This idea could have been originally formulated in Zimbabwe:
Once upon a time, in a village near Bulawayo, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out into the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands of monkeys at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.
The man then further announced that he would now buy at $20 for a monkey.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their villages.
The man increased the price to $25 per monkey, and the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50!
However, since he had to go back to Baltimore on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers:
"Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected.
I will sell them to you at $35 and, when the man returns from Baltimore, you can then sell them to him for $50 each." The villagers rounded up all their earnings, dipped into their savings, paid the assistant, and bought all the monkeys at $35 each.
They never saw the man, nor his assistant, again … only monkeys everywhere!
Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works. I thought this was so appropriate to what is happening currently in the global stock market meltdown.
Carpe Diem.
Hi Adrian
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you again hope all going ok. I am picking my way thru your blog now and noticed the land rover was a Zim reg when were you there last? see Ilan goes back often.
We are in Oz till we get citizenship some time next year.
Spoke to Dino on Skype its a brillaint way to keep in comms.
Keep well and if this works I'll be back.
McK
Hi Ade-
ReplyDeleteJust read and enjoyed the entries in your blog. You do make me laugh! I know I've said that before, but, in my experience, people who are funny can never hear too many times that they are causing people to laugh. The monkey story was particularly helpful to me, as I'm trying my damnedest to get a handle on how horrible the market it (but, I partly don't want to know.) LOVED the photo of you, Phil, and Russy. You all look fab! Wondering where and when that was. Re: going to shul and seeing your pulmonologist--I can understand that you passed on saying hello to him. Pretty amazing about where your finger was in the prayer book. It's stuff like that that really makes you think. You sound great---I think you're great!
Bionic Hoser Man! Catching up on your blog again. Only a crazy hoser like you could come up with an explanation for the market that is both hilarious and spot on! I see potential for a skit in that one ("this bloody Monkey's dead!"). BTW, the other day Chellie-bean was practicing her reading while we were headed somewhere in the van (she's 5.5 now). It was a book about the origins of chocolate; Mexico, Hernan Cortes, the Conquistadors, etc. She came across a name starting with "M" (Montezuma), but was having trouble, so we encouraged her to sound it out. "Mon, Mont, Monte,......... Monty Python!" I think she'll be a fan someday.
ReplyDeleteSo grateful to be able to keep up with your day to day struggles, ups, downs, setbacks, and advances (and I cheer every time you have something good to report). You and your family are an inspiration - Thank You so much for sharing such a personal journey with all of us. Miss you around the asylum, mate. Can't wait to yank the gear for you again, Lord willing, and enjoy some spectacular scenery from the pointy end. Something to look forward to. Stay Strong!
Canuck boy.