You are the type of person who is the poster child for the word "frugal," and you might even buy the poster if it cost less. Family and friends look to you as a pillar of strength, and rightly so. Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time waiting for visits from door-to-door solicitors wanting to buy either pink cotton balls or a genuine down-filled comforter. Be on the lookout for the last item on a shelf. You should consider shopping at stores or businesses beginning with the letter M, but do not buy any products with a serial number or product code containing the number 854720. Your preferred shopping venue is thrift stores. Your special symbol is the comma (,).

As a Brown Pragmatox, you are down-to-earth and practical. You are hard working and industrious. You are frugal to the point that you might even refrain from making a purchase that you really, really need. Doing so often causes problems down the road. You definitely go with function over form and substance over style.

Goods (and services) that are used as inputs or components in the production of other goods. Intermediate goods are combined into the production of finished products, or what are termed final goods. Unlike final goods, intermediate goods will be further processed before sold as final goods. Because gross domestic product seeks to measure the market value of final goods, and because the value of intermediate goods are included in the value of final goods, market transactions that capture the value of intermediate goods are not included separately in gross domestic product. To do so creates the problem of double counting.

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Our pedestrian's jaunt through the economy is not, unfortunately, an unrestrained shopping spree for confectioneries, spark plug tools, and Houston, Texas. We have other important errands to run. At the moment we need to hike over to Shady Valley's exclusive provider of cable television services, the Merciless Monolithic Media Masters Cable Television Company, Inc., to inquire about a mysterious fee that appeared last month's bill.

The good news is that the Merciless Monolithic Media Masters (the 4M people) Cable office is a mere 2 miles (3 kilometers for the metrically inclined) from the Shady Valley Central Town Sprawling Hills Shopping Mall. A hop, skip, and a moderately long jump later, our excursion through the economy takes us to the front door of the 4M Cable Television Company where I hope to discover why last month's cable bill included a $3,569 charge for something called "The Vacation Channel." I didn't even know I had a vacation channel. (But, I'm sure it's a great channel, and if I don't have it, then I will certainly subscribe. Please don't disconnect me.)

Of course, because this an afternoon workday, the doors of the 4M office are locked. I can almost make out, through the expensive stained glass windows, what appears to be several Merciless Monolithic Media Masters Cable Television employees, with champaign bottles in hand, dancing on expensive mahogany desks. Let's not disturb them. As they say in the cable business, an upset worker is a disconnected customer.
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