Tuna for eating

An investor friend of mine, just send me an article that argues that we are currently in a public equity bubble. The main thesis is that the central banks of the world are the last in line in a “who is next in line to buy this financial instrument I’m holding”. It got me thinking about a joke we used to say back in 2000, about some companies that were obviously a consequence of the exuberance of the .com bubble. It goes like this:

Jack is trying to sell Rob a tuna can. Jack says: “Rob, man, buy this tuna can, it’s $10. It expensive I know, It is good tuna, but the thing is I know you can sell it next week to Tom for $20”.

Rob thinks about it, and says “um ok, $10 bucks is a lot for tuna, but not that much money. But making $10 in a few days sound good”. Rob buys the tuna and in a week goes to Tom and says:

“Tom, man, buy this tuna can, it’s $20. It expensive I know, It is good tuna, but the thing is I know you can sell it next week to Cindy for $40”.

Tom thinks about it, and says “um ok, $20 bucks is a lot for tuna, but not much money. But making $20 in a few days sound good”. Tom buys the tuna and in a few days goes to Cindy and says:

….

A few months later, we find Andy who just bought a tuna can for $1000 from Mary. He holds it in his hands and says: “Oh man I got to know what a $1000 tuna can taste like!”. He opens it, and finds it rotten and full of worms. He gets pissed, and goes back to Mary to get his money back. He says “Mary WTF, you sold me rotten tuna for $1000. Gimme my money back now!”

Mary looks at him perplexed and says: “Andy, man, don’t be stupid! This isn’t Tuna for eating, this is Tuna for trading!” :D