A Fable

Biff said, "Diamond Point will never be as rich as Arrowwood unless we stop paying poor people to do our landscaping!" Ted agreed. They convinced the homeowner's association, overriding Chuck's objection that hiring landscapers was charitable to the poor. So Diamond Point would only hire residents. Here's what happened.

Ted said, "Biff, I gave up $40K in legal work this year because I was landscaping. Would you do my landscaping for $10K?"

Biff shook his head. "No way. I think I'm down $30K from last year. I would hire you, but your lawn sucks. Man, take some time off to figure out how to balance your ph."

"Time off? Can't I just hire somebody to do that? I can't afford more time off."

Biff rolled his eyes. "Read last year's agreement, man. We agreed not to hire out for ANY landscaping services. I hired a Diamond Point accountant to spread lime for $2K. He said that getting a landscaping education cost him $60K's worth of business so he had to charge."

Ted said, "Maybe Chuck was right. Maybe we should be charitable to the poor folks in Jones Ford and hire them."

"Get real, dude. That subdivision is so poor that they're full of free trade economists."