The Defamation of Snow Ears

"That kind of work attitude is unacceptable," Goose fumed as he tried his best to waddle up and down the narrow office.

Scales protested, "But loyal workers are hard to find. Snow Ears may not be the smartest rabbit in the market, but he is very good a keeping secrets."

Goose sighed before settling in the middle of the floor. "You are right. But there is still the mess he caused in the housing market."

"I have told you so many times already, dear friend. The market can take care of itself. No matter how hard we try to manipulate the market, the effect will only be temporary because it always readjusts itself. As is the case with Upper Valley Ridge, the housing market there eventually adjusted itself to the 'true' value of the space and thus offset the number we obtained from the outlier."

"But what about those animals who lost their money?"

"They knew the risk. In fact it is a known fact that inflation drives interest rates higher, which means that deposits become more expensive, so animals become less willing to save seeds. On the other hand, mortgages turn over slowly because there are so many red tapes and documentations and procedures that needs to be done before they can change hands. That was why the market crashed; either because potential buyers lost interest or we ran out of seeds."

Goose squeezed his eyes shut. The explanation made sense. Yes, inflation does make it more expensive to save because the purchasing power of seeds keeps dropping. A 100 seeds nest today may become 150 next year but a 100 seeds saving at 5% interest meant that the owner will only gain 5 seeds by the end of the year. Hence the cost of him saving the money far outweigh the gain he would get by buying the nest now. But as Scales pointed out, when the market price drops, everyone will try to sell which drives down the price further. Therefore animals who bought a nest at 800 will end up having to sell it at 400 seeds, thus losing half of their investment. This problem would be further compounded if the home was bought on borrowed money because banks set up mortgages based on the value of the home. So if the value of the home drops then the banks will in turn insist that the buyer refund them the differences in value. Hence if a home with an 800 seeds mortgage drops to 400 seeds, then the borrower needs to return 400 seeds to the bank to bring down the mortgage to 400 seeds. What a terrible mess, Goose thought, and all because of a stupid rabbit.

Goose let out another heavy sigh that almost made him sit down. "Well, what is done, is done, I guess. The rabbit can stay with you I suppose, but please keep an eye on him. His intentions are good, but he is so foolish."

"Of course, my friend. May I remind you that you have registered him for your 'Low Self-Esteem' Program. This incident may very well be a reason as to why he is such an unsuccessful animal. We can put this event into his profile. Who knows it might have been his low self-esteem that made him jack up the numbers."

Goose's interest was immediately aroused. "You are right, Scales. If we can find a way to help him, then we can help at least 70% of the population to succeed in their life."

"My point exactly," Scales hissed. "If the study is successful then we can train a group of winners to re-educate the losers. Maybe we can even write books to sell to them, and do seminars or open colleges."

"That is an excellent idea." The discussion continued for another hour and by the end of it, Goose's mood was so much improved that he even smiled at a trembling Snow Ears as he walked out the door.

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