Economic Expertise  by Kodavatiganti Kutumbara

Telugu original by Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao. Translated and posted with permission by Ananda Kishore.

In Manga kingdom all kinds of production diminished drastically, but printing of money increased sharply. It was told that rupee value came down to ten paise. The production workers didn't have even those rupees of little value. To begin with, they didn't have work.
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Economic pundits discussed how to boost the rupee value to twenty paise. More rupees were in circulation than there should be. Those fortunate to have work had more drought allowance than basic salary.

"Drought allowance is increasing the inflation. We should freeze it. Let's not cut it altogether. We will merely withhold it, deposit in workers' accounts. We can pay it later with interest to them. They would even get to save money this way!" said an ecpert.

One economic idiot asked, "But don't we provide drought allowance so the workers sustain the high prices? What's the point in withholding it?"

He was ignored.

The Economics Minister got an even more brilliant idea. "If we withhold workers' wages for six months and deposit the money into their accounts, we could kick the rupee value up to forty paise," he said.

Everyone clapped. This decision came into effect. At the end of the fiscal year, the minister was awarded the title "Superior Pundit of Economics".