Read, donate, share -- then persuade Elon to!
A most direct plea for support
I’m taking the, for me, unusual step of devoting today’s post to asking you to payfor something many of you are used to getting for free — and that is this newsletter. I sold out all 50 copies — the only 50 copies — in 12 days. Now, it’s back to the printer fir another 50 to 100. That means another $1,500 or so I don’t have. Please check out the Go Fund Me page and then donate to ensure the book gets a proper rollout. And have a great weekend!
You won’t hear them extolling its virtues on Wall Street, but the greatest economic system conceived by man isn’t capitalism, socialism, feudalism or any of the other nasty isms that make the old butt cheeks tighten up.
No, it’s the one that’s so simple even kindergarteners get it.
You’ve likely participated in it without ever even having paid attention to it.
It’s so simple, so direct, it reads like it ought to have been handed down by Moses.
Say it with me:
“Have a penny? Leave a penny. Need a penny? Take a penny.”
How this adage escaped guys like Musk, estimated wealth $342 billion, I can only wonder. He must have never had a hankering for a Slim Jim while he’s juicing up his Tesla.
But $342 billion? It strikes me as obscene. Was he raised by wolves? It goes far beyond asking when enough’s enough.
More like, when is too much, too much?
Former Pittsburgh Pirate Jim Leyland understood. It was back in the early ’90’s. One of his star players was in the middle of a high-stakes bidding war.
The Pirates offered what was at he time an exorbitant $24 million a year (the L.A. Dodgers are paying superstar Shohei Ohtani $72.5 million for ’25).
The player said the offer was good, but that he needed to make sure he could “take care of his family.”
The remark inspired an exasperated Leyland to blurt out what is maybe the all-time most succinct remarks on greed.
“He’s worried about taking care of his family? Heck, for $24 million he could take care of Guam!”
I have no perspective. Remember, I’m the guy whose idea of a really good day is one that involves me finding a quarter.
So, of course, I find the leave/take penny model appealing, and use it as a trampoline in this request that you — all of you — head over to my “Go Fund Me” page and help me vanquish the $2,178 gap remaining between the 25 generosities already extended and the $7,500 goal.
Now is a critical time. I ordered and in two weeks sold 50 signed copies of, “(The Art of Living Suddenly) How To Deal With the Stuff That Sucks.” Reader reaction is through the roof. Now I need to order 75 copies in the hopes the commotion will snaag the interest of a reputable publisher looking for an irreverent title.
A book that is essentially about dying is making people laugh. It’s making people happy.
What would make me happy?
I’d like you to share this with your social media and either donate or persuade others to do so.
What would make me really happy?
That Elon would somehow see this (and see the light) and realize it’s better to live broke than to die broken. And I hope he’s seized by an irrational impulse to give his entire fortune to me, save for one penny, symbolic of all he really needs.
It’s really all we all need.
Need a penny, take a penny?
Let it be your guiding principle.
It’s always been mine.
That is with the wise and quite reasonable exception of the $10 billion I’d skim off the top in case of emergency.
You never know when I might need to step up and take care of Guam.
Video, 1:46, Jim Wexell declares my book is “brilliant.”
I’ve read the first three chapters and so far this book is great! Chris is such a great storyteller, and his wit and humor are top shelf…I highly recommend this book!