[ExI] well, that stuff really is expensive

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 22/10/2026 12:27, John K Clark wrote:
> When Ulysses S Grant was a boy he wanted to buy a neighbor’s colt, his father agreed he could try to buy it but told him to offer $20 first, raise it to $22.50 if refused, and go up to the full asking price of $25 as a last resort. Grant rode right up to the owner and blurted out: "Papa says I may offer you twenty dollars for the colt, but if you won't take that, I am to offer twenty-two and a half, and if you won't take that, to give you twenty-five". The owner of course immediately took the full $25, and the story became a joke around the village and the local boys teased him about it for years. 


It's not fair to judge someone based on a single incident like that. We all do stupid things, I've done some extremely stupid things. The point is whether we learn from them or not. When someone continues to do stupid things their entire life, then fine, they should be judged on that.

I don't know much about Ulysses Grant, but I very much doubt he is comparable to Trump. He did become a general after all (implying at least some ability), and not only that but he actually won a war.
-- 
Ben
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Pablo Casals, via Albert Einstein