You are the type of person who often sits at an intersection after the light has turned green, unsure of your next action. Family and friends are inclined to intervene whenever you are stopped on the street by a survey taker or pollster. Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a going out of business sale trying to buy either super soft, super cuddly, stuffed animals or a large stuffed brown and white teddy bear. Be on the lookout for crowded shopping malls. You should consider shopping at stores or businesses beginning with the letter X, but do not buy any products with a serial number or product code containing the number 888500. Your preferred shopping venue is mail order catalogs. Your special symbol is the question mark (?).

As a Gray Skittery, you are ambivalent, indecisive, and uncertain. You are in a constant struggle between the forces of demand and supply, production and consumption, good and evil... and you're losing the battle. You have trouble making decisions and choosing from among the seemingly infinite number of options that you perpetually face. Your shopping experiences are inevitably confusing.

A formal organization of professional economists that promotes economic research, organizes annual meetings and conferences, and maintains a list of publications in several economics subjects. The American Economic Association (AEA) was originally organized by a small group interested in economics at a meeting in 1888 in Saratoga, New York. However, as interest in the subject grew, it officially incorporated in 1923. Although the AEA contained only a small number of members in the beginning, today the membership is approximately 18,000. In addition, about 4,600 libraries, institutions, and firms subscribe to the quarterly publications of the AEA.

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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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