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amount of personal sacrifice, to take on your government’s job.…
    Yes, sir.… Yes, all financial arrangements will be handled through this office, to spare you personal involvement in any awkward money matters.… But, sir, I wouldn’t consider asking for a commission from your government.… On the other hand, there was that little arrangement we discussed earlier.… Yes, once the casino is in full operation, we would each take a percentage—ten, I think, was the figure you mentioned—off the take from the tables and the slots.… No, I don’t think of it as a skim, Mr. Prime Minister. I think it would just give us both a sense of having a partnership in your government’s beautiful new casino.… Well, I do thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. It’s a pleasure to do business with a man of your caliber, and I hope you have a wonderful day in your island paradise.
    Hangs up the phone. With his hand still on the receiver, he frowns thoughtfully. Clearly, his next call will be of a somewhat trickier nature. His lips move as he formulates his thoughts, then he picks up the receiver and dials another credit card call .
    Mrs. Van Degan? This is Moses L. Minskoff, the investment banker, calling from New York. You may remember me. I handled a number of real estate transactions for your late husband, which were, if I may venture to say so, very profitable to him.… Ah, you do remember me! How are you enjoying retirement in Arizona? … Good.
    Well, the reason I am calling you is that I have a very unusual offer to make to you, an offer I am making only to a few close friends and relatives. I’m letting my mother go in on this, by the way. You see, I happen to have in my possession some promissory notes—IOU’s, if you will—from the late Mr. Silas Tarkington. You may have read that Mr. Tarkington passed on recently.… Yes, I remember you were always a Tarkington’s shopper, Mrs. Van Degan. Now, these markers of his—these promissory notes, I should say—are in fairly large denominations, representing funds I advanced to Mr. Tarkington over the years. I am looking at one, for example, for five hundred thousand dollars. These promissory notes are, in effect, undated checks. Now, obviously I wouldn’t ask you to pay five hundred thousand dollars for a promissory note in that figure. On the other hand, I could offer you a fifty percent discount, the same discount I’m offering my mother, and let you have it for two hundred and fifty thousand.… What’s in it for you? Ah, there’s the beauty part, my dear Mrs. Van Degan.
    You may have read in the financial press that Continental Stores has been for several months trying to take over Tarkington’s. Si Tarkington was fighting the takeover. But now that the old ba—now that Mr. Tarkington has passed on, Continental is really going to pull out their big guns and up their offer to Tarkington’s stockholders. In any takeover, these promissory notes become most valuable. Continental is going to have to buy them back, since they represent money Tarkington’s owes. They will come to you with an offer, and I think I can promise you a thirty to thirty-five percent return on your investment within just a few months, Mrs. Van Degan.…
    Is it legal? Would I offer a woman of your caliber and social position anything that wasn’t legal? Certainly it’s legal. Here on Wall Street we call it factoring, the discounting of accounts receivable. You pay the discounted price, and I simply endorse the notes and turn them over to you.… Why don’t I hold on to them myself? Well, here on Wall Street this is known as streamlining. My interest in Tarkington’s is comparatively small in relation to the rest of my business, and managing these small matters just takes up too much of my time. Besides, I am in the business of serving my customers, and I thought of this as a way