Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, was a Macedonian, and the Greeks despised him because of it. He was the first economist to write about the oil industry. He had a head start because he was the first economist. He invented the word economics--Oikovoquika. The Father of Economics tells the story of the invention of commodities-futures contracts, and the first time the oil market was cornered.
The philosopher Thales, getting a tip from an insider, knew that an oil shortage was shortly in the offing, so he bought all the future output of the olive oil trees in the city of Miles. When the season turned and the shortage of oil began, he cranked the price of olives through the roof. The public however, wasn't at all angry that Thales was skinning them for the oil they desperately needed to eat and keep their lamplights on. Instead the people lauded him for his genius in making such a pile of money.
So Thales scolded them. You despised me when I was a poor philosopher trying to give you invaluable wisdom for nothing and now you're praising me for destroying the economy. You think that a good economy is one in which smart people with inside information make money off of money and get richer beyond their ability to even spend it. But making money from money is against nature, he pleaded. A successful economy is one in which money and the exchange of production results in a Good Life for all.
There is none so blind as he who will not see.
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