Triumphs of Capitalism

Published

Steve Landsburg

on May 10, 2010

in Oddities

. 10 Comments

Lifted from craigslist, with a hat tip to my sister:

Click here to comment or read others’ comments.

10 Responses to “Triumphs of Capitalism”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 1 Sean
May 10, 2010 at 4:04 am

If only I hadn’t spent my last 8000 bucks on those magic jellybeans . . .
2 2 Al V.
May 10, 2010 at 8:14 am

Reminds of the joke: A woman is walking down a street in NYC, when she stops at a kiosk where a man is selling paintings. She looks at them for a moment, but they are truly awful, and the price tag on each is $5,000,000. She asks the seller if he doesn’t think the price is too high. He replies, “Well, I only have to sell one.”
3 3 Harold
May 10, 2010 at 9:10 am

I think it is a tad overpriced – although I haven’t read it.
4 4 Henry
May 10, 2010 at 10:58 am

I’d be interested, but unfortunately I haven’t progressed beyond picture books yet. Maybe I’ll come back when I get into the next reading group.

At least the author is able to predict our scepticism by noting that it is “actually” a very interesting book.
5 5 Neil
May 10, 2010 at 12:43 pm

I think I’ve already read this book–it is about a fool who pays $4000 for an unfinished book and then tries to sell it to someone else for $8000.
6 6 Super-Fly
May 10, 2010 at 4:22 pm

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/bhm/1614891621.html

Craigslist really is a free-market playground
7 7 dave
May 10, 2010 at 7:57 pm

wasnt there a guy who traded up a paper clip into a home? perhaps a better title would be ‘triumphs of a free market’.

@neil – your hypothetical fool would have the last laugh if someone were to pay their asking price.

dont publishers often (or never in the case of untested authors) pay far more for far less actual product when it comes to advances?
8 8 Neil
May 10, 2010 at 8:11 pm

@neil – your hypothetical fool would have the last laugh if someone were to pay their asking price.

Yes, and that is the “greater fool” theory of asset pricing.
9 9 Tom Dougherty
May 10, 2010 at 8:20 pm

The first 5 pages of an unpublished book? How much are the second 5 pages, $8,000 too? And the third 5 pages, how much is that? If the unpublished book is 500 pages long and he was able to sell the book 5 pages at a time for $8,000, then he would make $800,000 from this unpublished book.

“The Killer”. I bet the book isn’t a comedy.
10 10 Matt
May 13, 2010 at 1:22 pm

Another Triumph:

http://crabrevenge.com/