“Bernie really was a successful businessman with quite original insights into the market, and he’s continued applying his business instincts in prison,” Fishman said. “At one point, he cornered the hot chocolate market. He bought up every package of Swiss Miss from the commissary and sold it for a profit in the prison yard. He monopolized hot chocolate! He made it so that, if you wanted any, you had to go through Bernie.”
Assuming that's actually true, what an amazing picture it paints of him just being a complete fucking dick. It's not like the money he was making from that mattered at all... he did it just for shits and giggles. What an unbelievable asshole.
Not at all. Now he has more buying power in the yard than anyone else.
He successfully managed to leverage market forces to create economic inequality and make himself 'rich' in the micro context he operated in.
Which is a great example for why great wealth is not a virtue, a 'free market' is not a savior, and why greater regulation and taxation on the super wealthy is acceptable - they got there by being, as you say, unbelievable assholes.
Also goes to prove that system was broken. It should not be possible for single individual to corner any market in prison. Either spendable money or amount of items sold per prisoner should be limited...
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“Bernie really was a successful businessman with quite original insights into the market, and he’s continued applying his business instincts in prison,” Fishman said. “At one point, he cornered the hot chocolate market. He bought up every package of Swiss Miss from the commissary and sold it for a profit in the prison yard. He monopolized hot chocolate! He made it so that, if you wanted any, you had to go through Bernie.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-series-casts-bernie-ma...
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Bernie wasn't trapped with them. They were trapped with Bernie.