a parable about a boy who learns to sell fish and who must now end poverty in his country, the mystical land of Ayyuthia...

1. The Boy and the Fishmonger
An Inspirational Story
SS1 Slide Show Podcast

2. As told to Nathan Zhang
By the Tree of Life
(in a dream of course...)

3. Once upon a time in the slums...
• There lived a boy and a fishmonger.
• They were neighbors.
• The boy's father was a paper-collector.
• The fishmonger and the father were friends.
• The fishmonger lived old and alone.
• Thus the fishmonger was like an uncle to the boy.

4. The fishmonger had a problem...
• He was now in his late forties
• He would be retiring soon
• He needed a successor
o The successor would manage his small enterprise
o The successor had to come from his slums
o He had no family
o Thus, the BOY would have to be his successor!

5. Just a small problem with that...
• The boy was only twelve
• The boy had not gone to school
o In fact, he had no formal schooling
• So the fishmonger would have to teach him the business
o That shouldn't be TOO HARD, should it?

6. Another problem, sire?
• Actually, YES:
o The boy wanted to collect and sell papers
 Just like his father
o One problem with that also:
 Sales of paper collection was weak
• Guess the boy better become a fish seller, huh?

7. So the boy went off to study fish sales.
• At first, he was treated nicely...
o And progressed along fine.
• After four trimesters, he started to get lazy.
o He got a serious reprimand for that!
• At fourteen, he became the fishmonger's successor.
o His fish sales skyrocketed
o He was able to expand the business

8. The boy's first IPO
• The fish selling house was moved three times
o First to a small warehouse
o Then to a garage
o Finally to the basement of a skyscraper.
• At this point, the boy decided to go public
o He launched an IPO
o It was Ayyuthia's first
 (BTW: the Boy lived in the land of Ayyuthia)
 (BTW: Ayyuthia is impoverished at the time)
• The IPO raised four hundred grand
o In Ayyuthian currency, of course
o Enough to expand into another trade

9. The Boy, now a Man
• The man moves out of the slums
o and into an apartment
o where he meets a banker
• The banker invests
o in real estate
o and the man is interested
• The banker offers to teach the man
o how to invest in real estate
o the man takes up the offer

10. The man masters real estate
• And quickly begins buying lots of properties
• He also sells the properties,
o for a large profit
o which he reinvests
 in his old slums
 in order to improve his old neighbors'
 standards of living
 it's basically an aid package...
• The aid package fails
o and his neighbors are indebted to him
 further perpetuating their poverty trap
 they HATE him for this

11. The man realizes his mistake
• And offers to teach his old neighbors
o his trade
• The man gets his neighbors some cash
o Basically, MICROCREDIT
 which they MUST pay back
 after three trimesters
• They go out and purchase slums land
o Which they develop
 and sell
 for a huge profit
• They pay off their debt
• And love the man again

12. The man receives his earnings
• and saves it for a rainy day
• He now has more money
• He's even richer
• He buys himself a tract of land
o which he builds a shopping center on
o and moves into a house
• His fish selling business
o moves into the shopping center
• The banker opens a branch
o of his bank
 in the shopping center

13. Then disaster strikes!
• a typhoon rips through Ayyuthia
• the shopping center is destroyed
• the fish all rot
• looting takes place
o during which the bank is robbed
 during which the banker is shot
 and is D.O.A. at the hospital
 which isn't much of a hospital.
• The man is so depleted of his capital
o he must return to the slums
 which, BTW, doesn't exist anymore
 due to the typhoon

14. Using whatever capital left,
• The man rebuilds the slums
• He sells fish again
• He makes enough to expand
• He IPO's
• He moves his business
o into the basement
 of a new skyscraper
 (the old having been damaged by the typhoon)
 (and gone derelict)
• The man starts over
• and passes GO
o not collecting $200

15. The man reinvests in real estate
• And makes enough to resume MICROBANKING
• Pulls his friends out of poverty
o they leave the slums
o and together buy a tract of land
 where they build a discount store
• People across Ayyuthia come to buy stuff
o And they make a huge profit
• The buy another tract of land
o and build a skyscraper
• Ayyuthia is now a developing country
o no longer impoverished

16. Then, a Credit Crunch!
• The financial crisis wipes out
o the savings of the poor
 all over the world
• The rich are now poor
• The poor are now poop
• REAL poop is now a commodity
• The man and his friends
o buy up lots of REAL poop
 and turn it into a security
 They make a profit
 and the people hate them

17. Restoring reputations...
• is not extremely easy
• it IS extremely HARD
• But the man and their friends find a way
o by reinvesting the money
 in small enterprises
 started by the poop people
• The world of finance rebounds
o And Ayyuthia,
 which didn't do stimulus payments
 and followed common sense
 is now a WEALTHY country

18. The man grows old
• And needs a successor
• so he goes back to the slums
o which, BTW, is no longer a slum
 but a massive apartment project
• He finds a boy of about twelve
• and teaches him fish selling
o hoping that one day the boy will...

19. ...SAVE THE WORLD
from poverty, war, and...

20. ...UNITE THE WORLD!!!

21. Fine.

22. http://shenshuaione.wordpress.com