Dollar Karma

From The Washington Post:

"'Euros Only' reads a handmade sign in Billy's Antiques & Props on East Houston Street in Manhattan. But that's really just an attention grabber. Actually, owner Billy Leroy explains, the store will accept Canadian dollars and British pounds, and U.S. dollars, too."
[Thanks to J.D. Tuccille over at Disloyal Opposition for bringing this one to my attention.]

Now I'm no economist, but humor me for just a little while. This so-called stimulus package - you know, the thing that is going to save the day - is meant to inject dollars into the nation's economic bloodstream. And then what? Well, let's watch the paper trail: we print money to give to consumers. Consumers spend their money on imported goods (because next to nothing is made here anymore). Those dollars float across the pond (or North into the lands of the Maple Tree People), and if those stimulating dollars come back to us, they are reincarnated... as Euros? And Pounds? And... Canadian Dollars!!?? Hey, wait a minute! Where did all that stimulus money go?

Oh, never mind - it doesn't matter! What the shopkeepers won't accept in foreign currency, we'll create from absolutely nothing anyway. So go out and spend, Mr. and Mrs. American! It's what keeps the wheels turning! And if you think about it just a little too much, hey... that's what television is for. Shhhhhh! Go back to sleep.