they most likely ARE headed for zero. from kitco, the frizzelbun game:
There was a man, and his name was Frizz.
Frizz kept a ledger book into which he entered the names of people in one column,
and in an adjacent column, he entered some numbers. Frizz kept it up day by day,
feverishly entering peoples' names and their associated numbers into his special
ledger book, until one day someone asked Frizz, what it was that the numbers in
his ledger book referred to. Well, said Frizz, these numbers are "Frizzelbuns" and I
can subtract some of John's numbers and give them to Joe.
Well, no one paid any attention at all to Frizz and to his Frizzelbuns, as everyone
knew that Frizz was a bit tetched in the head. But one day, somehow, Frizz got
hold of a big bomb, a bomb which was big enough to blow up the whole town.
Then Frizz told everybody in the town, that he would blow the whole town to
smithereens if everybody did not start paying attention to his Frizzelbun ledger.
He then told everybody that he was not a mean man, but that he wanted to help
everybody out with their trade and commerce, and that his Frizzelbuns would
help everybody, because they would "grease the wheels" of commerce.
So people believed that Frizz would blow up the town, so they came down to
Frizz's house, and asked Frizz what it was that he wanted them to do. So Frizz
told everybody that each person in the town must enter his name in Frizz's
Frizzelbun ledger, and that they must ask Frizz to enter new numbers associated
with their names, and they must follow Frizz's rules in a new Frizzelbun game
that Frizz was interested in playing.
So everybody went along with Frizz and everybody started playing the new
Frizzelbun game. Then Frizz started setting up his Fizzelbun game in other towns
and other countries, and soon, Frizzelbun was the only game in town. So pretty
soon, there were Frizz Houses in every town, which kept the Frizzelbun ledgers
to play the Frizzelbun game.
Well the day finally came when Frizz himself passed from this life to another, but
his passing went unoticed. All the Frizz Houses in all the towns and countries
were still in operation, and as each of the managers of these Frizz Houses had
a good thing going, they all decided to stay mum about Frizz's passing on.
So the years passed by, and the Frizzelbun game became a way of life for so
many people and to such an extent that it was no longer thought of as a game,
but as "commerce" or "economics". But as the Frizzelbun numbers referred to
no material thing, their reality was contingent upon there being a real Frizz,
and upon the willingness of the people to play the Frizzelbun game.
But then one day, there was this fellow who asked the simple question,
"where's Frizz?". Well this fellow was promptly hung by the neck until dead
for asking such an "insane" question. But later, there came a growing
number of people who started asking the question "where's Frizz?", and
as the number of people asking were too many to be hung, then pretty
soon everybody started asking the question "where's Frizz?". No one
knew where Frizz was and no one remembered what had happened to Frizz,
so no one could answer the question.
Well everyone wanted to know where Frizz was, but all of the managers of the
Frizz Houses told everybody that it did not matter where Frizz was, because
there were enough Frizzelbun's for every man, and that the Frizzelbun's
"greased the wheels" of commerce, so people were best off leaving
well enough alone.
But then a rumor got started that Frizz was dead. Then everybody started
asking the question "If Frizz is dead, what use are a dead man's ledger books
which have numbers in them that refer to no material thing?". Well, this
was the question that no one could come up with a good answer for,
so everybody just sat in their houses thinking about it, and pretty
soon everybody came to the conclusion that they all were fools.
Authors note:
The above story is true, and the word "Frizzelbun" refers to the author's
pronunciation of shorthand word "FRSLBN", which stands for
Federal Reserve System Ledger Book Numbers. What the author does
not know is the true name of the man who started the Frizzelbun ledgers,
and whether or not he is still alive. But in the author's considered opinion,
he is most likely DEAD. |
