3
Shiny new inventions and old tricks
Ponzi and ‘Pump and Dump’ schemes
We share the shock and dismay of our shareholders and others that the gold we thought we had at Busang now appears not to be there.
David Walsh, founder of the Bre-X mining company
Suppose you are hard up, but you live in a fairly prosperous community. You have an idea for improving the sales of your small, unprofitable business by buying a widget machine. A kind friend (Friend 1) lends you £10,000, telling you that he is not in a hurry to get it back. You rush home, delighted. Then it hits you: £10,000 seemed like a lot when you didn’t have it, but now that you do have it, it doesn’t seem quite enough.
You meet another friend, Friend 2, and casually mention how well the ...
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