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Daily Speculations The Web Site of Victor Niederhoffer & Laurel Kenner Dedicated to the scientific method, free markets, deflating ballyhoo, creating value, and laughter; a forum for us to use our meager abilities to make the world of specinvestments a better place. |
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9/21/04
Dan Flam: Hershel From Ostropol, or, How Markets Work
Hershel from Ostropol had a neighbor.
One day Hershel (pronounced Her-She-Le) walks over to his
neighbor and
says "Hi Moishe, I have guests tonight and I am missing a
silver spoon,
could I borrow one?"
"Sure" says Moishe and gives him the spoon.
The next day Hershel returns the spoon together with a
teaspoon and
says "mazel tov"!! You are not going to believe this crazy
story! Last
night I hear noises, so I go down to the kitchen and it seems
the spoon
was pregnant and the noises I heard was labor so I am giving
you the
spoon and her daughter."
The neighbor thinks Hershel is a bit crazy, but decides to
accept the
gift saying "mazel tov" to you too, I am so happy for the
mother and
child."
After a few days Hershel come to Moishe again and asks for a
chair, a kettle and a loaf of bread.
And the chair gives birth to a stool, the kettle a tea pot and
the
loaf of bread a cookie.
One day Hershel comes over to Moishe and asks for his gold
watch. "I am
going to my sister's wedding and I want to look good." Moishe
gladly
gives him the gold watch and waits.
After two weeks, Moishe angrily knocks on Hershel's door.
"WHERE IS MY
WATCH????"
Hershel says, " I am *SO* sorry, I don't know how to say
this... The night
of the wedding I hear noises from the closet, I open the door
and find
your watch with chest pain. I rushed him over to the hospital,
but
before we got there it seems he had a heart attack and died.
Since it
the custom of the place we had a funeral the same day, and we
buried
the watch."
Moishe gets all red in the face "ARE YOU CRAZY? HOW CAN A
WATCH DIE? HOW DO
YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THIS?"
Hershel says, "The same way you believed the spoon, chair, the
kettle and the bread gave birth."