Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 8 August 2015 | Page 14

one single apartment outright, celebrities sprung up
overnight, sports stars and fashion models’ salaries
burgeoned exponentially and people became famous
for shopping.
Just when you might have wanted to give up, there
is a glimmer of hope through this little yarn that has
been in circulation in various forms since just after the
end of World War II and that has become like a very
elongated version of Chinese whispers.
I’ll admit that there is some divergence of opinion in
terms of the interpretation of the facts in each case,
but I also believe that such trivial concerns should not
be allowed to spoil our appreciation of a good tale.
The story goes that, in 1923, a group of the world’s
most successful financiers met at a hotel in Chicago.
The tycoons’ combined wealth at the time of the
meeting was greater than that held in the US Treasury.

WHAT’S PUTTING

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As a group, they were outrageously successful
financially and individually feted, while their business
activities and triumphs were followed and the stories
published in the media in order to inspire people to
follow their example.
The