One Stinger vs. Thousands

Touring the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix this winter, I remember the guide fielding a question about whether anyone had ever been injured by cactus needles.

He answered that he’d seen a severe injury just once: someone who encountered a bumble bee was so undone that they backpedaled right into a nearby cactus and its thousands of needles.

In a nutshell, that’s my take on how society has collectively dealt with Wall Street and a clearly dysfunctional financial system: for fear of messing with a bumble bee (and its rather mild stinger) . . . we’ve backed into a cactus (i.e., a potential global sovereign debt crisis).
P.S.: the analogy’s not perfect: no one’s ever called Wall Street docile.
About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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