The owner of the local hank found a $50 bill lying in the gutter; he picked it up and made a note of its serial number. Later that day his wife mentioned that they owed the butcher $50. so the banker used the bill he’d found to settle up with the butcher. The butcher used it to pay a farmer; the farmer, in turn, used it to pay his feedstock supplier; and the feedstock supplier used it to pay his laundry bill. The laundryman used it to pay off his $50 overdraft at the local bank. The banker recognized the bill as being the one he had found in the gutter but also noticed. on closer examination. that it was a fake. By now, it had been used to settle $250 worth of debts.
What was lost as a result of this series of transactions, and by whom?
REVEAL THE ANSWER
Since the counterfeit note was used in every transaction, they are all invalid. Therefore, everybody stands in the same position to his/her creditor as before the banker picked up the counterfeit note.