I found this joke on Michael Covel's blog and it's just too good not to share:
A New York businessman was on holiday at a swanky hotel in Mexico. He decided to go down to the local fisherman’s bar to get a flavour of the town. On arriving at the bar he saw the fishermen drinking wine, singing and dancing with their wives and playing guitar. It was a magical, happy scene.
After a few drinks the businessman got talking to one of the locals. He asked him what he did for a living. The guy replied:
“I am a simple fisherman. I go out every day in my small boat and catch a few fish. I keep what I need to feed my family and sell the rest in the market. I live a good life. In the evenings I come down to the bar, meet my friends, drink some wine, sing and dance with my wife and play a little guitar.”
The New Yorker thought about this and said to the fisherman:
“What happens if you borrowed a little money and bought a bigger boat to catch more fish?”
The fisherman looked puzzled.
“If you catch more fish you will earn more money. Once you have more money you can borrow some more to buy another boat. After paying the interest you will have vastly more money than you have now.”
“Then what will I do?” replied the fisherman.
“Well, you can use that extra money to buy more boats and when the revenue is coming in from all your boats you can sell them and buy a big fishing vessel, which you can use to catch the really big fish in huge numbers far from shore. You will be rich beyond your wildest dreams!”
“And what will I do with all this money?” asked the simple fisherman.
“You’ll be able to move to New York and set up a company, using finance from the big New York banks and increase your fleet. You could be the biggest fishing operation in Mexico within a few years!” replied the New Yorker rather excitedly. “It is going to be very stressful however. You are going to have to work very hard and manage hundreds of employees and your ships and distribution networks, but you’ll be rich and living in a huge house in Greenwich!”
“Wow! New York! Greenwich!” said the fisherman, “I’ve never been out of my province!”
“Yes, and the best bit is that you’ll then have such a huge and profitable company after 10 or 20 years that you can sell it on the NYSE for millions of dollars! Just imagine…!”
“And what will I do with all this money?” asked the fisherman keenly.
“Well, once you pay off the debts you can retire to a small fishing village in Mexico without a care in the world and go to the local bar every night, drink some wine, sing and dance with your wife and friends and play a little guitar.”
The fisherman walked away shaking his head in dismay.
