A young lad named Piedmont decided to go into the night crawler business. He’d soak the lush grass every night and wait for the crawlers to leave their holes after dark. In bare feet with a flashlight, careful not to spook them with the light, he’d pinch off their retreat. it took a while to catch a dozen or so, but he did well selling them to those not wanting to take their shoes and socks off.
As word spread of his business venture the business grew and Piedmont decided to expand his operation. He made a deal with his neighbors; he’d water their grass in return for him being able to catch and keep the crawlers. The money slithered in.
It was going well, so well in fact that the local, state and federal government took notice and decided they had to get their share of Piedmont’s profits. So Piedmont had to make more money in order to stay even.
Then tragedy. A pandemic struck and his business was ordered to close; it was determined his business wasn’t essential. But as time went by the government came through, if Piedmont laid himself off, he could get unemployment compensation. The federal government, wanting to make sure Piedmont knew it felt his pain, added additional money to his state unemployment compensation on top of stimulus checks.
Eventually the shutdown was lifted and Piedmont could hire himself back. But Piedmont being a smart businessman added the numbers; the money he was given to do nothing amounted to more than he cleared when working after giving the government its share.
Piedmont had planned to go to college when he graduated from high school to learn how to support himself but decided the economics lesson he had just gotten from the government was enough.
THD