"Almost. What makes them run out, Carl?"
"Not enough stuff to take care of their population, not enough work to supply the money to buy what little there is to buy. Too many people, not enough resources to keep 'em happy."
"Now, essentially, you have it. Now, if you'll remember those two things—the captain's sacrifice and Mr. Hitler's fight for Lebensraum—we'll switch again. If I owed you a dollar, Carl, and gave you a bill, you'd accept it. What would it be worth?"
"Why, about—let's see—"
"No, I mean in terms of the metal backing it."
"Well—actually, it could be worthless. But as long as I don't think it is—"
"Correct. As long as you, and everybody else of course, has faith in it, it is of value, and is working currency. Now one more thing. Did you ever have anything really bad happen to you when you were a youngster—say about ten years old, Carl?"
"I don't get this, Doug. You're way over me—"
"No, answer me. Think of something unpleasant that happened—"