Rant: Doc: Stock Market

Once upon a time in a place overrun with monkeys, a man appeared andannounced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for £10 each.

The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out tothe forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at £10and as supply started to diminish, they became harder to catch, so thevillagers stopped their effort.

The man then announced that he would now pay £20 for each one. Thisrenewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeysagain. But soon the supply diminished even further and they were everharder to catch, so people started going back to their farms and forgotabout monkey catching. The man increased his price to £25 each and thesupply of monkeys became so scarce that it was an effort to even see amonkey, much less catch one.

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for £50! However, sincehe had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buyon his behalf. While the man was away the assistant told the villagers. 'Look at allthese monkeys in the big cage that the man has bought. I will sell themto you at£35 each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them tohim for £50 each.'

The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys.

They never saw the man nor his assistant again and once more there weremonkeys everywhere. Perhaps you now you have a better understanding of how the stock marketworks! ________________________________________

Ralph Skinner

B :-) d0c