My new friend, The New York Crank...

From The New York Crank:

Stupid Savings Vs. Priming The Pump: A Cranky Fable For Our Times

In the tiny village of Wingnutia, the people went to the village pump one day. They intended to pump up their daily rations of water from a well that was dug deep into the earth.

But even when they pumped as hard as they could, no water would come out of the pump nozzle. And to make matters worse, they were all were running low on the water they had taken home from the pump a day before.

“That pump needs priming,” declared a passing wise man, who was on his way to the capital to pay his taxes and to observe a few rogues getting impaled on pyramids.

“What is priming?” asked one of the Wingnutians, a dimwit who had never seen a pump primed before.

You pour some water in the top,” explained the wise man. Then when you pump, you create a water seal that in turn creates a vacuum, and that gets the pump functioning again.

“But we’re short of water,” complained the village dimwit. “Why waste water pouring it into the pump?”

“It’s not a waste,” said the wise man. "The process primes the pump, which will bring up water shortly. Then all of y0u will have not only enough to drink, but also extra water to take a bath on Saturday nights before you go to the village witch burning ceremony."

“Oh no you don’t!” growled another suspicious Wingnutian. "We villagers have a water shortage as it is. We’re not wasting any precious water priming any pumps. Instead, we should make drastic cuts in our water usage.”

The Wingnutians drove the wise man out of the village with their sharpened palins, and their lead-heavy bachmans, and a roaring of ryans and a trumpeting of trumps. Then they very gradually drank up the little bit of water they had. When it was gone, they all died of thirst.

Moral: If you refuse to prime the pump, don’t be surprised if you find yourself feeling very, very thirsty.

Second Moral: You've got to spend water to make water. Or something like that.

Third Moral: If you're down to your last glass of water, you might as well enjoy it with your seed corn.