Stick and the Eskimo
by BearI once spent an inexplicable amount of time with an Inuit who told me that you can “reason†with a brown bear or a grizzly bear. If you happen upon either type of bear, you simply bargain – i.e., “Look, bear, I have so much salmon, you want so much salmon. Let’s be reasonable and cut a deal.†This Inuit claimed, however, that a Polar Bear was the one type of bear with whom “you cannot reason.†I hope that this is so, if Soros is indeed being pursued by such a bear.
Any amount of time with an Inuit is inexplicable. There is a reason the Quebecois detest them.
But it’s true, we are eminently pragmatic. And our desire for pragmatism is only boosted by our physicality. The carrot looks pretty good to your counterparty when your stick is a 1500lb bear that can knock your head off with one swipe. Hence, pragmatic, reasonable solutions to problems tend to happen. The government knows what I’m talking about. There is nothing else you will need to know.
