after hours 1
Capitalism Explained
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.
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.
ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows. You sell two 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.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows. You redesign them so that 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 worldwide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You re-engineer them so that they live for 100 years, eat once a month
and milk themselves.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don’t know where they are. You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You count them and find that you have five cows. You count them again
and find that you have 42 cows. You count them again and find that you have 12 cows. You
stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5,000 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 journalist who reported the numbers.
AN ISRAELI CORPORATION
So there are these two Jewish cows. They open a milk factory, an ice cream store and then
sell the movie rights. They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors. So who needs
people.
A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows. Both are mad...
Halloween fun
A lady walks into the drugstore and asks the pharmacist for some arsenic. The pharmacist asks, "Ma’am, what do you want with arsenic?"
The lady says, "To kill my husband."
"I can’t sell you any for that reason," says the pharmacist.
The lady then reaches into her purse and pulls out a photo of a man and a woman in a compromising position. The man is her husband and the lady is the pharmacist’s wife. She shows it to the pharmacist, who looks at the photo and says, "Oh, I didn’t realise you had a prescription!"
After every flight, pilots complete a complaint sheet which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The form is a piece of paper that the pilot completes, and then the mechanics read and correct the problem. They then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken and the pilot reviews the complaint sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humour. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems, as submitted by Qantas pilots, and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.
P = The problem logged by the pilot.
S = The solution and action taken by the engineers.
P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.
P: Test flight OK, except autoland very rough.
S: Autoland not installed on this aircraft.
P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, and be serious.
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with words.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.