And they don’t trust
the Lords to leave the bread alone until they retire.”
“What did he do then?” asked Jonathan.
“That Ponzi always has a new angle. He then said that everyone
should wait fi ve years longer, until seventy years old, before they
could start taking bread out of the basket. Well, this angered those
close to retirement, those who expected to collect bread at sixty-fi ve
as promised. Finally, Ponzi came up with a brilliant new idea.”
“Just in time!” exclaimed Jonathan.