The Overfed Beast- A Humerous Approach to Tackle A Deadly Problem
Inflation is a beast that devours everything in its path, and the only way to defeat it is to deprive it of its food.
Photo by Andre Tan
“You are actually helping the economy.”
Our lunch hour in the office is a time to unwind and
recharge for the rest of the day. Lunchtime in the small office sees nearly
everyone gathering in the dining room to unpack their lunch boxes. Most of us
choose to buy food from other places instead of cooking at home.
I open my lunch box of pasta: the leftover of last evening.
Before I even took the first spoonful, I asked Joseph, “I
don’t get it - how does eating this leftover food help the economy? Are the
hungry people in a third world country benefiting from what I eat or how I eat?
I am not even donating any food.”
A laugh erupted in the room. We’ve got an hour to chill out
and recharge before the next shift.
I’m referring to the economy of this nation, not some
developing country.
A day from two years ago springs to mind. Same place and
same surroundings. “Joseph, I remember years ago you had told those who are
buying food from the food court are helping the economy. Did your mind change?”
Joseph pushed his plate aside and set his fork and knife
down. “My mind didn’t change. But the situation shifted.”
“How?” Maria asked.
“Then the economy needed help. In time of recession when you
spend money, the economy gets food to grow.”
“What changed now?”
“Now the circumstances are different. Prices are going up
through the roof. Reserve bank is upping the interest rate every moth and they
have no more weapon to curb the rising price.”
“If the Reserve Bank fails and the Government also can’t do
anything, then only God can help us, common people.” A shadow covered my mood.
I am already paying through my nose for my house, which is under a mortgage.
“I don’t know about God. Let’s pay close attention to
Joseph,” Maria said. “Maybe he can offer some ideas.”
Everyone at the table
stopped eating and looked at joseph. Economy is a boring subject, and nobody
likes to discuss. But when it behaves like a demon, who cares what we like?
Especially those who have mortgages and growing interest rates is pinching all
of us at the bottom.
CEO Brendan said, “Joseph, if you don’t mind, can you
explain more? I’m not asking as a CEO, but just curious.”
“Sure, Brendan. My pleasure,” he said, “imagine a lean and
thin guy. You can see his ribs as he is underfed and so weak, he can’t even
stand for five minutes. In such a case, if you are feeding him, you are doing
him a favour. But, if you give food to a man like me, who is already almost a
hundred kilos, you are actually harming me. Same is the case with this artificial
animal called Economy.”
I am a creative person, and such a comparison helped me to
understand a bit.
Joseph continued, “When the recession hits, that means the
economy is in a terrible shape. Underfed. Weak and fragile. It needs food. When
we increase our spending, we feed the week and underfed guy and help in the recovery.
But when inflation is going through the roof, that means it’s overweight and in
an urgent need to shed weight. Spending more means overfeeding it.”
The word inflation hits me like nothing else. Not because
that I am too much worried about it, but the interest rate rise by the Reserve
Bank is draining my bank account. I have a house on a mortgage which I have
bought with my hard-earned money. Why a so-called monetary policy, of which I
know nothing will take away my money?
Before I could say anything, Maria said, “I want to know
what the governor of our Reserve Bank does.”
I said, “He knows nothing about the economy. We should sack
him and post our Joseph in his position instead.”
The room burst into a laugh as Joseph bowed his head with a
funny smile. “I accept the honour.”
“This guy just keeps raising the rate of interest every
month,” Maria said, “People like us who are already pissed off with inflation
are the worst affected because we saved some money and bought a roof over our
head.”
“Right,” I said, “we are paying more for our daily expense because
of the higher price and then the bank is taking more money from us for the same
amount of loan. What do we do?”
“Because this governor doesn’t know any other way how to
tackle the inflation.” Brendan added. “See the computer world, new inventions
come every other day. But our so-called learned economists, do they even think
of innovation? It’s like you are fighting a nuclear armed enemy with swords or
bow and arrow.”
We all wanted to laugh, but the accusation sounded serious.
“Why shouldn’t we then make this governor redundant? He
knows only two things- increase interest rate when there is inflation and
reduce when there is recession. Why does the government pay him millions of
dollars for the work his lowest paid clerk can do?”
“This is a better idea,” Joseph said, “we can’t control the
inflation or the rise in interest rates, but we can at least sit together and
vent our frustrations about this incompetent governor.”
We all agreed, but the lunch hour is already over.
“Guys, the governor survived a redundancy, let’s get back to
work now.” Maria got up.
“Economy is not the villain here,” I also close my lunch
box, “but the beast called Inflation is. Let’s starve it to death.”
All Stories on this Blog Site are purely a work of fiction and any resemblance to anyone or any incident is purely a coincidence.
Please send your funny or other life experiences to me, and I will make a story and publish, acknowledging your contribution. Or, if you can write your own story, I will publish the same with your name as a writer. Writing should be between 1000-1500 words.
on Facebook and Twitter so that you know when a new story comes.
Do you like this story? Let your friends also read this.
Share through
Comments
Post a Comment