Elon Musk’s favorite joke about economists
Two economists are walking through the forest
And then they stumble upon a pile of shit
One says to the other:
— I’ll pay you 100 dollars if you eat it
The second one eats it and gets his 100 dollars
They go on
After a while they find another pile
Now the second one says:
— Alright, then I’ll pay you 100 dollars if you eat it
The first eats it and gets 100 dollars
They go on, and a couple of minutes later one says:
— Wait… What did we even do just now?
— What do you mean?
— Well, you ate a pile of shit, I ate a pile of shit
In the end, we don’t have any more money
Pause
Where is the point in this?
The second one calmly replies:
— No, you’re just looking at it the wrong way! We just added 200 dollars to the economy 😅
Two economists are walking through the forest
And then they stumble upon a pile of shit
One says to the other:
— I’ll pay you 100 dollars if you eat it
The second one eats it and gets his 100 dollars
They go on
After a while they find another pile
Now the second one says:
— Alright, then I’ll pay you 100 dollars if you eat it
The first eats it and gets 100 dollars
They go on, and a couple of minutes later one says:
— Wait… What did we even do just now?
— What do you mean?
— Well, you ate a pile of shit, I ate a pile of shit
In the end, we don’t have any more money
Pause
Where is the point in this?
The second one calmly replies:
— No, you’re just looking at it the wrong way! We just added 200 dollars to the economy 😅