A few years ago, an economist on television analogized the world's economies as a series of gas stations. I cannot recall his name but his simplifying of the complexities of macroeconomics has stayed with me for many years. The whole world can be explained as gas stations.
Here goes,
1) The Third World Gas Station. It is run by a poor peasant in tattered clothes in a rundown country. Gas is 10 cents a litre. He has sixteen pumps but only two work. He has been waiting for parts for the other fourteen pumps for over three years. He runs the station by himself with the help of his ten kids, the oldest being twelve. He has only two customers, a guy with an old Vespa motor scooter and a rich guy with a Mercedes.
2) The Japanese Gas Station. Gas is $1 a litre. You pull your Honda into the gas station. Four attendants come out and hurriedly check your oil, fluids, tire pressure, clean your windshield and pump your gas for you. When you leave, they bow to you in gratitude. The gas station is immaculate and spotless.
3) The American Gas Station. Gas is 89 cents a litre and the customers continually complain about it. You have to pay in advance to the guy in the bulletproof kiosk. You pump it yourself. There is no mechanic or other attendant available. The Arab guy in the kiosk is surly and unco-operative. When you leave, some street punks steal your hubcaps and some slime will back up into your grille.
4) The European Gas Station. Gas is $2.50 a litre. However, he is only open five days a week from 10AM to 4PM except during his two hour lunch after which he moves at a snail's pace. The owner takes a six week vacation and shuts the station down while he plays bocce ball with his cousin in the park across the street. His cousin has not worked for two years because he is on unemployment insurance which pays him almost as much as he made when he was working. There is no incentive for him to work. Even though the station cannot possibly make any money, he dutifully completes his monthly request for a subsidy which the government reimburses him without question.
There you have it, the world as a series of gas stations.
Here goes,
1) The Third World Gas Station. It is run by a poor peasant in tattered clothes in a rundown country. Gas is 10 cents a litre. He has sixteen pumps but only two work. He has been waiting for parts for the other fourteen pumps for over three years. He runs the station by himself with the help of his ten kids, the oldest being twelve. He has only two customers, a guy with an old Vespa motor scooter and a rich guy with a Mercedes.
2) The Japanese Gas Station. Gas is $1 a litre. You pull your Honda into the gas station. Four attendants come out and hurriedly check your oil, fluids, tire pressure, clean your windshield and pump your gas for you. When you leave, they bow to you in gratitude. The gas station is immaculate and spotless.
3) The American Gas Station. Gas is 89 cents a litre and the customers continually complain about it. You have to pay in advance to the guy in the bulletproof kiosk. You pump it yourself. There is no mechanic or other attendant available. The Arab guy in the kiosk is surly and unco-operative. When you leave, some street punks steal your hubcaps and some slime will back up into your grille.
4) The European Gas Station. Gas is $2.50 a litre. However, he is only open five days a week from 10AM to 4PM except during his two hour lunch after which he moves at a snail's pace. The owner takes a six week vacation and shuts the station down while he plays bocce ball with his cousin in the park across the street. His cousin has not worked for two years because he is on unemployment insurance which pays him almost as much as he made when he was working. There is no incentive for him to work. Even though the station cannot possibly make any money, he dutifully completes his monthly request for a subsidy which the government reimburses him without question.
There you have it, the world as a series of gas stations.
