This is basically a fraud.
it makes it seem as if everyone was in debt, and that the debt was all magically paid off. This is not really the case. In fact, you could agrue that no one in the town was in debt, because their debts were offset by their assets.
So the butcher is in debt $100 to the pig farmer... but the butcher is also owed $100 by the hotel owner. So the butcher isn't really in debt at all, since he owes $100, but he also has a $100 IOU... so his net worth is zero, and therefore he isn't really in debt.
This example could be simplified to make it easier to understand. Say we have 3 people... John, Steve and Peter. John owes Steve $100.... Steve owes Peter $100.... and Peter owes John $100... so if these guys were friends, they could all get together and cancel their debts.
It's even easier to see if you just have two people.... if Jane owes Mary $100... and Mary owes Jane $100... than they don't really owe each other anything and they can cancel their debt... it's only when you have this big circle of debt that you need the money to run though the loop to settle the debts.
The my point is that no one is actually better off from this rich tourest coming to town. The e-mail makes it seem as if he somehow liberated everyone from debt, which is not really true, since no one was really in debt to begin with.
Also, it claims that "this is how the US government is conducting business" and that makes no sense to me at all... this example doesn't really illustrate anything other than tricking stupid people who get lost in the story and confused because of all the people. But if this example were simplifed to just the hotel owner, buther and prostitute... it would be easier to understand that nothing of significance is taking place here and no one is really any better or worse off. and it doesn't relate to what the US government is doing at all.
