You are the type of person who is perpetually nervous and indecisive, never quite sure which way to go or what to do. Family and friends seem to be so sure of themselves, so confident, so able to make decisions, it just makes you sick. Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a flea market trying to buy either a coffee cup commemorating Thor Heyerdahl's Pacific crossing aboard the Kon-Tiki or a rechargeable battery for your cell phone. Be on the lookout for slow moving vehicles with darkened windows. You should consider shopping at stores or businesses beginning with the letter R, but do not buy any products with a serial number or product code containing the number 690096. 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.

Total cost per unit of output, found by dividing total cost by the quantity of output. When compared with price (per unit revenue), average total cost (ATC) indicates the per unit profitability of a profit-maximizing firm. Average total cost is one of three average cost concepts important to short-run production analysis. The other two are average fixed cost and average variable cost. A related concept is marginal cost.

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Our little excursion through the economy has had, thus far, its ups and downs. My cable bill remains permanently confused and my checking account has a large property-tax created imbalance, but at least the pain in my tooth stops before hitting my toes. I think we deserve a little rest and relaxation at the Shady Valley's own tourist mecca, Happy-Time Gala-World Fun-Land Extravaganza Amusement Park. Let's take a brief respite from our pedestrian trek and give the soles of our jogging shoes a well-deserved rest.

The Happy-Time Gala-World Fun-Land Extravaganza Amusement Park has the world famous Monster Loop Death Plunge roller coaster, guaranteed to make riders yearn for the pleasures of a Siberian forced labor camp. There's also the Enchanted Haunted Horror House filled with serial killers, chainsaw murders, and IRS auditors. For the more timid, and fortunately, for those more interested in the workings of our economy, the merry-go-round is the ride of choice.

Two familiar faces are enjoying the circular trip on their fiberglass ponies. The slender guy with the bushy mustache is Dan Dreiling, the drywall man. I had him repair a hole in my living room wall caused by an over-excited vacuum cleaner a few months back. The disgusted look on his dusty face tells me that I must have overlooked his $100 bill. The other recognizable rider is Pollyanna Pumpernickel a precocious pet store owner who has somehow neglected to pay me the $100 due for hamster-sitting services which I rendered a few weeks ago. Her furtive glances suggest that she is well aware of her liability.
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-- Peter F. Drucker, business strategist

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