Writes Joe Salerno:

Two enterprising students recently established an (unofficial) branch of the regional New York Federal Reserve Bank in a high school in Colts Neck, New Jersey. It seems the precocious youths, who are 16 and 17 years of age respectively, had already mastered the main depression-fighting technique of central banking, which is to “expand the balance sheet.” Starting with zero assets and liabilities, the students printed up phony $10 and $20 bills (Fed liabilities) and exchanged them with fellow students for genuine smaller denomination cash, thus expanding the asset side of their balance sheet. The students no doubt intended to transform “the composition of their assets” from cash to IPhones, Rock Band video games. Nike footwear and so on. Alas, their counterfeiting scam was broken up before they were able to expand aggregate demand and assist in alleviating the retail slump in the region.

(Thanks to Luke Gabay)