There's a sucker born every minute
Was it P.T. Barnum, the famous circus impressario who said, "There's a sucker born every minute"? This astute observation underlies a very basic fact that powers commerce which is: Information. A very simple example will suffice to make my point. Let us say a product is selling in a warehouse for $1 and very few people know about it. An enterprising man would canvass the people he knows to see if they would buy that product and at what price. If he could find 10 people to buy the product at $5, he might go back to that warehouse and buy 20 items. He knows something which the warehouse owner doesn't know which are the people who would buy the product and he also knows something which the people who want to buy the product do not know which is where to buy the product at a lower price. The enterprising businessman has leveraged his knowledge or information to make profits.
This scenario is all very good business practice and most businesses are conducted in this manner. In fact, this is the whole basis for International Trade. In times past, the explorer who could find a way to the East which is where spices were plentiful could create an empire. The tiny island of Britain became a vast, powerful empire due to her enterprising subjects who brought Eastern products to Europe which had an unending appetite for Oriental goodies.
All of this is very good and the activities of businessman provide the goods which satisfy men's wants. There is however, a different kind of businessman or enterpreneur, one who exploits ignorance or curiousity or need utilizing means which are less than honest. A circus or a carnival is a prime example of this type of enterpreneur who ply their trade in an overtly legal manner: they take your money from under your nose and there is nothing you can do about it because you gave that money willingly. In simple words, you were suckered into it.
This brings us to the question of products or schemes of questionable nature. We are all aware of the infamous Pyramid scheme where you are enticed to invest sums of money for out-of-this-world profits. A skeptical man is easily duped by initially receiving double the amount of what he put in, all in a matter of days. He begins to suspect that this smooth operator might have a real money machine and greed reels him into the scam. Of course, it is quite easy to double a small sum of money. The real winner in this game is the smooth operator who runs away with vast sums of your money once you let him have his hands on it.
There are scams and there are suckers and the world goes on whirling in space as the song goes.
This scenario is all very good business practice and most businesses are conducted in this manner. In fact, this is the whole basis for International Trade. In times past, the explorer who could find a way to the East which is where spices were plentiful could create an empire. The tiny island of Britain became a vast, powerful empire due to her enterprising subjects who brought Eastern products to Europe which had an unending appetite for Oriental goodies.
All of this is very good and the activities of businessman provide the goods which satisfy men's wants. There is however, a different kind of businessman or enterpreneur, one who exploits ignorance or curiousity or need utilizing means which are less than honest. A circus or a carnival is a prime example of this type of enterpreneur who ply their trade in an overtly legal manner: they take your money from under your nose and there is nothing you can do about it because you gave that money willingly. In simple words, you were suckered into it.
This brings us to the question of products or schemes of questionable nature. We are all aware of the infamous Pyramid scheme where you are enticed to invest sums of money for out-of-this-world profits. A skeptical man is easily duped by initially receiving double the amount of what he put in, all in a matter of days. He begins to suspect that this smooth operator might have a real money machine and greed reels him into the scam. Of course, it is quite easy to double a small sum of money. The real winner in this game is the smooth operator who runs away with vast sums of your money once you let him have his hands on it.
There are scams and there are suckers and the world goes on whirling in space as the song goes.
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posted by webnight at 9:28 PM
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