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The Business Plan
Here's an interesting tweet by our friend Janey from early last year that was brought to my attention this morning and was paired with the quote below from Cato the Elder:
'The "business plan" implicit in the tablet embodies an expectation of growth and change, not only of the herd, but also of what the herd can support. As cattle multiply, the society that they can support also can grow.'
— janey (@janeygak) January 14, 2018
So beautiful.
History is fascinating, freaks. There are many lessons and warnings that have been passed down through the ages. What's most eye-opening about the messages above is how they show that finance in the ancient world revolved around hard assets like livestock and silver (the metric used to benchmark the growth of livestock herds in the Ur dynasty). On top of this, wise men called out "money-lending" and put it on the same mantel as murder. Very interesting. Especially when one considers the over-farming of crops in this country and others around the world coupled with the excess of money lending that seems so normal in our modern world.
Are these blurbs from history trying to tell us something? Am I just confirming my bias? Who knows. But it's extremely fascinating to me nonetheless.
Final thought...
No better feeling than the mist of a crashing wave smacking your face as the West wind rolls across the swell.