the economy

the other day, i was at work and staring into space while playing with packing peanuts (the best free toy other than dirt), and the janitor walked buy and said, 'a penny for your thoughts?'
it made me happy, but i gave him my thoughts for free, because with inflation and everything and my strong belief in socialism, i just felt it was the right thing to do. and my thoughts weren't that great either, so i didn't want to rip him off or anything.
and then i started thinking, people offer me a penny for my thoughts often, and yet they never pay up.
not even once.
if they did, by now i'd at least have a gumball.
and that would be awesome.
and i'd be helping the economy.
from what i understand, buying stuff helps the economy, and gumballs help everything, thus, this would be helpful.
but noone ever pays me for my thoughs, which i give away for free, much like the knowledge of farming from the native americans to the disgusting diseased pilgrims, and we all know how well that turned out for the native americans.
the conclusion i've come to is that if people actually paid the pennies they offered for thoughts, the economy would not be in the state that it is currently in.
i don't know what state that is exactly but apparently not good.
maybe the state of confusion.
that is where i live.
in the olden days, did they offer other forms of currency for people's thoughts?
"a pile of oxen meat for your thoughts?"
probably.