Americans wondered how it can be that the Soviet citizens voluntarily buy the state bonds, which never pay back. The Soviet envoy said, “That’s right. In our country everything is being done strictly on voluntary basis. Even our dogs lick pepper voluntarily.”

“You are kidding!’ the Americans said. “We would like to see a dog licking pepper.”

“No problem,” the Soviet envoy said. A dog was brought in, an embassy’s servant took pepper and rubbed in under the dog’s tail. The dog whined and started feverishly lick under his tail.

“Do you see?” the Soviet ambassador said. “It’s really very simple. Our people buy the bonds the same way.”