Goethe envied America that it did not have a historical baggage to carry.

That is what threw America into a tailspin into a speculative future. America lives tomorrow, on cash to be realized next month or two weeks later, on speculative trades and deals. America is all about sales pipelines.

Who is gonna deny that?

I once read about a famous marketing guru who started life as a door-to-door salesman, and his boss told him to keep knocking doors and sooner or later a sale would happen. And so after knocking 17 doors on day 1, this man makes a deal.

What if you have to knock 170 doors and no sale happens? Speculation... probability... and the death of a salesman.

Or a wallstreetwalker jumping off the 29th floor.

And what if your production has gone beyond marketable reach? Jack, do you wanna sell the Ge way to wannabe Martians? Count me out!

Shank o' the evening