TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM:

 

You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull.

Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.

You sell them and retire on the income.

 

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM:

 

You have two cows.

You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of

credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity

swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back,

with a tax exemption for five cows.

The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a

Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells

the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report

says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow

to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No

balance sheet provided with the release.

The public buys your bull.

 

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are

surprised when the cow drops dead.

 

A FRENCH CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You go on strike because you want three cows.

 

A JAPANESE CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and

produce twenty times the milk.

You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them

world-wide.

 

A GERMAN CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk

themselves.

 

A BRITISH CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

Both are mad.

 

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

 

You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.

You break for lunch.

You drink wine.

You make love.

You sleep the afternoon away.

 

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You count them and learn you have five cows.

You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.

You count them again and learn you have 12 cows.

You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

 

A SWISS CORPORATION

 

You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.

You charge others for storing them.

 

A HINDU CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You worship them.

 

A CHINESE CORPORATION

 

You have two cows.

You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine

productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.

 

 

1