Thought For The Day

    I wonder whether or not the General Store, together with the various vending kiosks around The Village, not forgetting the café, and the watchmaker’s shop, are run on a business footing? Did the proprietors, kiosk vendors, the taxi service, and the newspaper agent dispensing The Tally Ho, have to make a profit at the end of the week, or didn’t that really matter? After all everything was priced up in the General Store, at the kiosks, even The Tally Ho had its price, as does a ride in a taxi. And I’m sure breakfast at the café didn’t come free. I wonder how much the Watchmaker charged Number 6 for the repair of his wristwatch that time it stopped working? Number 6, whilst using an air of authority once asked the shopkeeper-Number 19, or is it 56 to show him his books, meaning his account ledger, the day book, post book etc. Number 19/56 was rather put out by that, well no-one had asked to see his books before, so perhaps they were not bothered by shop accounts. That no-one in business in The Village had to show any kind of profit, might mean The Village was not run on an economic basis. But even if it was, any business would have to rely on local trade, there would be no passing trade to help bolster profits. Did The Village Administration have to pay for its fresh food produced, or the tinned food, and other items, as well as “special imports” brought into The Village? If run by British Intelligence as a detention centre then I should not have thought so. Unless of course the General Store, vending kiosks, café, the watchmakers etc were private concerns, a way of supporting themselves. But then in The Village there are no cash purchases, only credit, and where’s the money in credit transactions? Does The Village have a Bank? There is no mention of one, nor is there any mention of, or of The Village being run on an economic basis. It can export nothing because nothing is produced by The Village, the Administration can only import goods. The only thing The Village deals in is information, and even then its Administration that has to get that from somewhere else! The Village has a cashless society, on the simple grounds that it does not need money, what’s more it’s Credit Units or Work Units are worth nothing, we have Number 2’s word on that. Units have no real monetary value, and even if they had, they can only be used in The Village! Rather like the Russian Ruble used to be.
   It makes one wonder why they bothered with Credit Units at all, and just made everything free, which they were anyway. But I suppose it was a way of making people financially responsible for the amount they purchased. Because if restrictions were not put on the amount of what people could buy, they could theoretically “buy the shop out,’” and thereby placing a strain on resources. 

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