It really does not seem all that long ago, but it was 40 years. I was drinking a glass of my home brew out on my patio when I got this great idea on how to make a fortune. I had already gotten my first Patent and was hot on the trail of new ideas. This new idea was to invent a new drug or pill that would arrest any health condition so that you would not die from what ever you had, but it would not actually cure you. From a marketing stand point this would be great. I would have customers coming back again and again for more of my pills. It didn't matter what I charged, the demand would be so great that the government would give people the money to buy the pills. I developed a marketing plan for this new pill on the basis that I only had to invent it and that should not be that difficult. I developed all kinds of statistical data on my potential customers and how sensitive the price per pill might be. I even went so far as to calculate my return if they required the pill one a day or once a week. In every case, I made millions. I could see the future where I could be the riches person in the world. The problem was inventing the pill. I went to the library and reviewed the literature, but it did not help. It looked like I would have to do this on my own. I had invented things before and had been granted Patents, so I had a good idea what I was up against.
I hesitated to reveal my idea to my friends because I knew the potential and was sure that most of my friends could not be trusted. You know that I have my weakness for good home brew and one thing led to another until one day I spilled the beans. It was like wild fire how the news spread. One friend had just promoted the "Pet Rock" and was ready for bigger and better things. This was a good friend, but one that had the eyes that anyone knew could not be trusted. I had to work fast now.
As I worked on my business plan, I had to develop all kinds of alternatives. What if some one ripped me off and sold the pills for less? I had to analyse every possibility. You must know me by now and know that I don't miss a single item. I had already concluded that if I could develop this pill, I had to price it very low or I would bankrupt the USA. That's right. The demand would be so great that the government would raise taxes if necessary to be sure they could provide my pill to every voter. With this pill, a voter could live for ever and vote thousands of times. Think about the implications? If you were President and could provide your voters with my pill, you could be assured that you could stay in office as long as you wanted. We are talking about voters who were over 125 years old and who had been voting since they were 18 or 21 years old. We are talking about power here. From my analysis I could see this problem facing me and the country. I would make million and even billions. At this point I started to get concerned for the future of my country. I should think about not charging so much for my pill.
This whole business of price forced me to develop a whole new business plan. What if I gave these pills away free? Now these pills don't cure anything, they just make you live longer as long as you take the pill. I got to thinking, if these pills were free, after a few years, we would have millions of people over 100 years old who could not do anything or take care of themselves living all over the place. I started thinking about all the young people who would have to take care of all these really old people and the cost. At this point, I realized that no matter what I did, the country was doomed to bankruptcy. If I charged for the pill, I would become a billionaire and the country would go bankrupt. If I gave the pills away for free, I would be a hero and my country would go bankrupt. This really concerned me. So what do you think I did?
It was a difficult decision, but even though I could develop this new pill, I decided that the future of my country and that of my children was more important than either me becoming a billionaire or a national hero. I think that you know what I did. I had another home brew and forgot about the whole idea of inventing this super pill. Now I can sleep nights knowing that I did the right thing. I would be interested in you comments, because I am still not sure I made the right decision.
PS---5/5/17 That was a long time ago, but now I think that you can all see that I was right. Rather than vote for for Obamacare and have the government pay for your health care, why didn't we just vote to give everyone $25,000 per year so that they could pay for their own health care in "cash". We would not need insurance companies of complex accounting systems to charge customers and then try to collect from the government. What if we had to buy gas for our cars like we try to pay for health care? What kind of mess do you think that would be? We don't have the money to give everyone $25,000 because most of our people are so poor and unproductive that they pay little or no tax. We are poor people with champagne appetites You know what that is and what kind of crisis it can cause. Aren't you glad that I did not offer my magic pill to the public? Obama did almost the same thing and see what has happened?
I hesitated to reveal my idea to my friends because I knew the potential and was sure that most of my friends could not be trusted. You know that I have my weakness for good home brew and one thing led to another until one day I spilled the beans. It was like wild fire how the news spread. One friend had just promoted the "Pet Rock" and was ready for bigger and better things. This was a good friend, but one that had the eyes that anyone knew could not be trusted. I had to work fast now.
As I worked on my business plan, I had to develop all kinds of alternatives. What if some one ripped me off and sold the pills for less? I had to analyse every possibility. You must know me by now and know that I don't miss a single item. I had already concluded that if I could develop this pill, I had to price it very low or I would bankrupt the USA. That's right. The demand would be so great that the government would raise taxes if necessary to be sure they could provide my pill to every voter. With this pill, a voter could live for ever and vote thousands of times. Think about the implications? If you were President and could provide your voters with my pill, you could be assured that you could stay in office as long as you wanted. We are talking about voters who were over 125 years old and who had been voting since they were 18 or 21 years old. We are talking about power here. From my analysis I could see this problem facing me and the country. I would make million and even billions. At this point I started to get concerned for the future of my country. I should think about not charging so much for my pill.
This whole business of price forced me to develop a whole new business plan. What if I gave these pills away free? Now these pills don't cure anything, they just make you live longer as long as you take the pill. I got to thinking, if these pills were free, after a few years, we would have millions of people over 100 years old who could not do anything or take care of themselves living all over the place. I started thinking about all the young people who would have to take care of all these really old people and the cost. At this point, I realized that no matter what I did, the country was doomed to bankruptcy. If I charged for the pill, I would become a billionaire and the country would go bankrupt. If I gave the pills away for free, I would be a hero and my country would go bankrupt. This really concerned me. So what do you think I did?
It was a difficult decision, but even though I could develop this new pill, I decided that the future of my country and that of my children was more important than either me becoming a billionaire or a national hero. I think that you know what I did. I had another home brew and forgot about the whole idea of inventing this super pill. Now I can sleep nights knowing that I did the right thing. I would be interested in you comments, because I am still not sure I made the right decision.
PS---5/5/17 That was a long time ago, but now I think that you can all see that I was right. Rather than vote for for Obamacare and have the government pay for your health care, why didn't we just vote to give everyone $25,000 per year so that they could pay for their own health care in "cash". We would not need insurance companies of complex accounting systems to charge customers and then try to collect from the government. What if we had to buy gas for our cars like we try to pay for health care? What kind of mess do you think that would be? We don't have the money to give everyone $25,000 because most of our people are so poor and unproductive that they pay little or no tax. We are poor people with champagne appetites You know what that is and what kind of crisis it can cause. Aren't you glad that I did not offer my magic pill to the public? Obama did almost the same thing and see what has happened?
