In connection with my recent article titled “Profit and the Viability of Economies“, I have a strictly fictional story for you:
There once were two peasants named Sachs and Goldman who bought a donkey from a seller for 100 rubles. The donkey died within a few days and they demanded back their money. The seller said he already spent it, so tough luck.
Sachs turned to Goldman with a brilliant idea. They would have a raffle where the winner gets a donkey. Each ticket was 2 rubles. They sold 500 tickets. The winner got the donkey and saw that it was dead. He complained. So Sachs and Goldman gave him back his 2 rubles… and walked away with 898 rubles net profit… That’s when they got the idea of starting a famous firm on Wall Street named… you guessed it.
I am not editorializing here, simply, saying over the story I read.