An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
“How long it took you to catch them?” The American asked.
“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.
“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.
“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”
“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then, senor?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”
“Millions, senor? Then what?”
The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”
awww that's a great story about how Jose is smarter and living the life while Bill Gringo is a fool working himself towards an early death.
Just a couple of questions though.
1. What does Jose do when he doesn't catch all the fish he needs to feed his family for the day?
Answer - He goes to the supermarket and buys fish. Those fish were supplied by Bill Gringo who risked personal capital
(i.e. his family's fish) to setup a fishing industry and bring in excess fish to local supermarkets.
2. What does Jose do when there's a change in the fish migration patterns and he can't go out anymore and catch enough to feed his family?
Answer - He takes his fishing skills to the local fishing company and gets hired. This company, of course, was setup by Bill Gringo as part of his expansion in Mexico plan. It provides Jose and hundreds of other smart/happy/living life well folks a job.
3. Uh oh! Jose's wife Maria is sick from the mercury poisoning of eating fish every day. What does Jose do?!
Answer - He takes her down to the local hospital's new women's health wing (financed in part by donations from Bill Gringo's company) and gets her treatment. Her treatment is affordable because Bill Gringo provides generous Healthcare benefits for his employees.
4. Uh Oh again! Jose is out fishing for himself one day and gets his arm bitten off by a shark. What does he do now that he can't fish and feed his family?
Answer - He applies at the local unemployment office for benefits! Those benefits are available because Bill Gringo's company matches all employee tax liabilities. His company also increases the local tax bases in Jose's area so there's a safety net for the unemployed.
5. Jose gotten too old to fish anymore and of course he doesn't have any savings. His sons are forced to fish extra to support him and Maria. They don't get to enjoy life like their papa did with sleeping late, siestas, playing with their kids because of the extra work they do now for Jose.
But Jose can look back at his life and laugh at Bill Gringo. All Bill Gringo can do in retirement is see that he created jobs and wealth for hundreds of people. Those people spent their wealth buying goods that created more jobs. He created a business that provided tax monies to governments that used the money to build schools for Jose's kids, hospitals, parks, roads etc.
His public offering attracted lots of investments from middle class families. Because of the business acumen he got from Harvard he was able to provide a return on those investments for decades. Those returns allowed lots of people to live better than they were before and to accumulate savings so their kids didn't have to fish extra for them. Some of them even took vacations to a small little village in Mexico where they got to hear charming stories from a wise local fisherman about how they've wasted their lives....
