Re:Where did the other dollar go, Jeff?
by tshaddox on Wednesday April 28, 2021 @05:23PM
(#26974391)
This doesn't seem that puzzling to me. It only happens to work because all the debt in the whole town just so happened to form a perfect cycle, or equivalently (I think), everyone in town was owed the exact same amount that they owed. That seems exceedingly unlikely to occur and thus doesn't lead me directly to any conclusions about the absurdity of the real economy.
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Re:Where did the other dollar go, Jeff?
by brundolf on Wednesday April 28, 2021 @08:52PM
(#26976167)
Not only that, in the real world the people in debt and the people they're in debt to are usually of different economic classes, making a cycle even less likely
Re:Where did the other dollar go, Jeff?
by teawrecks on Wednesday April 28, 2021 @05:38PM
(#26974555)
They don't have to line up perfectly for there to be a cycle and thus some minimum amount of debt everyone has that's not real. Someone in the loop might think they owe $1000 and actually owe $900, while someone else thinks they owe $100 but actually owes nothing.
Re:Where did the other dollar go, Jeff?
by tshaddox on Wednesday April 28, 2021 @05:47PM
(#26974656)
I'm not sure what you mean. Assuming that everyone knows all of their own debts and credits, then they already know their net balance. In the riddle, everyone already knows their net balance is 0, so I would question why everyone is so pessimistic about the future unless the terms of their debts are less favorable than the terms of the credit they've given out.